We got a dusting of snow last night. First time in a couple of weeks that there has been snow on the ground… Kind of nice to hear that little crunch under my boots again.
Laying in the sun yesterday
Ed. That's it, just Ed.
Herbie coming down off the roof
The yellow-bellied sapsucker. My all time favorite name for an animal. I’ve seen two of them in the last week. This March was definitely a weird one as 
far as weather goes. Record breaking high temperatures led to several shirtless days outside and a sun burn on my back.
It was about this time last year that I left Jacksonville and headed back up here. The year didn’t turn out any where near what I had planned, but that’s alright. Now, I am completely absorbed with the amount of birds that have been popping up around here. I saw two grouse walk through the yard a little while ago, and there were a bunch of robins that passed through a few days ago. I’ve even seen a few geese flying by along with a bunch of others that I can’t identify.
This year’s lunge into spring was so sudden that it felt as if we had just skipped a few months and were in the middle of summer. But that would have meant missing the spring, and even though it’s usually more of a mud season than anything else, I love the abundance of growth and warmth after winter.
I went canoeing last week, the first time I was ever able to do that on my birthday. The sun was warm and the water was freezing, and my buddy and I managed to stay out on the water for a while. We didn’t go anywhere, mainly because we had no where to go, but it was a great way to end the winter. I always love snow until the first day of spring, and then I want it gone, and this year, that was pretty much what happened.
And now the birds and animals are coming out, there are small buds and flowers on the trees, and the little stream that runs through here is flowing. The air smells different, and not just because it’s no longer stained with the exhaust of the woodstove. It’s lighter later in the day, and the candles and lanterns have not been in use much.
Yup, spring is one of my favorite seasons, along with the rest of them.
Pico and I went snow shoeing for probably the last time today. I wanted to get out before all the snow is gone, and I think there’ll be enough left to ski on tomorrow. But the snow is going fast, almost as fast as it came.
In the last two weeks, I’ve gotten about two feet of snow out at the cabin.
Black Capped Chickadee
The plow guy had to come three times in four days, after having been out here only three times in the last three months. But now it’s about fifty degrees, and the forecast calls for warm for the rest of the week. It’s starting to look like winter might really be over.
I missed this part of the Adirondack spring last year, as I was still living in Florida. I missed opening the windows and letting that clean-smelling breeze roll through the house. I missed seeing people’s super white arms emerging from t-shirts for the first time in months. I just plain missed the change in the seasons.
Jacksonville, FL is far enough north that there is kind of a “winter,” where it does get cold for a couple of months. The palm trees stay green and you might need a hat and gloves in the morning, but that’s about all you get out of the change of seasons. There’s really only two seasons: Hot, and not as hot.
The lady bugs have been proliferating around and on the big window. I keep catching glimpses of them out of the corner of my eye, and thinking that someone is coming up the driveway, but that’s not really all that likely. Now that it’s warm, the snow is melting, and there are brown patches of dead grass peeking out, I can’t help but feel some sort of satisfaction. Back in October, I thought that living off the grid for the winter would be a huge challenge.
It has been. But not one that has broken or defeated me. If anything, I am stronger, both mentally and physically, than when I moved out here. This winter was an experiment in self-reliance. Not that I haven’t gotten help along the way, but being way out here is something that you have to experience to truly understand.
And really, isn’t life all about the experience?
Just a few shots from the record warm of the last few days…
Whiteface in the Morning
Chillin' in the Shade
Ha ha! Wasn't that long ago...
A rusty screen door in the wind. That was the sound I heard earlier outside. But the sound was coming from the woods, far from any door, or even any human-built structure. I wondered what it was, but the big MagLite didn’t provide any insight, and the most likely culprit was some tree creaking in the breeze.
The snow has started again, and it looks like the next couple of days will be spent shoveling and digging out. I really don’t mind. It’s good
Snowy Birch
exercise, outside, with tangible benefits. I’ve always loved running the snow-blower and driving a plow truck, and shoveling is something that I’ve gained a renewed appreciation for. Two storms ago, I shoveled an area big enough to park a few cars in. The plow guy was impressed, and that’s a pretty big compliment.
One thing that I’ve always loved about living in the Adirondacks is that people come together when they really need to. When there’s no emergency or major event going on, I’m sure that neighbors have their regular squabbles, but when the fit hits the shan, people here look out for each other.
A few weeks ago, my plow guy got stuck in the driveway and it took us a while to dig out his truck. The next plow was on him as thanks. The time after that, we had a big storm, and he hadn’t heard from me, so he came up to plow the driveway and make sure I wasn’t stuck in here. He said he was glad when he didn’t see my truck.
