Just Us and the Deer

This night, 11 deer came into our yard at dusk after we put out beer grains for them.

At the start of this coldest season, Mason and I were pretty restless. You may have noticed, but we aren't too good at doing nothing. I feel guilty if I'm not getting something constructive done. So I painted the stairs. I cleaned out my "closet" (which is really just hangers on an electrical pipe). I tried new recipes. I mended torn clothes. Cleaned the shower. I even started to workout, just a little.

Well, that was the start of the season. Now, after a good stretch when the high for the day never broke above freezing, we've become expert slackers. Most days we manage to get out of the cabin twice for Nick's daily walks, but in between? The warm cozy loft has lured us to no end. There have been novels upon novels. (Thank you, my incredible book fairy, you spoil us so!!)

A new batch from our book fairy, who we cannot thank enough!

Beer-making duties have been our only chore, and Mason handles all of that. I just help him drink it. And Nick and the neighborhood deer also score: Nick gets homemade dog treats and the deer have taken a liking to the leftover grains.

So, in summary: We are well-read, well-fed and occasionally slightly tipsy lazy asses.

But it's supposed to push 50 degrees in the coming days, so the question is: Will we be able to reverse this lazy trend? 

Making dog treats for Nick. A friend gave me some bone-shaped cookie cutters, so they're extra cute now!

Deer Update

Remember that lone camellia bud that the deer left for me? Yup, it's gone, along with the last few leaves left on the plant.

Forced Inside

Our lake,  on a really still recent day.

Winter finally turned cold on Flat Top, forcing us to slow down a bit and find things to do inside the cabin. I won't lie: There have been naps. And days when the bed never got made. And books have been finished, and others started. (For the record, 40 degrees and above and I must work outside. In the 30s? No can do.)

Sparging. Don't ask. But isn't all that natural light divine?

After several days of such egregious behavior, Mason finally found some energy today and launched into brewing some beer using the more time-consuming all-grain process (which heated up the cabin quite nicely, I might add.) Beer, yummm.

The view from my chair. I'm working on perspective.

After hitting the wall on reading, I picked up a pen and paper and started testing my drawing skills. I know, still pretty cartoony. I'm working on it.

Oh, and remember that gorgeous camilla from last week? A hungry deer (or four?) ate nearly every single leaf off the damn plant. I nearly cried. They were kind enough to leave me with one bud. Bastards! Good thing they're cute, or they'd have killing coming to 'em.

 The deer are on my shit list.