Spring Coming to the Tiny House in the Mountains

As recently as March 27, this is what the clearing looked like around our house. A lot of snow had melted, but there was still a whole lot there as well. But since then, it's rapidly been going! Overall the winter has been colder than normal, but we only got about 85% of the average snowfall. So lower than normal snow totals, but with lots of colder than normal days total. But now it's warming up some and frozen crystals are turning into liquid. A couple days ago the creek right below the house started to flow water on top of all the ice layers. I haven't been able to see or hear the creek since fall when it first iced over and that ice just got thicker and thicker. But as some snow melt started to make it's way out of the mountains, it had to flow on top of

How I Prepare for the Unexpected, Winter (And Year Round!) Vehicle Supplies,

I was driving home after dark one winter night having just finished cleaning a home that is one of my regular jobs. The drive takes me along a road that is only 5 miles or so from a small town at one point, but due to the mountain shapes, there is no cell service for a couple mile stretch. It's a winding road with lots of hard corners. Anyway, I came around one of those cell phone service lacking corners and there was not one, but two cars who had been traveling toward me on the opposite side of the road, totally buried in the snow bank on my side of the road. Like many smaller country roads, there's not really a shoulder, so this means they are both nose down over the few foot drop off. Resting the front corner of their cars against a barbed wire fence, and nearly into a little creek that flows along that road edge. Obviously both drivers had spun out on the same slippery patch and I don't know how they had avoided hitting each other. One of these cars was a pretty new Audi with a middle aged couple inside. They were just sitting inside looking totally helpless. Doing nothing. The second stuck rig was a little larger SUV, also pretty new with a single male driver. He was outside, attempting

Burley Loving Life in the Snow

As you know if you have been following life here in Fy Nyth for any length of time, Burley adores the snow! He loves winter, and I think must believe that summer is this odd little time of year when his wonderful snow melts temporarily. If you have seen some of our backpacking trips in the summer, you probably remember him searching out any snow patches left high in the mountains and racing right to them to roll in and do belly slides on. But right now he doesn't have to search at all to find snow. We are just wrapping up the second snowiest

Baby Moose Panic

As the snow continues to deepen, more and more wildlife start to use the cleared and shoveled pathways all over the area because it makes it so much easier for them to travel. So more things travel up or down my lane and past my house. So here is some more captures from the game camera yesterday. Pardon the photo quality, game cameras do not have the resolution of my cameras I normally use. But they do capture things like this which is neat! Burley and I were out shoveling snow at a different house at the time, but when we'd got up in the morning, I saw this family was napping in the edge of the woods behind the house. Anyway, here's what happened while we were out. First mama moose strolled by

What Happens When Your Money is Broken?

There are times that enjoying a more simple and decluttered life and being ready for things to go wrong can appear to be in conflict. At least if you think that a simple life means relying on getting everything you need at the last second from someone else. Which seems to be the impression some folks have of tiny house life. Though it is actually far from how I live. I get a lot of questions from folks who are concerned about my safety and security given that I live in a rural area and access to some things would be slower due to greater distances. While I know they are genuinely concerned for me, I think many of these fears come from not being familiar with the things that are actually

Beartooth Backpacking

Another flash back to a summer backpacking trip. This one took place near the end of July and was with my good friend Julie. It was extra fun for me because it was my first trip into a whole new mountain range that I've never visited before, the Beartooths. Julie has packed there before with her sons, but we went to some areas that were new to

Winter Arriving with a Bang!

It's only mid November, and while my area, as you probably know, is cold and snowy for much of the year, this one is currently getting off to a nice deep start! While I won't know what the whole winter will bring

Catching up from the Summer

All summer long I tend to be so busy that I rarely have time to write. But it's dumping snow outside, so I'm going to try to catch up on a bit of what I've been up to through the summer. Here's a look at the second backpacking trip of my

Spring Backpacking and other Walks in the Woods

While there's still a lot of snow in the mountains above our house, we've been able to do some backpacking and hiking, two of my favorite activities. And one of my one younger brothers came to visit for a bit. Among other things like work projects, long conversations, and enjoying good homemade meals, we went on a two

Mini Documentary about Fy Nyth

Hey there! Just a quick note. Check out this little look at life around my house put together by Exploring Alternatives. I think they did a really nice job! Find their mini documentary about life here at Fy Nyth at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFI5m0n4G0Y&feature=youtu.be

Random Spring Stuff around the Tiny House

Just a few quick glimpses into some spring chores over the past little bit. Though it's rapidly turning into summer around here! Before most of the spring things can really start, I'm usually itching to get going on stuff, so it's a good time

First Time I've Ever Seen These From the Tiny House!

