March 7
I wonder how it felt for people in the olden days when they first got running water. I guess it's been around for awhile - I think the Romans had it. In any case, we were overjoyed last week to find we had hot and cold running water. In other news, I still have not nailed down a date, nor a venue for the release, but I will hopefully do that by next week, when I'm delighted to say Erin and I are going to Spain and Morocco for almost two weeks. We've been saving up, and tickets are cheap in the winter. So I may not update this page til the end of March, but there will be lots of good pictures at that point.

Feb 20
It's been above freezing since yesterday morning, and the snow is melting away - but still our pipes seem to be frozen. What little novelty there once was has started to wear off... Maybe we'll have water before the end of February.

Here's a picture of the waterfall at Laurelville last week when it was frozen.

Feb 15
Ok, I figured even though I haven't nailed down a date or location for the release party, it's time I got some stuff from the new cd on the site. It is now officially titled The Light Comes, and you can see artwork, read lyrics and listen to portions of all the songs from the songs page.

On the homestead that is Laurelville we still have no water, so we've been gathering snow and ice (which we have plenty of) in buckets and melting it on the stove to use for bathing flushing etc...

Ok, so that part about gathering snow was a lie. But we still have no water (and don't expect it anytime soon), and lots of snow.

Feb 8
So here's the big news - I have the final master, the artwork is finished and I'm waiting for a call back from the duplication company to make sure I have everything set up right. On my way home tonight I will swing by the Post Office and drop it in the mail. It's finished. I don't even know what to do with myself...

It's been quite cold all this week. Pittsburgh schools were closed Monday and Tuesday, and had a two-hour delay on Wednesday - based entirely on temperature. As well as the temp being dangerous to stand about in, apparently the ethanol deisel the buses use becomes slightly gelatinous at cold temps, so none of the buses are running anyway. This may be something we want to consider before we all switch over to ethanol...

Meanwhile, out in the country, we have discovered that apparently the pipes which bring water to our house are above ground in places, so they are now frozen and we will not have water until it warms up enough to thaw them out. Not sure how long that's gonna take. Coincidentally, I made plans to stay in Pittsburgh for the last two nights, so I've been enjoying warm showers while Erin's at home hauling the jugs of water maintence brought us up from the basement and heating it on the stove...  

On the glass-half-full side of country living, it's beautiful. Here are some pictures I took last weekend while hiking about camp in the snow, as well as a picture of some pretty frosty leaves I took a few weeks ago.