Wild North Design
  • Shop Collection
    • For the Home
    • Commercial/Business
    • Tots & Kiddos
    • Weddings
  • Alaskan Journey Blog
  • Projects
  • Custom Inspirations
  • Contact
  • Shop Collection
    • For the Home
    • Commercial/Business
    • Tots & Kiddos
    • Weddings
  • Alaskan Journey Blog
  • Projects
  • Custom Inspirations
  • Contact
Search

   Alaskan Journey Blog

2023: So Far, So Good

1/31/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
Wind damage from the two major windstorms in 2022.
Above average temperatures in January have had us feeling like summer should be coming any day now.
Picture
Shoveling another roof off.
Even though December brought us the single biggest snowfall in the past 30 years, January ended up being pleasantly mild.  It even warmed up to above freezing in the last week! The melting snow and warm temperatures has got us pretty excited to start working on our summer projects, the list of which seems to be growing by the day. From here, it looks like we’ve already got enough projects to fill the entire summer; let’s hope nothing else comes up!
Picture
We’ve been using these slower winter months to plan out as much as we can for the summer, since the warm summer months are so precious as far as getting things done, we like not having to take the time to make plans and decisions. It’s much nicer to already have made all the decisions and laid all the plans and all we have to do is work, work, work and check things off the list. One of the major items we’ve been planning is our summer livestock and farm/garden crops. Taking all the knowledge and experience we gained last year and applying it to the upcoming one; making sure not to repeat the same mistakes and expanding on the things that worked well. Some of the many projects include building one or two more greenhouses and fixing the existing ones, moving the pig pen to a new area of the yard, getting more chickens (both egg layers and meat birds), and fixing the fences.  
Picture
One major milestone we reached this month was getting the in-floor heat system turned on in the shop we built this fall. Pete got all the plumbing put together, pressure tested the system, and filled it with a glycol mixture then flipped it on. It took about two days for the slab to come up to temperature; going from near 0°F to 60°F where we have the thermostat set. The new, warm, brightly lit space is sooooo nice! Though it’s not quite ready to move all the tools in just yet, since we want to get all the messy drywall and painting work out of the way now so we don’t have to do it later and work around all the tools and equipment.
Picture
Pete explaining how the in-floor heating system works.
Picture
A little help here, please?
Picture
Inside of the shop coming together.
Another thing we did to take advantage of the warm weather was clean out the wood stove. We need to let the fire go out all the way to do that, so we usually don’t do it until March. We like to take the chimney pipe completely out so we can clean it outside and keep some of the mess out. We also shoveled out all the ashes which, after burning wood non-stop since late October, start to take up a lot of space in there. Like many things around here, we’ve gotten pretty good at this project and we were able to get the whole job done in less than a couple hours.  
Picture
Carving out some ski & moose trails.
Picture
Reassembling stove pipe after cleaning.
Picture
Bear has a snow beard! LOL
Well that's about all for this month. Thanks for reading, everyone!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    Hello, I am Melissa, owner of Wild North Design. Recently, my husband and I decided to pick up and move to Alaska. This dream has been a couple years in the making and we are enjoying the journey so far. We love to learn and make all kinds of things. From wood craft, to painting, to vehicles, landscaping, building, exploring...we love it all! We are finding out that Alaska is a great fit for our restless minds and bodies! Excited for what the future holds for our expanding family!

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies.

    Opt Out of Cookies
Shop
  Wedding
  Decor
  Toys
  All
Gallery
Contact
About Us

Blogs
Alaskan Adventure
Projects
Legal
  Privacy Policy
  Terms and Conditions
 
Disclaimer
  • Shop Collection
    • For the Home
    • Commercial/Business
    • Tots & Kiddos
    • Weddings
  • Alaskan Journey Blog
  • Projects
  • Custom Inspirations
  • Contact