Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Moving Day

A short break among some very busy work...

We finally got the keys to the house, and Little Farm on the Tundra is slowly setting up shop. I would much rather skip to the fun stuff (chicken coops and greenhouses) than the current task (trying to figure out how to fit 1500 sq ft of belongings into 860 sq ft of space), but the reality is we need to get our stuff in the house, and soon. The skies are threatening to snow, and a light dusting of the white stuff has already made the roads a little slick.

The first day in the new homestead was a lot of sitting around and waiting. We were lucky enough to find someone willing to install our new Princess Ultra Blaze King wood stove the same day (and didn't overcharge us, either). And while it went quickly for stove installations, it did take some time. It was worth it though. After a little bit of playing around with the controls, we managed to get a good burn and were able to damper things down to keep the house at a comfy 70-ish degrees. The fire lasted through the night. No one froze or even woke up too hot or too cold. There were still even a few coals in the bottom this morning, and a few pieces of wood this morning started the heat cycle again.

The first night was pure bliss. Even in a place as small as Fort Greely, you can forget what QUIET sounds like. After babies were snoozing, I ducked out to take a peek at our surroundings. With no porch lights and trees between us and all our neighbors, it was dark enough to not even be able to see J's truck, which wasn't parked but 10 feet from me. The QUIET startled me at first. It took a moment to realize that the rustling I heard was my own two feet, and the exhalations weren't from animals lurking in the dark, but my own steady breathing. An nearby dog barked once or twice, and the occasional bunny in the brush caused a stir, but the only other sound I could hear was my own gentle noise. For a mom with two babies, it felt like I had died and gone to heaven.
I headed in after a short break (let's face it, it was getting pretty chilly and spooky out there in the dark). The house was a warm-your-face kind of warm from the wood stove. The air in the cabin was dry, and smelled like warm logs. I tucked into some comfy jammies and headed to our loft bedroom. Beans was gently snoring in the next room, Little Nugget hunkered down next to the warmth of mommy milk, and I fell asleep to the sound of J stoking the fire and heading up the stairs to snuggle in next to Nugget and me. It WAS Homestead Heaven.

Back to reality this morning. It's time to load up the trucks and get the rest of our belongings over to the new house. I'll admit, it looks a little like a bad episode of The Beverly Hillbillies right now, but the cabin should start coming together in a day or so. Meanwhile, I'm gonna keep heading outside for sips of snowy air and QUIET, and keep daydreaming about those chickens.
Pictures coming soon, y'all. I promise. It's just gonna take a while to find all our belongings, including the USB cable for the camera.

Until Next Time,
Happy Moose Trails!

2 comments:

Karla said...

Yay! HOME! Enjoy your little Tundra Haven. Congrats again!!

Tammy Kauffman said...

Glad you found your Little House on the Tundra. Sure do miss AK.