Snow Shoveling

Just for fun! My friend was able to swing by and snap some photos of my shoveling. Something that is pretty hard to photograph by myself. So here you go. Again, this may give you a sense of scale on just how deep the snow is around my house. Nothing new has fallen for a few days, and it's been clear and crisp. -20's F. every night and right around zero for a high kind of crisp. The break is nice to be able to catch up on cleaning up from the last several storms though!

Can You Live In a Tiny House in a Cold Climate?

Can you? Why yes! And I do. This is my third winter in my tiny house and the snowiest of the three so far. I enjoy this lifestyle, but it does come with some of it's own unique challenges. In the following video, I talk about some of the things you may want to think about or be aware of even before building if you are planning for life in a cold climate.

In these shots you can see just how deep the snow is around my house this year. More winter photos can be had in this post among others.

My amazing neighbor making sure I can get from where I shovel out to the main road.

It's almost level with the eves now! And we've had a lot of temps in the -20's to -30's F. range. So, I'm just saying, three winters in, I have some real winter experience in my tiny by now. 

Above and below you can see the condensation I used to get before my wood stove. A frozen and a thawed version. Thankfully, the dry heat from the wood has totally resolved this issue for me. See this post for how bad it used to be.

Gathering and splitting firewood for my winter supply.

And filling up my pallet wood shed above that is now well snowed in as you can below. Being comfortable in the winter does require some planning, preparing, and work ahead of time. 

And here's my tiny wood stove that has kept my house so warm and cozy. For a lot more info on this stove, see my posts on my latest update and tips, cleaning and lighting, initial review, first fire, and first look.

And looking down on my house from my path up the hill to the solar panels. Enjoy your winter climates of whatever sort you have. Let me know if you all have further questions!

Blog Update

This is something I should have done much sooner, but I've gotten around to it now.  I guess sick days are good for something. Those links or buttons across the top of your page depending on the kind of device you are viewing this with, have been added to and updated. Not having a smart phone, I'm not sure exactly how they show up on that kind of screen, but on a laptop, they should be right across the top of your screen under the header photo. 

There are now pages for Home, House Photos, House Systems & Utilities, Where I Live, About Me, Life In Fy Nyth, and Tiny Lessons. These should each allow you to easily find past posts on any topic I've written about in a nice list. I'd started this before, but only had part of the pages created and only some of my oldest posts listed there. Now they are all up to date as of today. 

Especially if you are a newer follower around here, go check them out and explore the nearly 200 posts I've already written! And if you like what you see, sign up for email notifications using the little button on the right hand side of the blog so you don't miss new posts.

And then just for fun, some more photos of winter around here. All from the last week. Above, sunrise just touching the treetops over my house.

My snow and ice buried cozy little place.

The main road near my house. Yes, that is a two lane paved road right down the middle, and this is what it looks like most of the winter.

This is how I am able to get from my shoveled paths to that main road. My wonderful neighbor and his tractor snowblower keep it open for me or I'd be snowed in for sure this year!

And then there are just all the pretty snow and ice covered trees around here. Aspen groves or pines are gorgeous with snow dusting every little twig. And that's pretty much all the kinds of trees that grow here. 

Enjoy whatever version of winter day you are having in your location and let me know if there is a post topic you would like to see covered that is not on any of those lists yet.

Sick Day in a Tiny House

Yes it happens. As I've tried to show with my blog, buying a tiny house is not going to turn your whole life into rainbows and ponies. You can still get sick for instance. 

I'm on day three now of calling in sick to work and barley leaving my couch or bed. I don't know what I have but you don't want it. It's some kind of nasty cold leaving me feeling all stuffy, with a headache, eyes too heavy to keep open, achy all over, constantly running red nose, sneezing, diarrhea, and a fever. Probably tmi, but like I said, you don't want whatever I have. I'm just trying to rest and get well, but since I can't sleep all day I figured I'd write a post too. 

It could be far worse I know. My house is comfortable and cozy. A moose came by to keep me company and is bedded down right across my lane right now. 

I have a laptop and internet so I can listen to something while laying around feeling miserable. I have kleenex. And hot tea, homemade bone broth, homegrown garlic, echinacea, turmeric, colloidal silver, elderberry syrup, etc. And my hot brew of ginger, honey, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper.

Apparently my fever is making my body want some warm temps. That little stove is keeping the house at almost 90 degrees F. And it feels good to me. That's about the only time I have gotten up. To shove some more logs in the stove.

While just outside my door it is quite the opposite. I think the temps hit -30 something F. last night, but it's warmed up a little now. 

One of the things that come with having a job like waiting tables is that when you are sick (and you get lots of chances to be exposed to the whole world's germs due to all the people you are around every day), you don't make any money. And it gets costly to take a lot of days off work. At least I do know what it's costing me is just the ability to pay off my house faster and don't have to actually stress about any set bills since mine are so low every month. If I don't start to feel better in something like the next hour, I'm going to have to get tomorrow covered too. 

I have too much stuff to do for this! I should be working. And shoveling snow. And getting ready for the 30-40 more inches we are supposed to get in the next few days. And working out. And photographing. And so on. But I'm off to curl up and take another nap and try to let my body heal it's self. Sigh. If I'm not better by tomorrow morning I might have to go for a more toxic form of cure than immune support, natural germ killers, and rest. 

Maybe this is the kick in the butt I needed to get back on track with being strict about all the I-know-I-don't-feel-good-when-I-eat-it stuff. No more dairy, wheat, and sugar junk for me. Getting back to Crossfit twice a week, at least once I'm not feeling like this anymore. Fasting regularly. Something that looks tasty for a moment is not worth running my body down till I feel like this.

So, yes. There are days like this even when most photos may make it look like I live in a dream world of mountains and wildlife. Here's hoping you all are enjoying an illness free week where ever you are!