Sometimes the moon jumps into your eyeballs — especially when it’s full — and reminds you to Just Stop. Look. Breathe. Notice. Make sure you’re living and not just existing.
When you’re doing DIY construction, it can become a long grind from one task to the next. Each morning, the same questions: What’s the top priority? What’s time-sensitive? What order will be delivered soon, and how to prepare for it? What to order next? The planning never stops, and you feel the need to get something done each day. (The goal is to finish in a year.)
But. I need to remember why I’m doing this: to put down deeper roots here in the Upper Peninsula. And I’m doing that in order to be closer to nature, and to share it with others. I don’t want to let the tasks overtake the joy, or let the small goals overtake the big ones. In our productivity-crazy culture, it’s easy to forget that productivity isn’t all that matters. In my office, we called this Work-Life Balance. It’s “a thing” in the federal government and the military–an effort to discourage workaholism and encourage an off-duty life. (I, for one, needed that reminder. I wasn’t addicted to work, but I did put in crazy-long hours. A form of perfectionism, I think; and maybe, as a boss, a misplaced sense of responsibility.)
So, in the midst of staining wood and buying outlets and ordering siding, I got outside this past week. The story of my own attempt at Work-Life Balance in photos and captions below…
Tonight’s full moon, rising over Huron Bay, stopped me in my tracks. I was inside the house, putting together the kit for rolling shelves — because you need movable surfaces for a project like this — and looked through the patio door. Wow. I bolted outside to get this shot, grateful for the reminder that I just mentioned. (The ice is confused this winter…freezing one day and melting the next.)
Inside, my focus lately has been on staining the window sashes. All the windows and patio doors are wood-clad, and I opted not to get them pre-stained because it would have been even more pricey. I sure wish I just ate the cost. Staining is tricky, especially with pine. You can see the blotchiness on this bathroom window. I know now that a dark stain was a bad idea, even though it echoes my design aesthetic. I’m trying various fixes…sanding, mineral oil, etc. And watching YouTube videos about this problem. (There are a lot of them.) I’ll figure it out.
The mudroom window came out better. It’s tricky to work around all the non-wood parts such as those rubber strips. It requires staining with one hand while wiping away “mistakes” with the other. It will look better once we add the trim – another decision I’m making right now. (Type of wood? Color? This time, I intend to pay for pre-stained!)
Feeling a bit frustrated while learning to stain, I took a day off to join the Sunday hiking/skiing group for an outing in my hometown, 45 minutes away. (That’s me in blue, on the left.)
A few days later, I took a time-out for a hike in the woods with Roscoe. There was just enough snow for snowshoes but it’s all gone now. (This was several days ago.)
I love shadows on the snow! I only wished that there was snow on the trees also.
Jeff doesn’t seem to need time-outs. He needs to be “doing something.” (My sister is like that, too. Putter, putter, putter. Though she does take time-outs to read and hike.) Here, he’s putting the ceiling on the porch. Of course I’m grateful for all he’s doing, and I’ve learned — mostly — to not let his habits affect my own needs. But I do wish he’d take a day off more often.
DIY construction creates garbage, and I burn the cardboard in the outdoor fire pit. I’ve had the fire going a few nights this week, grateful that the snow is shallow enough to do this.
I took off most of today to attend National Sauna Week events in my hometown. (This wood carving is on display in the Finnish American Heritage Center.) I grew up with a sauna and am proud of my genetic “home country” for exporting this custom all over the world — but I’m not crazy about taking saunas. Nonetheless, we’ll probably have a small one on the shore here at Camp Many Moons. It’s expected of a Finn like me. Plus, I relish the idea of bolting into the chilly bay after getting steamy-hot…now that I know how great it feels. (See bottom of this post.)
Meanwhile, the vision of a completed home keeps us both moving forward on tasks. This is a rough idea of what it will look like when the siding is on, developed with an on-line design tool. I uploaded a recent photo and then “tried on” my intended siding to see how it will actually look. I couldn’t figure out how to get the trim right and there are other errors here, but you get the idea. See the 2nd story? This visualization tool helped me decide to forego the board-and-batten (vertical siding) that I was planning to use there in favor of this staggered shake. I also decided to stick with one color instead of two, in favor of simplicity. Does it look like a cabin? I hope so, because that’s the idea – without using logs or genuine cedar. (Lots of reasons for that.)
And this is how the house actually looks right now, still wrapped in Tyvek. But, progress! The stack of engineered wood that was on that porch for months is all gone. Where? On the porch ceiling, where it belongs! Great work, Jeff! (He also put up all the flush-mount lights into the porch ceiling this week. I wanted homey wall-mounted lights “carriage lights” instead but may end up thanking him for this. It’s supposed to give a nice down-glow. We’ll see!)
For Many Moons 
Love the combination of “what we’re doing” and “reflections on what we’re doing.”
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Thanks, I appreciate that! Really. It’s not to everyone’s taste. I blog mainly for my own pleasure, but it still matters what the readers see and get…
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