Closing soon!!

.

O.K., a quick tour of the outside buildings. This is the garage/elevated deck/ upstairs hide-away building. Another unique design....

This is the workshop, just to the north of the garage. The epicenter of iron working, this building was. Russ was not one to get into a rut on building design!!

And, of course, the Chalet at the turn of the driveway. Many years a gift and craft shop, a few years as a gunsmith shop. No telling what it will end up being in the future....!

Here is the little stone building that sits atop the entrance to the deep root cellar. Hard to describe it, best seen in person..... that's an invite.

Here is the view from in front of the house, looking down the driveway towards the Chalet. I think I will be able to get used to this view.

Things have been busy lately, dealing with realtors, insurance agents, etc. We close the deal on Thursday, Dec. 2nd, and then we can begin transferring "stuff" to the new location. I'm sure we will be spending many weekends hauling, placing, deciding, moving, placing, packing, unpacking, etc. February will be for resting up.

.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

.

A little tour of the inside of our new home:

Here is about half of the kitchen area. I'll have to learn to avoid hitting those beams with my head! I think the charm outweighs the potential bumps.... by the way, these photos are from the realty website, they are .gif images so they do not expand like regular photos. I don't know how to edit them to brighten up the views, so you're stuck with what I have for now.

Here is the east half of the living room. A rock planter on the left, decorative rock veneer on the far side, large windows on the south. Love the beams and boards!!

The bathroom does not have a shower, so I'm checking online to find one of those suspended shower curtain affairs with the tall riser for the shower head. They are used on the old claw foot bathtubs and similar retro-looking applications.
By the way, I'm building this post in between cooking tasks. Peg and I were planning on not doing anything this weekend. It's been a stressful fall, and we have had Hailee at our house for the last three weekends. She's 5, we're not.......

Here's a view of the fireplace and the south and west side of the living room. Russell built the fireplace as an open fire platform with a suspended hood and chimney above that could be moved up and down depending on the draft needs of the fire. I'm guessing that may have been more trouble than it was worth, and the 4 glass sides were installed with the hood connecting directly to the top of the glass enclosure. At the upper left corner you can see part of the bridge that connects the two upstairs rooms, one at each end of the house.

Standing next to the fireplace and looking north, the quarter turn iron stairway is the focal point. Russell built this stairway and it is sturdy and good looking. Above to the right is the aforementioned bridge.

Back to the cooking.... I thought that as long as we would have to eat something today, why not have a roasted chicken? One would need mashed potatoes with that, I guess. Well, it turned out that I came home Tuesday evening with a 13# turkey, a butternut squash, some sweet potatoes and a banana cream pie from the famous "Bonnie's Diner" in Phillips.

From the north, the kitchen, stairs, fireplace and living room.

The squash is now cooked, shelled and in the fridge, waiting for the rest of the meal to finish. When I got home with the turkey, I put it directly into the fridge in hopes that it would start thawing and it would be ready to go today. It's now in cold water, making progress but I'm not sure how long it will take. How many times has this scenario played itself out?? No reason for it except my planning. Remember the five P's (prior planning prevents poor performance)!!!!

The cute little ice thingie above is most appropriate right now. We had rain, snow, big winds and more snow in the last few days. I guess winter is here......








.

A New Adventure.....

.

Halloween is past and I must say, things have certainly been in flux lately..... the latest of which is creation of 'Ottertail South'. Peg and I have begun the process of buying Uncle Russ Mattson's house and land. Believe me, this was a momentous decision for us! Leaving the Ottertail homestead, place of my youth, my home of the last 14 years, and Peggy's and my home of the last four years. The upside of this is being only 3/4 mile from the homestead and the fact that Dawn and Tim will be coming to Wisconsin to live in the Carlson home!

Here is the view of Russ and Bee's a-frame looking from the northeast. That's the kitchen in the middle of the east wall.

Another view more from the east. Hey, a clothesline! At the left is the little stone building sitting atop the stairway to the root cellar.

A view from the west, northwest. Lots of shingles, but not much siding. No eave troughs, either...... I'll give you more views later.

I was a little slow to warm to this change, but as the days go by I find myself thinking of how it will be to live in this house, how it will feel to drive up that familiar driveway and be home....

Have a good and safe Thanksgiving.

.