Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  We hope everyone is having a wonderful, safe holiday with family and friends!

Kyle & Julia came to spend the holidays with us - they arrived on Sunday afternoon and left on Christmas Day.  They were off the next day to visit Julia's parents in Chicago.  We had a great time and were so happy that they could come up and spend time with us!

On Monday, we went and visited the lot to show them the progress on the carriage house foundation.  We had had a couple days of warm, rainy weather so our snow pack was definitely much smaller! 

We just had a relaxing visit - Jim & Kyle spent the day together on Monday going to the barn and loading up the extra pipe in the car for an eventual trip back to Ohio.  Meanwhile, Julia and I headed to the Lake George Factory Outlets for a little exploration of that area.  On Tuesday, we spent time exploring downtown Saratoga Springs a little - had lunch at Druthers, a fun brew pub tucked in between some buildings on Broadway, and just wandered through some of the unique stores.  We ate way too much, watched an interesting combination of lots of Christmas movies and Duck Dynasty, and went to Midnight Mass (well, it's 9:30 here!). 

 

Since we had no room for a Christmas tree in the apartment, we had to do some improvising!

 

Last year, we read online about a unique Saratoga Springs tradition - the Peppermint Pig.  We ordered one and did it after dinner last year.  We felt it helped contribute to our very crazy but exciting and wonderful 2013 so we had to continue the tradition. 

The tradition of the Peppermint Pig goes back to the early 1880s and they are still only made here in Saratoga County.  The head of the household starts by sharing a tale of the past year's good fortune and then tapping the pig with a little hammer.  Then it continues around, with each person sharing their thoughts on the past year and giving the pig a tap.  Julia, Kyle & Jim preparing to break the pig!

This is supposed to bring prosperity in the coming year.  But it really is a wonderful time of reflection.  And we have much to be grateful for this year - good health, new adventures, goals reached, and love and support from family and friends.

12.19.2013

As I was walking to the Post Office, I finally got a better look at the cool machine that takes the snow from in between the sidewalk and the street.   I still am on the lookout for a photo op with the sidewalk plow machine!

This afternoon, Jim and I dressed in our new boots and coveralls and trekked up the hill to check on the machines.  Oh my - what a workout that was!  And I'm sure it was a couple of inches down since Jim originally went up right after it snowed.  But it was a tough hike up the hill - showed me exactly how out of shape I am I guess!

Once we made it up the hill, it was so gorgeous.  The snow was pristine - not a mark on it except for ours.  The sun was setting and it was just beautiful.

Jim started up the Bobcat and after playing around with it a little bit, got it to move!  It had been so frozen that it wouldn't budge but he got it going, so that was a big relief.  He went a little way down the hill plowing like this but when he turned around, it didn't want to come back up the hill!  The tracks on it are perfect for working in the mud and doing what we need to, but on snow, the wheels worked better.  Jim eventually got it going and then it went back up the hill fine.

Here's our carriage house foundation all covered in snow!

In the evening, we went down to Saratoga Springs to use our gift card that work had bought for us at a restaurant called Maestro's.  It's such a beautiful old building and they have these great outdoor heaters that shoot flames in the air.  There were even some brave souls sitting outside.  However, it was cold so our seats inside were just perfect!

Again, we had another great meal and a fun night!

12.16.2013

More snowfall pictures....

Jim braved the elements, put on his new boots and trekked up our giant hill in over a foot of snow to see how things were faring at the property.  He found quite the winter wonderland.

Where is Mr. Honda?

He started up all of the machines but the Bobcat was frozen solid and wouldn't move.  All the mud from digging froze solid as a rock - it's going to take some thawing to get it moving again.  Which means that there is no digging out by the road happening for awhile.

Everything looks very peaceful under its winter coat.

Temps are supposed to get to -10 degrees tonight!  Brr....

 

12.14.2013 - first snowfall!

Well...we got our first snowfall of the year!  And quite the snowfall it was - probably about 12-15"!  It was a real fine, pretty snow that started about 4:00 last night as we were going to church and just continued all night. 

