Logging and milling are all on hold right now. The weather conditions are still prohibitive due to snow pack and associated road conditions. I am also waiting on Jon to have time to mill, probably sometime in February. The mill has some kind of minor hydraulic leak as well, which is also troublesome. Although I feel somewhat frustrated by these delays, it is probably all for the best, since my shoulder is still bothering me. I must have suffered a minor sprain or shoulder separation. I also need to be working diligently on my Ph.D dissertation, which I want to finish up this spring. :-)

In the meantime, I've purchased a portable 12V DC winch to help move logs. My goal this week is to mount the winch on my trailer. The winch is capable of being temporarily mounted on a standard hitch ball. If I can securely attach a receiver hitch to my trailer, I believe I should be able to mount the winch there conveniently as needed. While I don't strictly need a winch (a come-along works nicely), a winch will speed things up and maybe preserve my shoulder. :-)

In further news, I've leased a workshop space here in town for the next year. This workshop will allow me to store and work the timbers here in town without having to travel to the cabin site. While I would love to work joinery outside and on-site, being able to work closer to home will help with my busy schedule. I also like the idea of keeping my timbers protected from the weather for as long as possible. The workshop space is relatively large, so I should be able to assemble and nearly raise the entire cabin *inside* the workshop space. How super convenient!