I didn't want anyone to falsely believe that our home is lifeless or bland. We are greening up nicely, though large scale pictures don't reveal it. I thought I'd share some of the greens that are showing up all over!
Unfortunately, the above photo is our "lawn." Fortunately, it's only the front! It's a bit mossy which is a common theme around our yard this time of year especially.
Rowdy is certain it is here! Yes! Break Up is here! Actually, it's been here for a couple weeks, but in the last week we have seen most of our snow melt. Three feet of snow melting in a week makes for lots of water and slush. Never fear, however, we will have snow for a while yet.
This bank in front of the house has a ways to go. That's the one that came in over the railing to the door. The sun is out for forever now, so it won't take long for that to be in the sun and melt away. Note the drainage system we have in place below. It is highly complicated, so please don't try that at home. It's taken hours to perfect.
Pat has been home the last few days and has completed a couple projects, among which is this kennel floor! We had discussed options for the flooring of the kennel and had not looked forward to hauling rock. Pat had a genius idea of making a deck of sorts with plywood. Upon inspection of our project piles, he discovered this tongue-in-groove siding that was given to us. He had enough to make a nice sized deck over the mud and muck, and the dogs love it!
The mountain is still steaming, but nothing new. It's been gorgeous! This one is courtesy of Pat's photo skills!
These are actually my pictures, for once! Yesterday was a gorgeous day, so on my way to work, I stopped and enjoyed the view. Redoubt is still mostly just spewing steam but that will likely change at any point. I am also excited that there is a patch of lawn visible!!! We still have tons of snow, but it is shrinking and becoming more and more slushy. In light of the soon to be diminished walk across our water, we have considered getting a treadmill...for the dogs!
I finally cleaned the chimney this week. I had been dreading the job because I assumed I would have to climb up on the roof, build a scaffold, climb a ladder and risk my life or spend untold hundreds of dollars to have it done. After all, the point of the stove was mainly to save money. As you can see, I decided to remove a section of pipe from the inside and clean it that way.
As you can see, we put a trash bag around the pipe and fished the cleaning rod up through a slit in the bag. The bag caught all the soot and the pipe was very easy to re-install.
Below is a picture of the heat exchanger that I built. It heats water that is circulated through tubes affixed under the floor of the bathroom. This heats the bathroom floor (radiant heat). There is much more to the exchanger than just a steel box, but if you want to know more you'll have to download the plans from my internet site.......someday.
Here is my circ. pump located under the house directly below the stove. The pump is on the out going line, the incoming line can be seen above it. I added valves on the lines that can be turned off so the hot water can be diverted to a temporary line to thaw a walkway or something neat like that.
The point of this project was not only to heat the bathroom floor, but to learn about radiant heat and experiment with the use of wood fire in this capacity. There is more to it than you might think. Ratio of volume to exposure time, engineering the heat exchanger to heat the water without overheating, installing the lines so they will radiate heat into the floor efficiently and insulating pipes and lines to minimize heat loss. This of course took some experimenting, but after only two boil overs that spilled anti-freeze into the living room, it works wonderfully and I have already generated some potential work for my welding business.
No, I didn't take this picture either! Thank goodness for the AVO pictures! I did convince Pat to take the long way home from the Nikiski Hardware Store so I could get a glimpse from the perfectly clear sky of Redoubt blowing more steam. I didn't have the camera, of course. Maybe tomorrow I'll remember the camera and either on our way to or from church we'll get another perfect view! 
We start by walking off the deck, down the yard and across the "pond" to our path in the woods. I thought I'd take my camera a couple days ago when I took our daily walk. It had snowed a bit and the temps were a bit chilly, but it made it lovely. Ps.147:16 "He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes."
We emerge from our woods trail onto an open area under the power lines. This affords me the opportunity to let the dogs run with more independence as I can see them!
We take off from the open power line path once again into the woods and down into another low area. You can begin to see my desire for snowshoes! At this snow depth, which seems to be one of the deepest on the peninsula, even the dogs stick to the stamped down paths.
I've discovered in this low "secret" place, even things dead have a grandeur when blanketed with snow. (The tree above is no longer growing, but still provides a roost for birds and shelves for the snow)
We continue to plod through the snow up to a forgotten road that I "discovered" this winter. I assume it to be unused often as there are tree-falls over it on occasion. I do not know the final destination of this road. We return as we came when we come across the areas that look to be others' property, if not sooner. Back through yet another low swamp land and back across the pond is the way home, but that last leg lacks the luster for the lens!
Pat has been working tirelessly on getting the inside of the garage to a workable state. He has gotten all the drywall up and though we need to tape/mud the seams when it's warmer, he's also gotten some benches up. This enables him to begin projects with solid work surfaces. Note the wood bench for wood projects and the steel table for his welding bench! It's a bit too cold out there for me just yet!
