Catch Up

First off, happy holidays to all. We wish serenity, happiness, and peace to all who read this and even those who don't.

I think I mentioned we went on a whirl wind adventure around Thanksgiving that involved more time in the car than I like these days, but worth it for the people we saw and spent time with.

I finally took some photos of the new house and downloaded them. Here is a shot from the eating area looking at the couch and wood stove area. The couch is a little bigger than we would like, but it folds out into a bed which may be advantageous if we need to keep the fire going on really cold nights. ( Or when we have the house filled with friends and family, it's an extra place to sleep peeps.) It's all still a work in progress anyway.




As you can see, the window seat is far from being done. We threw some lawn furniture cushions there for now. In fact, that is where I am sitting right now to write this. hee hee.

(Jeff, the plant in front of the window is my new olive plant.)

Here is a look at the kitchen. I mentioned the island and there it is. Not finished. I threw the old countertop from the old house on top to make it functional for now. Sorry I didn't clean up much before these photos were taken. Don't tell Better Homes and Gardens. Still needed are the wall cabinets and something around the microwave.



For the week of Christmas we went to Cleveland to see Kent's family. Kara, Ethan and the baby were visiting so we finally got to meet Salix! She is a great baby. Didn't wake me up, so you gotta like that. Seriously, she's super cute and has a killer smile.



We went on several hikes in Northeast Ohio and with the snow on the ground they were true winter hikes. I think we saw 3 waterfalls in all and had lunch next to a bonfire. Dyn-o-mite.

Here's our nephew Kyle. He just turned 3. The cool thing about both our nipoti is that their parents take the kids on hikes and spend a lot of time in nature. These kids are going to have a great sense of the outdoors. I totally respect that and appreciate the values Keith and Pam and Kara and Ethan are instilling in their child.



Now the count down to the new year is here. I just need to get my books for next quarter before the kids come back and I am all set.

PS. The cool thing about moving is that you find things that you haven't seen or used in awhile. My latest thing is cassette tapes. Especially mixed tapes. I made these things like mad in the early to mid nineties. Welcome back Violent Femmes, Depeche Mode, Dead Milkman et. al.

OMG INXS just came on...sometime you kick, sometimes you get kicked.

Fire

We have been living in the new house since Thanksgiving and all is going well. The biggest change is that we are heating completely with wood. Kent has been scrounging around Athens for wayward wood for 2 years now and has done 99.9% of the splitting. Plus we have so much scrap around the house from the build, that it's a great way to clean that up too. So far, I cannot complain about the temperature of the house. And I am thermally challenged meaning I am intolerant of cold. But I have to say the house is warm. Even at 60 degrees it feels so much warmer than the old house. We have 4 great south facing windows that collect the heat from the sun on days where we are lucky enough to get it, and the brick wall around the stove holds heat well enough at night that we let the fire burn out through the night.

The routine is to get a nice hot fire going at night. Stock it full before bed and let it burn til' it's done. In the morning it's usually about 60-65. Very tolerable. If it is 65, I won't even start another fire until late afternoon, usually 4ish. Then start the process over. If it's cold enough in the morning to start a fire (and someone is going to be around to enjoy it), I'll start one. But I might let it burn slower, since the daytime temps and/or sun will heat the place up.

And,

We don't even have shades on the windows yet. Once we install those (and we have to trim the windows first) We can lower them at night with the premise that they will help insulate the house some.

So I am optimistic for the winter. I know it's only December. We still have the sub zero days of February to get through. But we shall see. If we have to, we can supplement the heat with baseboards. Otherwise, I expect to save a lot of money by not heating the house with the old furnace.

Merry holidays to all.

Living it up...

in the new house.

Even though the house isn't finished it is definitely liveable. New couch makes life cozy sitting by the fire and reading a book or surfing the internet.

Big news is that we had a wind storm on Wednesday and it blew over a tree in our neighbors yard. The tree took out our phone line, so we don't have a landline anymore. So if you have tried to call that number and it just rings, now you know.BUTToday, I changed that number to a cell phone to officially enter the 21st century and I will have my own cell phone. Kent is going to keep the old cell phone until he decides he really wants an Iphone. So you WILL be able to call the old landline number in about a week and reach us. And as always the 591 number still works.

The old house has been converted to a shop for more cutting and painting. Not a great space for it but it works. We'll see what happens after we are done with this house. May keep most of it, may raze it. May add on. Don't really want to think about it right now. Let's get this project done.

Enjoy the holidays everyone.