Our beloved Alex on the back stoop of the cabin. How we miss our Big Boo!

He thought he was a lap dog too.

He is still with us in spirit and we see him eveywhere we look. He grew up going to the cabin from the time he was 10 weeks old.

Over the years, we've accumulated a lot of moose-themed stuff at the cabin. After all, that is one of the special things about it -- moose. In 2009, Lynne took photos of much of the moose stuff. And, I've just posted some of those photos to the photo gallery on this site. 

Looking at all this moose stuff makes us think that the cabin may need to "grow up" some. After all, it is no longer going to be a weekend getaway, but our full-time residence. We may want to get rid of some of the kitchy stuff and decorate with a bit more taste. We'll see...

You can find the OtG Photo Gallery by clicking on it's link on the right side of this page. (Toward the bottom. It says "Photo Gallery Entries"). Then select the Moose Stuff gallery. Or just follow this link directly to it.

Let us know what we should keep and what must go!

For the rest of the week while I am in the middle of a chaotic house and dreaming of what will be, I've decided to share a photo per day of scenes from around our 70 acres.

Trees do whatever they can to survive the deluge of snow on Avalanche Slope. Depending on the snowfall, many trees end up buried under the heavy snow, hence the lean.

Now that Rick has polling working I will pose the question I asked you all a few days ago:

Do you think we are crazy for moving to the cabin?

Snowy Range in Wyoming (field full of Sky Pilots)

We are in serious countdown mode now. One month from now we will be on the road! Boxes are sprouting up everywhere around us, as are stacks of things that are "organized." I went through the fridge and emptied all the glass containers of stuff I knew we wouldn't eat so they could go in the recycle today since we only have one more glass/can recycle day left. Yikes. The freezer is mostly emptied out except for a few packets of chicken thighs and a few other things. I stopped buying in bulk a while ago but we will still have lots of toilet paper left!

It seems unreal at this point. Is this really happening? The fuel oil delivery truck just came to top up the fuel tank and I quickly ran outside and asked him to only fill us about halfway since we were leaving soon. Can't forget to call and undo the propane delivery for the pool heater either.

I'm excited yet I'm a bit scared if you really want to know the truth. Will our cabin life dream be all that we hope it will be? It's easy to doubt when we haven't been there in almost a year but I know the minute we step foot into our little home all doubts will vanish. I know there are a lot of you out there that think we are crazy. After all, how many people want to live in a remote cabin with limited winter access 45 mintues from the nearest facilities of any kind? I was going to put up some kind of voting poll on the blog with the question "Are Rick and Lynne crazy to do this?" and then have two buttons for Yes or No but Rick can't figure out exactly how to make it work. Feel free to vote in the comment section of the blog (not on FaceBook, please) so we can keep track of just how crazy (or not) we are. I think it would be fun to see what you all think!

I can't wait to experience the full wildflower blooming season, and I hope it's a good one. For the past ten years (have we really lived in NJ that long?) we've only seen the very beginning of spring or the fall season depending on what time of year we did our vacation. My new camera will be getting a workout instead of just sitting here on my desk begging to be used. (I now have a Canon EOS 80D, new macro lens, new telephoto lens after trading in my old Rebel and assorted lenses.) 

My brand new fly-fishing rod is also waiting patiently to be used!

My head is spinning with all that needs to be done here: changes of addresss (we hope that goes smoothly but if you've kept up with Rick's failed mail service blogs you know we still have to work on it), turning off cable & phone, final sorting and arranging before the movers arrive, the arrival of the movers and them being here for two days, preparing for the estate sale, the estate sale for three days ... well you get the idea.

After this weekend we only have two more weekends before the movers come and they arrive the day after the second weekend so that one will be super chaotic.

Bring it on, I say! Let's get those SUV's rollin' westward!