We have two nickels to rub together.

Us, on the mountain.

Or, we’re rubbing our nickels together.

Take that as you will.

In any case, this is a true story about a do-it-yourself adventure in the Green Mountains of Vermont. It’s not remote, it’s not primitive, it’s not back-to-the-land. It isn’t hip. Go away.

No, don’t go away, stay!

I mean, please stay. Pour yourself a drink and relax. Get comfortable.

This is the story of us — two average folks trying to do something expensive as cheaply as possible, within certain time constraints. We’re building a small cottage near a ski hill. By which I mean we’re building it — not “we’re building a cottage” by which I mean “we’re having a five bed- three bath- starter mansion with garage and hot tub built by someone for us to use.”

It started like this:  I like to ski. Skiing is expensive. I don’t make very much money (right now, I don’t actually make any money). So I decided that I would volunteer as a member of the Ski Patrol, in order to be able to ski more. Turns out, I like that quite a lot. (Turns out, I like it well enough to change careers altogether, but that’s a different blog.) We wound up spending so much time Vermont that things started to get expensive, even though I was skiing for free.

Comes Jamie to say hey, we should buy a little piece of Vermont and put a little cabin on it. Beats renting. So, we did. We found a fairly inexpensive acre fairly close to the place where we ski. It’s not especially spectacular. There are no views to speak of. It is right next to a busy road. But, it’s covered in trees, it’s fairly private, and now it’s ours.

Which means it’s time to get busy.

We hope you’ll enjoy following along as we go. We also hope you’ll support us by becoming a sponsor. Is there anyone who doesn’t hope for a sponsorship? Want me to review a tool? Some new-fangled product for keeping the rain out? Get in touch. Or just send us a fat check. Seriously.

Meet our dog, Brutus. He will probably have some things to say as time goes by — he owns the domain name.

Brutus, in situ.

But he’s also pretty lazy.

For more on one of the Nickels, see A Skier and a Sled.