Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. Took a 500 mile trip, and played with Hannah's cousins. We enjoyed playing with them, and Roo and Boo enjoyed playing with their kids.

Framing is nearly complete, some windows are now in on the house, and the time for quandries has come. In other words, we're at the point where enough has been done to start noticing that we may have some opportunities for improvement. Mostly concerning windows, size, and placement. Nothing major.

So here's what it looks like as of, oh, five minutes ago.
Let me tell you some of the things I REALLY like about the house so far:
1. Reasonably storm safe. The bedrooms are all on the lower floor, and if something nasty comes through, plenty of space in the main bedroom.
2. Lower floor dim, upper floor light. There are times I really want a cave. Something about a dark spot to hibernate really appeals to me. There are also times I want a nice capacious airy space. That's the upper floor. I'm so glad we decided to go with a vaulted ceiling and skylights.
3. The kitchen. There will be cupboards, an island, and enough counter space for more than one person to cook at a time!
4. Hutch. The love of my life has decided that I get some storage space for my various supplies (juggling, martial arts, etc).
5. Playroom. There's a bedroom-sized space next to the living room that has windows that we can see into from the living room and kitchen. It's otherwise shut off, so we can send the kids in there to play, and segregate their mess from playing from the mess we generate in daily life. Hopefully this will help us keep the house a little cleaner.
6. Wood Stove. We have ice storms here. They've been known to kill the electricity for a couple weeks, rather than days. With some wood and a stove, we should be able to keep ourselves in warmth and food for a while should that occur.
7. Energy Efficient. I crave warmth in the winter, and coolth (to steal a word) in the summer. This should allow us to have that, and not run up the electricity bill.
8. Low wasted space. Unusable or non-function areas drive me nuts.
9. Cozy. I love the feel of a cozy (ok, I'll be honest, small), but well designed and usable home.





Ok, other things. It's been cold the past couple days, (not always below freezing), and Hannah found these funny ice structures curving around various vegetation over by our driveway. We've theorized that there's some sub-irrigation over there, and the dryness of the air is causing some dew to form, which then freezes, so there's no longer moisture equilibrium, so that it more gets drawn out of the ground. In any case, it keeps the ice there even though it's over freezing.