Jim had to use a broom to try and find the car...but look how the roads are just wet.  Obviously they are used to snow here.  They even have a cool machine that drives on the sidewalks plowing them and dropping sand!

 

 

However, Jim went out to the land and there was no getting through the plowed snow at the end of the driveway!  Definitely snowed out!

The deep snow made us realize that we had procrastinated getting some hearty winter weather gear.  Certainly we are used to snow being from Cleveland, but then all I had to do was go out to my nice garage, get in the car, drive to work, get out in a shoveled parking lot and go to work.  Jim had boots that he used when he was shoveling or plowing, but as soon as he stepped out of our apartment, he knew the time had come to get higher, waterproof boots!  Plus I've been enjoying walking to the post office and store and want to continue doing that. 

Since obviously our new landlord doesn't have shoveling at the top of his list, you can see how deep the snow was!



So off we went.  We decided to go to the outlet malls at Lake George.  We had only driven by once when we were still looking for land with Kyle and Julia.  Then it was summer and that whole area is crowded.  But look how gorgeous it was!

The mountains, pine trees and snow were really pretty.  And we both found good boots so mission accomplished!

 

When we got home, they had come through the parking lot with a plow - and piled up the snow behind the cars.  Good thing I don't have to go out anywhere!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12.11.2013 - done digging for the year!

Today was definitely a red letter day for two reasons - first, it is our 24th wedding anniversary!  Happy Anniversary, Jim - I love you much!  We will be celebrating tonight at a local restaurant compliments of Kyle and Julia.  It also happens to be Saratoga Restaurant Week so all the local restaurants have 3 course dinner specials - we are looking forward to it!

Then...drumroll, please...even though it was pretty cold with wind that made it even colder, Jim finished up what he wanted to on the rough foundation.  As you can see from this picture, he pulled back the dirt from the top to create a safety ledge to hopefully curtail any collapse during the winter.  It looks amazing and I still can't believe he got all that done so quickly and in December, no less!

 

Jim spent a little bit of time putting the excavator away and getting it ready for its winter hibernation period.  Weather permitting, there will still be things we will do on the lot - I don't think Jim can stay away from it for too long - but this is a big accomplishment checked off.

 

Update:  We just got home from our wonderful anniversary dinner at The Wishing Well.  We each had a 3 course dinner - Jim had pork osso bucco and I had crab-stuffed salmon. The food was really incredible!  Plus the restaurant was really nice - and old house with all the rooms decorated. Everyone was so nice too. It was just a perfect night!

 

12.10.2013

Jim was able to dig today too - it was definitely cold but the conditions are okay for digging as long as the operator can stay warm! 

When I took lunch out, I was amazed at how great it looks.  When I first came up the driveway back to the carriage house, Jim was in the excavator inside the foundation area.  It was so deep that I could only see the top of the machine!  Pictures just don't do it justice!

 

Here I am inside - you can tell how deep it is compared to me!

When Jim got home tonight, he said he is just about 95% done with the digging area.  He would like to pull back more of the dirt from the top where it will undoubtedly collapse some during the winter.  The temps are supposed to get really cold on Thursday so we'll see if he is able to work tomorrow.  But all in all, he's extremely happy with the status of everything as it is.  I'm still so amazed that he was able to get all this done in such a short time in December!

 

12.9.2013

Jim has still been heading out to the land in the afternoons to do more digging.  This was how it looked Sunday after he worked on Saturday.  He basically has the footprint of the carriage house done although he will have to dig where the stairwell goes as well as get all the dirt out from inside.

Today we woke up to the most snow we've had since we've been here - and it was maybe 1-1/2"!  Then it warmed up a little bit so the streets are all clear.  Jim had to meet with the insurance agent this morning so he didn't head out until after lunch.

This was the picture he took before it got too dark...Today he took the excavator down below and started loosening up the step of dirt that couldn't be reached from above.  He then used the Bobcat to scoop the dirt.  And, as you can see from the picture, he mounded some of that dirt on the areas where the footers will go to keep the ground stable throughout the winter.  Otherwise, the freeze-thaw cycles will loosen the compacted dirt and may cause the carriage house to eventually settle.  Which we obviously don't want.