January 5, 2021

Update 5 & 6

Two months flew by since our last update post! Mainly because we have been swamped with work at work, work at home, and work at filling the freezer.

We learned a lot hunting our new property this year! With that said, together we put in somewhere around 200 hours in the woods. Sam started out the season bear hunting since there was a nice boar showing up on the trail cameras. Josh was able to bow hunt out of a coupe stands that were left on the property. The woods seemed dead at this point! During Muzzleloader we started seeing much more sign. The bears seemed to vanish and the deer activity picked up. Josh saw a couple forks from a stand he hung and while ground hunting. Sam started still hunting and saw plenty of doe (when she could only shoot a buck). When rut was in full swing the sign was everywhere. Unfortunately all our days out ended with- we didn’t have a shot, the deer outsmarted us, or we just didn’t see any! Next year we have new strategies to try!

Even though we weren’t successful this year deer hunting many others were! After months wondering what this hunting season would bring Sam had the busiest three months as a taxidermist yet. She announced she would stop intaking thanksgiving week and had 24 more deer dropped off in four days. She ended the season with over 150 jobs.

Gramma (Sam’s mom) learned how to make homemade dog food, was gifted a pressure cooker and the dogs ate very well while we were busy at work!

Josh thought he’d have a break by now with last winter being slow. But he continues to work 45-55 hours a week. He’s been praised by not only his boss but other bosses within Altec for his hard work ethic, and knowledge as a mechanic.

We brought in five more loads of gravel and extended the driveway. Josh made a parking lot for his work truck and we graded off an area for storage tents.

Our feathered flock is doing well. They are hardened to the elements as we do not run power to the coop. We worried on a few very cold nights. But a quick midnight check on them showed they were all huddled together and very warm. The cold weather brought in some unwelcome critters. We had a grey fox end up getting two of our Jersey Giant chickens.

The death of the birds didn’t sit well. Josh set a bunch of traps for fox but ended up with 4 fisher! We released all released except one large male. The grey fox has not been seen since. However, just last night a red fox and coyote showed up by our camera in the field.

More big news! We now have power installed. National Grid set a new pole at the end of the driveway on November 5. We had one working electric outlet for about a week but the electrician hooked up our well pump, and lights and outlets to the panel. We stopped running our propane fridge and was able to bring an electric fridge/freezer in along with a small chest freezer. Along with power, we also got internet installed!

The cold weather made us decide to move our outdoor shower inside! We were gifted a stand up shower from Josh’s parents. Josh built a raised base, and put a plastic tote underneath to collect the water; then we drain it when we’re finished!

An unexpected snow storm moved in overnight just before Christmas, bringing a couple feet to our cabin and a few to the shop (40 minutes south). We plowed the driveway with the side by side for the first time without issues. Josh got to dust off the snow machine and evict the mice. The dogs all were thrilled to roll around in the new snow! And just like that it melted a couple days later.

We put up our first 12’x20’ shelter for storage and made a shelter for our side by side. We put up a second shelter for the boat, and all our outdoor gear.

On December 22 we got our first egg!

Benny’s been bird hunting, and even though we can’t hear anymore his nose is still as strong as ever. He flushed a lot of grouse. Josh missed a couple. Sam was busy metal detecting with her early Christmas present!

We took some time off for Thanksgiving and Christmas on our still, new to us, property! We enjoyed Thanksgiving with Sam’s family for a lunch then Josh’s parents for Dinner. We spent Christmas Eve unwrapping presents, eating ribeye and king crab. We spent a nice Christmas dinner with Sam’s family eating smoked ham made by Josh in our new Trager.

We finally nailed down building plans, are waiting on blue prints and are excited to break ground in the spring! There’s a lot more winter to go before that happens.

Until next time... ✌️