Settling in

I am seriously having trouble focusing on studying for comprehensive qualifying exams, which take place in one week now, because I keep wanting to work on the cabin. Yesterday I allowed myself one hardware store run, but it ended up turning into a hardware store tour of Fairbanks. I've always found hardware stores to be lots of fun, but they are more so in Fairbanks, where so many people build their own cabins that there are lots of people milling up and down the aisles to chat with.

I divided my "to do" list into three sections--things to be done immediately, things that can wait until after comps but must be done before this Winter, and things that can wait indefinitely. I've already finished the things on the first list, and am sneaking into the second, although I know I definitely should not be touching them and should be studying.

Yesterday I came to the sad conclusion that I had indeed lost my hammer, so I bought a new! hammer! and proceeded to use it to pry out the approximately 234 nails that the former residents had pounded into the walls to hang various things. Awesome! Hammer! It has the perfect leverage angle for me! Then I lost the keys to the shed and proceeded to spend 45 minutes looking for them. Then I gave up and installed my new! power! switch! into the wall socket that I plug the water pump into. Now I have a switch instead of plugging and unplugging it every time I want to run water. It also has a safety so that it will kill the power if it ever detects a short, a nice feature for a switch that powers a water system! I also hung up my new! thermometers! And now that I have two thermometers up, I can say that my house is a home. I also hung up all of my kitchen stuff--the pots and pans, the cutting boards, the magnetic strip for the knives, etc. And I brought a bunch of wood in out of the rain to dry so I can split it soon. I'll need to pile it together and get it under tarps, but that is one of the items on the second list that is not terribly exciting for me.

I am very, very tempted to hit the hardware store today to buy L-brackets for my new! shelves! that I found under the cabin and install them, but no! I will not, I tell you. I will not! The only other thing I am allowing myself to do today is to recaulk the sink and cap off a hole I found in the plumbing underneath (don't ask!).

Here is a photo of Mr. Grumphus Bumfus Bunn B. Doofus, Esq. and Ms. Millie B. Doofus:

He is very happy and relaxed. He loves to move. He thinks it's great fun to hop around new places. Rabbits have a reputation for being very timid. You are supposed to be careful around them, because even a loud noise can startle them into a heart attack and sudden death, or so I've been told. Hah! Mr. Grumphus Bumfus Bunn B. Doofus, Esq., he laughs!

Here are the girls:


And here is the whole crew together:


Oh, and I found the keys to the shed last night! Yay!