Hasty Brook: October 2009

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Skywatch Friday: The Skies are Always Sweeter

From the balcony at Hasty Brook, after a long day of gray sky and rain, first one glorious rainbow and then another.

Look for more Skywatch Friday posts here.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Has it Really Been a Month?

Sorry for the lack of posts this past month. No excuses, I'll just catch up.

Art and the kids had the flu last week, fevers, aching muscles, cough and sore throat. The whole works. They all seem to be on the mend. I'm not sure why but I didn't get it. Thank God.

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A few weeks ago I got to spend a morning birding with "Hap in New Hope." For the most part birding was slow but the conversation was wonderful. Hap brought along a great photo album of many of the rare birds that he's seen here in Minnesota over the years. Any time that I can spend with Hap is special and I can be sure that I'm going to learn something good.

Thanks Hap! I hope we can go birding again soon.

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We have snow. On the ground.

Ack.

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My mad knitting skilz that Ruthie taught me are getting dusty. I finished my green dishcloth without too many bumps and loops (not part of the pattern!) I did find some pretty yarn at the thrift store last Friday and I hope to get back on track. I need to crank out a few posts first!~~~~

Canada Geese are flocking by the hundreds in the corn fields near home. I scan every flock hoping this will be the flock hiding a Cackling Goose. No luck yet...

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I've applied for a 911 emergency address for Hasty Brook.

An address. That makes it real.

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On our last trip to Hasty the siding and roof were on. We talked to the builder last week and the well is in! The plumber should be out soon to install the bathroom fixtures. Then we need to get electricity to the pump and we'll have running water!! We'll need to buy a water heater over the winter so we can run the shower next spring. I immagine showering with well water would be brisk.

I love it! I saw my first Great Blue Heron sneaking up along the creek. I'd heard them there before and they've flown over but it was the first in the "yard."

The view from the drive in to our place. Both garage doors are installed now.

You can see my spotting scope on the balcony. It's just a pefect spot for me to watch the creek and all the life around it. I'd like to find some kind of mount to attach to the railing so I don't have to have the tripod up there. Space is limited on the balcony and the tripod takes up a lot of it.

Here is the view of our new building from near the road. The clearing just ahead is the septic mound. This was the only site on our land that met the 150 foot set back (from the creek) required by the county. This area and the trees around it seems to be a popular evening roost spot for the wild turkeys up there. The big tom likes to do his strutting dance back and forth across the mound.

Isn't this a great spot to sip coffee and watch the world go by? The maples were just beginning to turn. We won't be able to go back up there until October 23rd. I hope the leaves aren't all gone by then.

Backing up from the chair, on the left you can see the stairway up from the garage.

Under the dormer oposite the stairs, we'll have a small kitchen. You can see the pipes coming up through the floor where the sink and counter will go.

Across the whole back we plan to biuld a wall to separate off a big bedroom. (15x32) Since the walls on the ends of this room are only 4 feet high, we plan to put up walls to create storage space on either end. We can't decide if we should make this space into two bedrooms. We have all winter to decide how to finish off this space. We'll also need to make a decsion about heating the building. We had the slab built with the pipes for in-floor heating but have not had the boiler installled. We'll wait until closer to the time when we can live there year-round. It will serve as our cabin for several years until our kids are grown and we are able to build a home at Hasty Brook.