En Fuego

This is a picture of winter security, of cozy warmth against a (hopefully) long, cold winter. This is a picture of a herkin' heavy wood stove that is now in "The Cabin"!

Two burly guys delivered and installed it, complete with tall stovepipe, chimney on the roof, and only two thankfully small incidents: 1) the guy on the roof cut his elbow on some metal sheeting, and 2) the guy on the ladder inside slipped off and twisted his ankle. Couldn't have been too bad, though, as he refused any Costco-sized ibuprofin.

Here's a shot with a hole in the roof. Lemmee tell ya, as a homeowner who's just recently become a full-time resident of said home, I was fascinated at how easy it was (for someone who knows what he's doing) to cut a hole in the ceiling, remove some insulation, and cut a hole in the roof!!

There's no way I'll be trying any of that stuff anytime soon, but it certainly helped reduce the mystery of how people routinely whack holes in their houses for the sake of "home improvement."

The guys did a great job, and my only complaint is a small one: they didn't clean up their job site well. Inside they vacuumed and picked up everything very well, but outside I found metal roofing, plywood, and other bits and pieces that had just been thrown to the ground. It would have taken a minute to clean it up, but they didn't. That's the ONLY reason I don't give them an A+ for the morning's work... they'll have to settle for an A.


Now all that's left is finding a cord or two of good wood and, theme of "The Cabin" so far, someplace to store it.

The Spokane/Seattle trip was good, although short for me. Got to see and spend some good time with my parents and sister, Andrew and Llysa, Edd and Theresa, and my godson Nickolas and his newish baby sister Rowan. Had some great food, saw a good play, drove a heckuva lot, and dropped Monique in Seattle for a week of meetings and work. Can't wait until she's back so we can lounge by the fire and figure out where all the furniture goes that used to be in that corner.

This last pic is a stitching of five I took this afternoon... the right side is just slightly darker than reality was, but I'm pretty happy with the panorama result.