It was the same thing last spring. There were massive floods all over the North Country and my first three days of work were spent filling sand bags. We dropped them off all over town, to the city hall, motels along the lake, and at people’s houses. Most of the day, it was just a bunch of us state workers who had gotten corralled into the job. But soon after school got out each day, a stream of parents and kids would come into the town garage and ask what needed to be done. They brought us food and coffee, as well as fresh hands and arms. Filling, tying and loading a couple hundred thousand sand bags gets tiring.
But you know what, it’s not just in times of hardship that the people come together up here. Winter Carnival is one of the greatest parties you could imagine. An entire town celebrating the successful fight against cabin fever with a parade, concerts, and yes, even a Women’s Frying Pan Toss. Carnival is great.
The feeling this type of camaraderie creates is one of belonging to a community. Whatever their petty differences, people do what they can to help each other out, and in the process forget about the nonsense that most of us consume our lives with. If I had a neighbor and heard a creaky door sound day after day, I’d probably get upset after a while, and would eventually sneak over there and hit the hinges with WD-40. But since the sound was coming from a tree, I’ll just let it go. Having such a simple existence in this cabin has made letting the stupid things go a lot easier.
The snow is melting fast. It’s been warm and sunny or warm and rainy for a couple of days. Early spring this year apparently.
Logging by hand has to be one of the most pointless and inefficient activities I have engaged in so far. I have been “cleaning the woods” as it were, dragging out large limbs and cutting dead trees to get wood for next year’s fire wood supply.
This year’s supply is large, but the quality of the wood is not that good. When we moved here in the fall, my then-roommate and I didn’t have the money to buy fire wood, and since we had fifty acres at our disposal, we figured we could cut, haul, and split our own wood. Luckily, we found a pile of logs that had been cut three years ago, but the bark was left on, so they had started to rot. Also, it was mostly soft woods like white pine, spruce, and poplar (aspen). But it was free and dry.
He's not smiling. He's laughing at me.
We were able to mix in a lot of hardwood from scrounging and an existing supply of wood left by the previous owners. Trust me, ten year old hard wood burns really, really nice.
I’m not sure if I’ll be living out here next year, but since I have lots of free time, I decided to comb the woods, finding nice pieces of downed or standing dead hardwoods. I got lucky with some of the wind storms we’ve had this winter and I’ve dragged cherry, maple, beech, and a little birch out of the woods.
On nice days, I usually take Pico and go for a walk around just to check things out. It’s on these rambles that I find the wood. If it needs to be cut up into smaller, more manageable pieces, then I take Pico back to the cabin and grab my chainsaw stuff. Some of what I cut is pretty dangerous, with dead limbs, lots of weight pressure, and pressure from other trees that the dead stuff is leaning against. Luckily, I have lots of experience running a chainsaw in difficult conditions so I feel comfortable doing this kind of cutting. I also always wear cutting boots (steel toe, Kevlar all around), Kevlar chaps, and a cutting helmet with face guard and ear muffs.
Once the logs are cut up into four or five foot lengths (depending on diameter, the skinny ones I leave longer), then the real grunt work begins. I grab Pico again and start walking out to where the wood is. Today, it was about a quarter mile away, and Pico and I made at least ten round-trips. That’s about five miles of walking, half of it carrying logs that weigh anywhere from five to fifty pounds. Even Pico was panting on our last couple of trips. And other than moral support, he was no help at all.
After I get the logs back to the cabin yard, I block it up into firewood-length pieces (16” or so) and split any of the bigger pieces. There are still some monster logs out in the woods that I’ll drag out once I can get the four-wheeler going. Or maybe I’ll buy a horse.
My shoulders are bruised, and there’s no way I could lift my arms over my head right now, but at least I’ve got a start on a better wood supply for next year. Yeah, dragging all those logs out by hand is dumb. So I’m dumb. Dumb like a fox.
There’s a half dozen black capped chickadees hanging around the cabin now. They finally found the birdfeeders, though the blue jays have been scarce. One of the jays was hanging out in an apple tree this morning, but I haven’t seen them at the feeders in a few days.
I was recently asked why I decided to live off the grid. Long story short: It’s free and I can’t afford to pay rent. But when I really think about it, this has been a long time coming.
The idea of being self sufficient has always appealed to me. I just couldn’t afford to buy a piece of land to do this on, and until this winter, I had never been lucky enough to have someone just offer to let me live in a place for free. When Amy asked if I wanted to stay out here, I didn’t even think about it. I just said yes.
I’ve usually moved around a lot, mainly because I get restless, and the grass is always greener somewhere else. In 2006, when I moved to Florida, I was in desperate need of a change. I had battled depression most of my life, and Jacksonville seemed like a good escape. Eventually, I manned up and sought help for my depression. And part of my therapist’s plan was to help me realize that I could do what I want with my life and not be afraid of the consequences. After all, it was my life to screw up.
