Winter in June

The temperatures are definitely getting colder around here, making the days significantly shorter for us. Getting up early in the morning for school work when it is dark and cold to sit around a stove that doesn't warm up fast enough was getting to be really difficult. Our fingers and toes were suffering. As nice as our kitchen tent is, it just doesn't hold the heat enough in near freezing temperatures. So, we are attempting to adjust our schedule a little. Right after we take a much needed break from our studies, we will begin our school days again after the sun comes up.

The days really are beautiful with temperatures ranging from the upper fifties to the seventies. We are very thankful for that. The nice day temperatures and weather have allowed Dane to get a lot of work done on the house. The week before last he got most of the exterior walls, minus the attic portion, trim and other finishing touches, done.

When Dane ordered the wood for the house, he ordered red wood. However, the wood that we received is multicolored. The house is not looking like what we had in mind and we are a little disappointed about that, but nonetheless we are very thankful that we will soon have a house to live in, Lord willing. We still have the option to paint it later.

Also we have been discussing whether Dane should put the exterior wood around the attic in the same direction as the rest of the house (horizontally), or if he should lay it perpendicular to the other wood (vertically) to break up the boxy pattern some. I have seen other houses where the wood is laid horizontally up to the attic and then the wood is turned vertically to break up the pattern. Our attic is very large and we have some crazy color differences in the wood, so we are still in discussion on whether changing directions will improve or worsen the appearance. We put a poll on the right hand side of our blog page, to see what you thought would be nicer. We'd love to hear your opinions.

The picture below is of the attic portion that still needs to be closed in.

Last week, Dane started putting down the wood for the second story ceiling/attic floor and will probably finish that in the next couple of days.

Here is a picture of the wood Dane is laying from the attic view.

This is a picture of the wood from underneath. The second story ceiling view. It is really pretty.

Also, a week ago Saturday, our goat had her kids, two little girls. They are healthy and as cute as they can be. We are very excited about increasing our herd. We really miss having a flock of goats to tend to, as well as the milk and all the good stuff that we enjoy making with it.

Here they are...

The excitement of the kids' birth took a toll on Joseph who fell asleep at the table when I ran out to get a picture.

Furthermore, our garden isn't doing very good, despite our efforts, so yesterday I spread lime on the entire thing. Our soil is just too acidic for most of the garden vegetables that we are trying to grow. Plants sprout up right away, but die off quickly or just don't produce much fruit, so we are hoping the amendment will improve our crop next time around.

I am sure that there is so much more to tell about the last two weeks, but it is time for dinner, so maybe in another post. I thought that I would include a couple of pictures of the other children. The first one is of David who is three now.


This is a picture of Elijah, Abby, Elisabeth, and Sarah chopping firewood.