Diary of a Mad Art Teacher... and photographer...: Snow shoes and spiral staircase

This afternoon, my services were requested out at the little cabin in the woods. Now get your minds OUT of the gutters, people, it was for photography! REALLY, now. Anyway, apparently some of the Mad-Accountants pals in Phillips don't quite believe that he is actually constructing a spiral staircase for the cabin by hand- with no apparent plans or blueprints! (I know- a spiral staircase in a cabin is a bit like gilding the lily, but it is the result of a space issue!) Just fyi, the staircase is to provide access to the "loft"! This is where my husband and children will sleep and I hope to heaven don't break their necks when they get up in the middle of the night! I hope a nice railing is part of the plans up there!

So, I strapped on the snow shoes and set off to the cabin. Now the snow shoes are getting much easier to walk in, I don't feel pigeon toed anymore, and they feel very comfortable. Now that I have the hiking poles from Jon and Sarah-Grace, I am really getting a good workout and feeling very balanced and in control walking in them. The wind was still wicked cold this afternoon, so I was really irritated when I got part of the way back and realized I had left my scarf at home. Dang. I had not only my little Canon in my pocket, but had tucked my big Canon in my coat. That thing is a beast to carry around in the winter with all of those layers of clothing. I took a couple pictures along the way- the sun was STILL shining and it was lovely. However I found when I got to the cabin that my memory card was FULL!! Jeez- louise. Oh well, my handy little pocket camera to the rescue.

The Mad-Accountant and The Barber were working on the stairs, they are in the process of chiseling out the tenons for the steps to actually fit into. They have carved out just enough tenon for the stairs to fit into for now and are working on finishing off the holes. They began the process by making cardboard patterns and duct-taping them into place. Then they made the steps and marked each one individually. Now they are doing the tenons, and then in the spring they will be connecting the whole thing together with the railing. #2 Son Greg is going to make metal braces for under the steps- there are rumors of a forge! The pictures show a lot of extra boards here and there, but they are there for support and other more vague reasons that were never properly explained! Obviously these boards will be removed at the proper time!

Of course in the winter, you just cannot be at the cabin and not sit by the fire- it is a requirement!!! You MUST! So I did!

I attempted to take both pictures that show the structure of the staircase AND some more artistic sorts.... I was laying down on the floor for some of them! And a nice wooden floor it is! Hmmmm, I wonder if I start calling the house "the BIG cabin" it would get the same attention that log thing out in the middle of no where is getting.... It is a thought!