Skiiiing. That’s fun to write. Skiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing. It actually sounds like little kids tearing straight down the hill, the way they do on skis. If they fall, they don’t have to worry about breaking anything. They just bounce.
On Saturday I took some of our heaps of extra money and invested it in Memories for the Kids …

A friend invited me to go snowshoeing with him yesterday, and to my legs’ consternation I agreed. Also brought Emma along, who is shown here looking south over Lake Pend Oreille from about 3.5 miles into the hike. We had to quit at about four miles because I was too tired to continue, and we …

Two years ago today, while we were struggling to finish the plumbing in the house (we ended up calling in the professionals, $2400) the snow was waist deep on the level. By mid-February, our driveway looked like a white hallway. I have pictures where the snow berms were above my head.
We had so much snow …

I had to get on the roof.
When I get sick to my stomach I get really sick. Violently sick. It’s icky. And the timing was rather poor for the violently-icky illness I had over the holiday, because our chimbley was clogged* and I had to get on the roof to fix it. Until I could …

I’ve been out of the office sick the last little while, and I’m about to be out for my Christmas break. Sorry for the delays, but you know. It is that time of year.
It’s been a great adventure putting this blog together over the past, oh, nine months. I thought it would die out in …

We had a chestnut tree in the back yard when we lived in town. It was a beautiful tree and I remember the spiky chestnuts and the racoon Jess saw in its branches (the only coon I ever saw in a tree; almost the only coon I ever saw period). But there are no chestnut …

From left: Katie, Natalie (sorry about your head, Nat), Becca, and Abby string popcorn for the tree
Well as you might have guessed, I took a few days off of work last week for the Thanksgiving holiday (as you might have done too). My parents were visiting for the last time before they leave for their …

Of the Yeeeeeeeeeeeear!
We’ve had the Christmas music on, we’ll set up the Christmas tree a week from tomorrow (we always do, the day after Thanksgiving), and the weather has complied by sending snow. Jess called this afternoon and said we had two new inches. (This picture was from the other day.) Yahoo!
Not to rub it …

Here we have quite possibly the oddest photograph yet posted on The Self-Reliants. If you can guess what it is in two seconds or less, you win! Time’s up, it’s carrots. I had to stir up these few from their long winter’s nap so I could get a picture. They look curly and squat like …

This actually happened almost a week ago, last Friday, in fact. The snow stayed in shaded areas for upwards of four days. It’s been cooooold out there! January weather, sometimes. Way too cold for October, and I’ve been burning firewood frequently.
That said, we’re back to more normal fall weather now. It’s welcome; I still have …