Old House. Brown Dog

Boy oh boy am I feeling all the feels today. Tomorrow, yes as in just one day from today, I will be saying goodbye to Alma for the next 10 months. I am going to keep these next few posts cryptic, partially because I am evil, but mostly because I am still not sure what is going on in my life at the moment, but the long and the short of it is I won't be coming back to Alma for a while. It's not court ordered or anything, but it is pretty official. Otis and I have spent the last two weeks at the cabin, and before that I have spent almost every weekend of the past three years here.  And I have loved every single minute. After we bought this place, Alma very quickly became my favorite spot on earth. My escape from the world and the place I rest and reset (or at least as much as I know how to rest). I feel at peace and happy the second I arrive and even the drive up and back has become a favorite time for me.   But a famous singer once said "life is what happens when you're ...

The day after my 38th birthday, I gifted myself satellite dish internet up at the cabin. You read that right. Satellite dish, it's not pretty and it doesn't work all that well, but it is expensive! Due to the location of the cabin, the only options are this, or starlink and there is a 2 year wait for the Elon Musk option. So I put my pride aside and added a hideous dish to the roof of my cute little cabin. The benefit, I can now work from here and stream all the Netflix (assuming the dish is working that day!). Thanks to this dish, I decided why not lean into mountain life, and have been at the cabin since March 15. I am staying for the rest of the month. It has been wonderful. I was a little worried I would get lonely or bored, but as luck would have it the snow has not stopped, so anytime I get bored there is shoveling to do. Otis also goes outside 1939934 times a day which keeps me on my toes. As far as being lonely, I am reminded, this is a tourist area so everyone wants to...

Ok guys...if you have every wondered if you can renovate an entire house for next to nothing like they do on HGTV without a lot of skill, I am proof that you in fact can. Other than the deck, we kept this project super scrappy. Here is a breakdown, in case you are thinking about trying your hand at some DIYing! I have no advice for you on saving money on a deck. That shit is just expensive. We remodeled the entire cabin for about $40k. I feel pretty solid about that number. It's less than my yearly PBR budget for crying out loud! Item Cost Foundation 900 Rim Joists 800 Door knobs 100 Ex. Paint 400 Int. Paint 300 Flooring 1700 Cabinets 1600 Counters 850 Toilet 30 Fridge 1000 Stove 599 Heater(s) 20...

Ohh mountain life.... Jose and I have been lucky enough to tackle almost every single cabin project on our own (mostly me of course, he just hands me tools) and not need to deal with contractors. One thing we decided was not in our skillset however was converting the house with runs on propane to natural gas. Seems like that is something a little over our head's and could result in blowing things up. So, back in August, after months of phone calls and back and forth, I was able to get a gas line run from the street to the cabin. Step one done! The rest should have been easy. It was not. All that was needed after that was to have a plumber/HVAC person run the line into the house and then convert our heater over to gas. This would also mean we could bring up our new stove which had been waiting patiently in the garage so it could be a gas stove like god intended it to be and not be converted into a propane stove. Well, after failed attempts with 7 contractors, yes seven. We finally f...

Queen Elizabeth, or Pinterest, or someone else famous once said that grief is love with nowhere to go. Since my Fred left this earth I’ve felt that deep in my bones every single day.  But now, just over one year later, I have somewhere for that love to go and the world feels right again. I will never stop missing Fred, but am so grateful that I can finally think of our sweet memories and smile (most of the time).  On February 25, we brought Otis home. The very next weekend he visited Fred's retirement cabin for the first time, his first of many visits over his life. Otis is spunky and sweet and exactly what we needed. The cabin is truly a dog's paradise (I guess that makes me a dog too) and Otis is fitting right into the mountain pup ways. I am so excited for him to grow up there and hike with me and become his own adventure pup, just like his brother before him. Life is just better with a brown dog.  To any of you out there who are grieving the loss of a person, a pet, o...