Architecture...What type are you...

   I have been searching the real estate ads again. Still trying to get to the mountains, especially after all this heat. I found these ads, no I can't afford it but I had to look anyway.

   This got me to thinking of the difference between modern and traditional architecture. Most people love one and hate the other. There are also people who have their favorite, but can appreciate them both.  Which one are you?

   Check out the differences....

The outside...




The living room with a fireplace...




The kitchen...




The bedroom...




The yards...





Of course they both have something in common....





Mountain views!!!!

   Me, I am more the traditional romantic kind of person. That and a pack rat. I just don't fit those clean lines.

  Oh and by the way both of these are for sale in the Sanoma Valley Area of California. Even if I won the lottery I couldn't afford them.

A Very Happy Pyromaniac....

   Okay you know how I have told everyone how I have a hard time typing because of the cold in the office.  Guess what ... we now have heat in the house.

   This pass Thursday 3 very big and very nice guys came over and in less than 2 hours we had this....

Okay we already had the dog.

   A brand new (to us) wood stove.  We could have picked it up and installed it ourselves, but I think it would have taken a lot longer than 2 hours.  I also don't think the chimney hole in the roof would look as good as this...

Bud cut that by hand isn't he good.

   Now there is a really, really, happy pyromaniac in the house ...

Okay the flash washed me out. I swear I'm not a ghost.  I think...

  I had to take this last picture for history...

Our first of many fires.

  Our first night with the wood stove burning the temperature outside was 24 degrees Fahrenheit, but the temperature in the bedroom didn't get below 50 degrees.

  That was great for us.  I am sure the house will heat up a lot more when we finally get the walls, and ceiling in. 

   I would like to thank Clayton, Bud and Chris of American Chimney Cleaning in Houston Texas for the outstanding job they did and for helping us out with the best price.  If any of you need removal, installation or just cleaning and repair for a fireplace or stove, give them a call.  I'm not sure how far out of Houston they go so you guys outside of Texas and the United States might be out of luck.

  Oh and remember this tree (check out what happened here)...

   It had just better watch out, we have a chainsaw and a wood stove and know how to use them.





Oh wow.  I can now shop for a whole
new set of things for the house....

Under the Sea (Part 2)...

   After the little episode the first time in the pool, I did great.  No more problems in the water ....  Until we went to a 16 foot deep diving pool to practice swimming to our scuba gear and putting it on underwater.
   On this occasion my partner was a friend of mine, who had been a diver for quite a while.  He was helping the staff out in this training session and partnered with me.  The purpose of the exercise was to  swim down and put on your scuba gear underwater.  Also to exchange your scuba tank for a new tank underwater.  This could come in handy if you have to stay underwater to decompress from a deep dive.

    So into the pool the equipment goes.  Then in I go with my buddy.  I swim down grab the scuba regulator turn on the tank and breath.  Okay that part done, I now have air.  I place my arms into the BCD jacket with the scuba tank attached, swing it up and over and Wa La,  I'm done.  This is going to be a breeze.  Next up buddy breathing to the surface.  He takes a breath hands me the scuba regulator and I take a breath and so on.  Piece of cake.  Only thing now is taking off one pack and exchanging it for another one.  I'm batting a thousand here.  What could go wrong.
   My partner is what could go wrong.  I take off my tank and switch out regulators.  He helps me put my arms into the other tank and swings it up over my head.  Ah, I can't get it on.  My arms are twisted and the regulator is being pulled out of my mouth while the tank is pushing me down.  Okay, okay don't panic.  Your not alone here. Your buddy will see the problem and fix it ... But he doesn't.  He thinks its on right and I am the problem.
   I try to tell him its twisted. Which is really hard to signal when your arms are twisted above your head.  He insists its okay and keeps try to push it on.

  Meanwhile, I can't breath.  He on the other hand has his tank on and is having no such problem.  I finally kick the crap out of him, ditch the tank and head for the surface.  He comes up fighting mad, insisting that I was in the wrong.  That the pack was on right and I just panicked.  Duh, not breathing can cause that you know.
   Then the head teacher came running up pulled me out of the pool.  Asking if I was okay.  He saw the whole thing and said I would have never been able to get that pack on as twisted as the straps where, and what took me so long getting to the surface.  I shot my partner a look that said, "HA ... I told you it wasn't me."  The teacher jumped in the pool and completed the exercise with me.  Piece of cake.  I passed.
   I completed the course and took my open water check out in Cozumel during Texas Dive Week.   And that my friends is another story.

            

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Open house...

  I discovered something about myself, I'm a peeping Tom or Tammy.  I really enjoy looking in other peoples houses.  No not in the way you think.  I like to see how they make their house, their home.
  Everything in the house reflex their taste and their creativity or lack there of.  I use to go to new subdivisions and walk through the builders model homes.  I went to trade shows to tour RVs and boats.   I would look a home magazines.  On vacation I would tour older homes on historic tours.  I liked to see what decorating and space saving ideas I could steal, ah incorporate in my own home.
   But I have now hit the jackpot.  Online there are millions of people around the world inviting me into their homes to look around.  I can look as long as I want, take my time and explore.  They want me to see their homes.  They open the closets and let me have a look inside.
   Why because they want to sell their house.  I have seen places that invite you to sit down have a drink and relax.

   I have seen places that look like a decorator lives there, and others that left the decorator in tears.  Yard that say a gardener lives here and yards that say what's a gardener?  View that move you to tears and view that would have you closing the curtains.  Bathroom the size of most people's master bedroom and others that make the one on the plane look big.

House on top of mountains ...

and houses under the ground...

   You name it, it's out there.  All waiting for you drop by and explore. Without a Realtor following you around, looking at their watch.  You just can't peek in the medicine cabinets.