winter Archives - restoring simple

Hello 2016

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”
― Edith Sitwell

Temperatures have been pretty chilly and we’ve had snow on the ground since Thanksgiving. This means watering animals twice a day with hot water, feeding everyone a little bit more, and bundling up as much as possible before morning and evening chores.

We had some new friends, Zach and Elle, stop by on their road-trip-tour to interview us and the animals. They are working on a project called the New Americans. Their goal is to wander around the U.S., capturing the stories of normal, everyday Americans. We had a blast hanging out with them and getting to know them for less than 24 hours before they moved onto the next destination. You can follow their journey via Instagram (links above).

Christmastime was fun this year. We chopped down a massive tree from some friend property and drug it between 1/4-1/2 mile back to the car. I think we decided on a slightly smaller one for next year, but it still looked great once we got lights and ornaments on it.

We also went on a Christmas morning hike where Ry surprised me with another tree & cozy campfire.

We also found out that we’re expecting a baby around the end of July! So I’ve (Hannah) been dealing with fatigued, nausea, and eating a ton of cereal. We’re looking forward to this new adventure this summer!

There really hasn’t been too much going on other than normal daily routine. Which is nice.

Ryan finished making the aspen ladder for our bookshelves (photo to come later)
We’ve been enjoying getting our Christmas presents (Taproot, Backwoods Home) sporadically over the last month (thanks MIL!) and reading them in the mornings or evenings next to the fire.
I started thinking about & planning the garden and what we’d like to plant and what we should plant, seeing as the baby will be coming right before harvest time…
Also reading: Lord of the Flies, The Friday Night Knitting Club, & Birthing from Within.
Watching: That 70s show, Downton Abbey, Business of Being Born, & Holy Ghost.

Thanks for reading & stay warm!

January 11, 2016

Country Living

Life in the Valley

Note: when I say “valley” I’m not speaking philosophically about where we are at in life.

Nope.

We literally live in a valley.

Between the Wet Mountains and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

And its great.

Here is a little snapshot of what our lives have looked like since being here:

The Groths (Hannah’s fam from TX) came and celebrating Christmas with us. Pic below is of sledding adventures in the mountains. It was great to create memories in our (2 bedroom 1 bath) rental home with them. SUCH a tight squeeze, but so worth it.

Ryan has been making rustic/farmhouse style furniture for the rental we’re living in currently (with hopes to sell when Tiny House is complete). There is a barn on the property, so he has a workshop finally! He’s had a few local folks interested in some custom furniture, so hopefully he’ll get to be out in his barn more often.

I’ve (Hannah) enjoyed having a home for the first time since we’ve been married. We realized that since April we have lived in 5 different homes and about 10 different hotels. The little things like cooking, and relaxing on the couch and watching a movie, having a Christmas tree, or hanging our coats up in a closet are things that I am thankful for in this housing situation.

We also have a new addition to the family: Macey the pup! She’s a Lab/St. Bernard mix and has a really laid back, sweet personality. She’s six months old, loves to please, and is eager to learn. One downside: she eats poop. No, she loves poop. I’ve heard this is normal for pups, still: NOT.OK. Other than that she’s great :)

We also traded (for good or bad) our Saturn for this big girl, Griselda Hobbs. She’s a 1975 Jeep Wagoneer. Almost all her handles that do anything functional, come off and on at different times. The radio doesn’t work as far as we know. To get to the trunk you need a special key to first put the window down, then unlatch the back. The fabric is torn and super retro. The seat belts go across your lap. She’s a hefty lady weighing 3 tons, but she can maneuver her way through at least 6-8 inches of standing snow, hold her own on the iciest of roads in negative degree Colorado winters, and she’s a lovely burnt orange, oxidized in all the right places. Not sure how long we’ll keep her alive, but for now, this charming old gal is ours.

We have been working on the Tiny House to get it ready to move down here from Golden. We had to order some more (bigger) axles, that could hold more weight because this house is freakin huge! We have some friends down here that have offered to let us park it on their land. Once it’s moved down here, we’ll work on getting it finished! The exterior is almost completely done, its just the inside that needs work now.

While we’ve found part time work here in the Valley, we are still looking for more lucrative means of making a living here. As we’ve talked to many people here, this is what they have to say about new folks coming in:

– people move to Westcliffe because they love it (either they have family that lives here, they’ve visited growing up, camped here, been hunting with their grandfather…etc.)

– they all struggle financially to “make it” for the first several years

– if they make it out of those first years, they stay forever

– if not, they leave to go make life work somewhere else

So, we have a similar story. We felt compelled to move here. Moved. And we would LOVE to make it work here and stay forever.

But that’s the part that we’re at currently: making it work here.

We absolutely LOVE being here. The people that we’ve met have such similar passions and goals in life as we do. There is a slightly older population in town, so we enjoy being on the younger end of things. There is an openness here to do things “differently” (i.e. build a Tiny House, or straw bale, or earth bag home). We are really looking forward to raising a family here and participating in the community here.

So, we’re still hopeful that perhaps we can be one of those families that can make it work here :)

We’ll keep you updated on our lives in the Wet Mountain Valley.

Living in a small town is like living in a large family of rather uncongenial relations. Sometimes it’s fun, and sometimes it’s perfectly awful, but it’s always good for you.

– Joyce Dennys

February 9, 2014