All the garden beds are finally bare of snow! Just barely. :) I had to share that little note just because it's exciting to me at this time of year.

 Anyway, you've probably seen a lot of different interesting wildlife around the tiny house here if you've followed life around here for any length of time. But the other day I glanced out the window and saw something I've never seen here in our clearing before! Not actually an uncommon creature. In fact much more common than many of the other things like wolves and mountain lions that have walked by. But in six years of living here,

Late Winter? Or is it Spring?

Greetings from Burley, the wet rat dog, and I. 😀 It's warmed enough for wading in the creeks to be fun. At least for him, I am not nearly so into wading in water that is approximately the temp of ice melt. He however adores it, and begs for more sticks to be thrown in the water pretty much endlessly. When he's all wet, you can see his neat coat color, dark shaded or wolf sable. Every hair that looks black most of the time, is actually

A Bit of Recent Tiny House Life

Just some quick glimpses into what we've been doing around the tiny house lately. The good part of the way I've chosen to live for years now is that my normal life is apparently pretty close to what people call quarantine. 🙂 So other than not being able to workout in the gym a couple times a week, my life is pretty much the same as normal. And for this I feel very

Snowshoeing & A Bit of what I Do For Work

Hello from Burley and I who are still very much enjoying things like long snowshoes through the woods! Thanks to our good friend Beth for snapping this great shot of us together on the last snowshoe she joined us for. Around here winter is gradually turning into spring. The snow is still quite deep in most areas, but a few cleared spots that also face south have melted out and become mud. 

I hope you are all doing well and getting to do something you

March Snowpack Comparisons around the Tiny House

You folks always seem to enjoy weather and snow comparisons. And I find it fun to scroll back through older photos and be reminded of the differences myself. So here's one for March! The above photo is today, March 19, 2020. As you can see, there's still a good bit of snow around. It's about my waist level in most areas where it has not been shoveled higher. Below is 

Tiny House Life Frugal Tips - Cut Your Own Hair

I've been pondering for a bit a lot of the questions and comments I get that relate to something along the lines of "how do you afford to buy a tiny house/do what you're doing/etc." Well, in general, there's two basic ways to be able to have what you want I've found. Earn more money, or spend less money. Now there's lots of experts out there who have much advice and ideas on all aspects of the "earn more" side of things. From jobs and skills training, to the most profitable fields to work in, to investing and more. All of that is far from my area of experience for the most part. I've generally found that personally, it's easier and more fun to find ways to spend less than earn more. 

Now I certainly don't have a goal of spending as little as humanly possible though there are folks out there who can advise you on how to do that as well. For me, my goal is more about spending money only when I find my life benefits greatly from the thing that money buys. And for many things, I just simply enjoy doing them myself more than paying someone else to do it for me, not having them, bartering for things, or using a different/older/second hand item versus buying something new. Some things I would still rather pay someone else to do. Like I just really don't enjoy

Winter Wonders - Snowshoeing, Wildlife, Ice, and Snow

We've been very much enjoying winter around here! Many miles of snowshoeing through woods and along rivers have provided delightful glimpses of beautiful things in the natural world.

 The snowpack, the amount on the ground, is always changing with new storms, well below zero weather that sucks moisture back out via sublimation (frozen water turning directly into vapor without melting into a liquid first), or a warmer day with some sunshine that helps compact all the layers from the various storms together as the snow settles. The snow fall totals are a different measurement from snowpack, generally measuring the amount of new inches that have fallen once a day before all the above mentioned effect have much time to act on that new snow. At the moment this leaves the mountain above me reporting over

Best Snowshoe for Deep Powder, New vs. Old Snowshoes

As I mentioned in one of the last posts, we've been doing a lot of snowshoeing recently. And as discussed, I have found modern style snowshoes to be pretty ineffective for actually moving through deep snow. I've pondered for several years if I needed a new-to-me pair of snowshoes and if so, what would best fit my needs. I have found over time, this is a good process to work through to be sure I am going to acquire an item I actually need or want and know I will use for sure. I don't have time or space in my life for things that don't fit that description, so I don't want to waste any money or energy on any of the trillions of items in the world that I do not need or want and know I will use for sure. 

 So, when I'm thinking through something I might want, unless it's something I already had that is totally worn out, broken, and unrepairable, and needs replacing with the same item, this is what I usually do. Think about, do I need this? Almost always the answer is

Snowshoeing with Burley

With lots (more than 11 feet in the mountains above me since January first alone!) of snow, Burley and I have been enjoying quite a few snowshoes through the woods. I love being able to float over the deep snow, the quiet of the winter woods, and