A most difficult decision.

We have decided to evacuate again, but this time under somewhat less stress and urgency. Last year, we struggled and fought to not have to evacuate, frankly, endangering ourselves. We waited until temperatures were dangerously low, and we couldn’t get heat above 0c before we called for help. We cannot and will not go through that again.

The build out is not complete, despite our dedication to work on it daily. Of the last 27 days we’ve had 3 where it didn’t snow. It’s getting colder and less manageable to maintain the heat using propane, and we’re already running low on that, and it was supposed to be an emergency supply.

While we’re making great strides with the build out and it’s coming together, it is exceptionally labour intensive. Trees are cut down, then rough cut to sizes we need. Then every log is stripped, measured, marked and cut before being put in place. It takes time and effort. We’re trying to build a structure that will last us a few years, and be better insulated and better to withstand the colder temperatures, but trying to do so when each day is more snow, and dropping temperatures, is proving almost impossible.

We don’t have the woodstove even close to be able to be installed yet. Coming back to this build in the spring will allow us time to do it properly, and ensure that it is structurally sound.

This coming week, we will see a daytime high of -20c. And while it’s just one day, the temperatures are dropping lower and lower. Looking at long term forecasts, it’s predicting more snow, colder temperatures and for longer periods than previous years. And we simply are not ready for that.

We’d also rather decide this now than in a month’s time when we’d be even more at risk to evacuate. While it’s still relatively early in winter, the cold hasn’t fully set in yet, although it’s starting to. And instead of it being a rescue mission, it is going to be a planned evacuation.

Our truck will have to remain parked where it is, as the road out is impassable. So we will have to ask someone to snowmobile us out and drive us to a location in town, where we will be picked up by a family member to head to Toronto. It’s a little complex and frustratingly convoluted. If there was any other way, we’d take it, but there simply isn’t.

To be honest, this decision has not been made lightly. Neither of us want to leave. Neither of us want to have to ever leave for these sorts of reasons. It honestly feels devastating. But the reality is that staying is more of a challenge and hardship than we need or, frankly, can handle. And we aren’t waiting for it to get worse before we make the call. It simply isn’t worth our lives or health to do so.

In hindsight, we should probably have made the decision at the beginning of November, when we saw the snow forecast of never ending snow. But we felt we could finish a structure in time. And here we are.

This week, we will be leaving our property again, but we’re looking ahead. When we return in early spring, or when temperatures are a bit more livable, we’ll already be way ahead of where we were last spring. We are now in a place where we can build from, without a lengthy hike to a worksite.

And by next winter we’ll have a solid build out  that can withstand the cold and snow and whatever else nature throws at us, that we can live in it til our cabin is built.