The more I thought about this new, happier phase, the more I knew that I couldn’t keep living in Florida. I gave up two jobs, health insurance, vacation time, a pension, lots of friends, and agreed to a long-distance relationship all to move back to the mountains and work a seasonal job with no benefits so that I could hike and play with Pico. I knew that I would be broke and I didn’t care.
I think that’s why I am adjusting so well to living off the grid; because I’ve been mentally preparing for it for years. And now that I’m actually doing it, I couldn’t be happier. Sure, I’m broke, single, and have to ask friends if I can take a quick shower at their houses (They always say yes!) but what could be better than having an adventure like this? When I look back twenty years from now, I know that this time will have been a major turning point in my life.
The experience I’m having is already shaping the future me. I’m making plans for a cabin of my own, looking for land, and reading and taking classes on farming, homesteading, food preservation and draft horse handling. I’m not shy of hard work, and when I can afford some land, I plan on building a log cabin and living off the grid. But, since I’m not the Unabomber, I will also have solar panels, running water and indoor plumbing. Plus I’m pretty sure that he didn’t have a blog.
I like sitting at the table in front of the big window and seeing the wood smoke drift out towards the driveway. Sometimes the smoke catches the sunlight and throws a blast of light into the cabin, sometimes it casts a shadow. The blue jays haven’t been around much lately, but the nut hatches are getting closer and closer.
I’ve seen some black-capped chickadees (yes, I’ve learned the difference) in the apple trees. They always seem to hang out in the trees where there are no rotten apples still clinging to the branches, but in the barren trees. I figured they would want to pick apart the apples and get the seeds, but I guess not. Maybe they have enough food without going through all that work. That’s what I love about nature, you never really know.
I’ve been hearing a moose near-by. Not too far from hear, on Normans Ridge Rd., was where some of the first confirmed sightings of moose were back about ten years ago. My “neighbors,” who have not been seen since hunting season, supposedly captured the moose on their game camera. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were near the cabin. They tend to like heavily wooded areas, and except for a few acres of cleared land right around my cabin, it’s pretty wooded up here.
The forest is really nice. I like all forests, but the land here is just amazing. There are tight clumps of evergreens amid huge, open stretches of hardwoods. The rabbit tracks dart from evergreen to evergreen, and the birds
hang out in the bare hardwoods until Pico and I walk by. Then they scramble to hide themselves among the green boughs of the white pine, red spruce and eastern hemlock.
There’s definitely been some very cold snaps, even for this mild winter. Twenty below zero hasn’t been all that uncommon so far, and when it’s that cold, even the trees have a hard time staying alive outside. Maybe that’s something that most people don’t think about, that trees and plants are living things that are subject to the same survival scenarios as any wild animal. Day after day and night after night, they stand against the cold, the wind, the weight of the snow. And sometimes, just like people, they snap. The weight of the world tears them down against all odds, and then some puny human like me comes along to cut up and split their remains for next year’s fire wood supply.
My hands are beat up. I guess that shouldn’t be much of a surprise, but the combination of old scars and new wounds (fine, they’re more like boo-boos, but whatever) represent the bulk of the physical hardship of living out here.
The quarter-sized scar on the back of my right wrist is courtesy of the wood stove, as is the small scab on the back of my right thumb. Next to the burn on my thumb are two little marks where large splinters were pulled out. The back of my left thumb knuckle got skinned the other day while cleaning the chimney. And my left middle finger got nailed grabbing wood out of the shed.
One of the apple trees
There are also the pre-cabin scars like the one on my index finger from where the first knife I owned folded up on me while I was up in the apple tree at my parent’s old house. Plus the one on my right palm that ended with seven stitches after jamming my hand into a pile of broken glass at the bar during work.
There’s no doubt about it, my right hand takes the brunt of my abuse. I just read “The Old Man and The Sea” and that had a similar theme, but the old man thought his left hand was weak and stupid. He relied on his right hand and never had any doubts about its usefulness. I don’t think my left hand is useless, and in fact I have to admit that if I was going to lose a finger, I would prefer that it came from my right hand. I need all the fingers on my left hand to play guitar.
One nice thing about the mildness of this winter, so far anyway, is that my feet haven’t been as frost bitten as I thought they would be. I developed frost bite on my feet years ago. Cramming my feet into ill-fitting and stiff down hill ski boots and skiing over one hundred days per year pretty much sealed my fate. I should have chosen boots that were comfortable, but I wanted racing boots even though I sucked at racing and was only on the team to get the free skiing. The tables have turned now, and since I no longer get free skiing, I no longer get frostbite. Truth is, I’d rather hit the slopes and deal with the frostbite.