7. All Snow Piles, Great and Small.

All Snow Piles, Great and Small.

Mid January:

After our return from on Florida, we took a couple days of rest from the hustle and urgency of traveling and attempting to tidy up a few loose ends in Boise before we made the trek back out to the lodge. Tuesday and Wednesday were two wonderful days of doing simple chores, keeping the stove hot, finishing up the books we were working on, resting by the fire, and re-acclimating to the cold.
It was a good thing we took this time to recoup, because come Friday, the snow truly arrived. We spent the morning shoveling snow, and playing with our dogs who we sorely missed over our simple week apart. In the early afternoon, we had a visit from one of our regular snowmobilers, who brought his brother out to the lodge. It was a wonderful break from the work, to sit and visit with them for a bit, but once they headed back out to get back to their rigs before dark, we were at it again, shovel and rake in hand.
We worked our way through most of the week. It has snowed about 30 inches since we have returned.
This means snow maintenance, including but not limited to:
Shoveling: 5 staircases on the lodge, 3 cabin decks, the hot tub deck.
Making snow stairs down to the outhouses and the patio under the lodge.
Roof Raking:the lodge, three cabins, two outhouses, barn, and stables.
Climbing to the rafters in the barn to start up a heater so melt the snow enough it will slide off the barn roof.
Stomping foot trails to all buildings with our snowshoes.
Playing with Ruff and throwing the frisbee while we work.
I took this picture of Zach from the second story porch. He is standing on the snow pile that we have accumulated from raking the roof!

This is a picture of Zach raking onto the great snow pile!

It is best to attempt to stay on top of all of these chores as often as possible which means that sometimes some are done twice a day. (Especially the frisbee, that is a continuous chore we strive to accomplish as many times daily as possible.)
This is in addition to our inside daily duties which include cooking everything from scratch, handwashing all dishes, and hike out to the bear pile a couple of times a week.
However, as best we try to stay on top of the work, we also always find a way to supplement our day with play. I spent much time this last week trying to get some sweet shots to jump start Ruff’s athletic modeling career. He was a natural.

Over our few days of continuous work, hiking back and forth across camp, hauling the small gas generator and other camp things, a great idea burst into my mind. I hauled that big black toboggan up to the top of one of our greatest roof snow piles and rode down squealing all the way. This put quite the pause on our work for at least an hour as Zach and I took turns riding the toboggan, riding together, and gleefully laughing at our silly ingenuity. It was grand.

We have reservations for every weekend this month. This means getting all beds prepped, hauling wood out to each cabin, and washing the bedding after the guests leave. We also cook for those that choose to eat meals with us during their stay, so we have been quite busy prepping. On Friday, Zach did some maintenance to the buildings and sign, while I baked a peach pie, dinner rolls, and enormous batch of sugar cookies.

We made a morel and beef spaghetti dinner. It was wonderful, and we sat and ate with a gentleman who has been coming here for twenty years who brought his grown son and two grandchildren. They kindly brought a good round of supplies for us including powdered milk, three packages of bacon, a case of eggs, lettuce, and tomatoes. We were also gifted a special treat, 12 fish from their first day of fishing at the reservoir. They were quiet and kind folks who spoke few but meaningful words. Small town Idaho stock, with a love for the land and the adventures she holds. They smiled at our jokes, and talked with us a bit about how time is changing the Idaho outback, graciously thanked us for our hospitality, and left as the sun crested over the mountains for another day of ice fishing up at the reservoir.

They even gifted us some of their catch.

The mountain living has been worth the work, and the people we meet always have a story to tell.

At night we simply snuggle up, and enjoy our little pack.

It’s not a bad life we are living.
Ta ta for now,
Amy