March 9, 2020

Or why SPRING AHEAD can be a wonderful thing

Trying to keep the early-bird title of the Town + Country Cedar Homes crew had me battling the snooze button on this first Monday after that dreaded spring-forward calendar day – Daylight Savings. Daylight Saving Time is the practice of advancing clocks during warmer months so that darkness falls later each day according to the clock; the typical kick-off of this much maligned practice is to set clocks forward by one hour in the spring, “spring forward”, and set clocks back by one hour in autumn, “fall back”, to return to standard time. In other words, there is one 23-hour day in late winter or early spring and one 25-hour day in the autumn.

People tend to have more heart attacks on the Monday following the spring forward switch to daylight saving time, according to a study published in 2009 in the Journal of Applied Psychology showed that during the week following, mine workers got 40 minutes less sleep and had 5.7% more workplace injuries than they did during any other days of the year, and since humans set the routines for their four-legged loved ones, dogs and cats living indoors and even cows are disrupted when you bring their food an hour late/early or come to milk them later/earlier than usual.

This popular internet meme says it all. WHO THINKS THIS IS A GOOD IDEA? Read more

November 21, 2019

Once again, the outdoor chores of this log home lifestyle have got us thinking. Thinking about those specific chores, about options available, about the abstract, about cost/benefit analysis. This time it’s cost /benefit analysis of firewood. We have already discussed, and continue to discuss, at length, the trade-offs of gas v log fireplaces; that is left for a different time and place. For this discussion, we are sticking with the sheer antiquity of burning wood for heat and ambiance and going old-school fireplace, the type a log homes and ski lodge are designed around – a big, focal, Volkswagon-sized boulder, wood burning fireplace, the kind that swallows hardwoods like cocktail wieners. Read more

November 4, 2019

err HOUSE…

Spent the better part of the day yesterday with a leaf blower strapped to the back. There is something oddly relaxing about the Fall chill and the drone of a blower motor adding a layer of bass to the private Pavarotti concert playing in high quality Skull Candy earbuds; almost Zen-like. As the brain does in these meditative moments, mine set off for a bit of a mind walk – The latest client Mountain Contemporary exterior design. Window configuration. Stone configuration. Stone configuration on another client’s over-the-top Log home. Window configuration for the log truss design. Exterior color of the window cladding. The absolute pop of those purple-red Burning Bush leaves on the brown and gold background of the Oaks and Silver Maples. The clients that broke with convention and chose something other than the tones that Mother Nature dictated for White Cedar…The fall leaves and those clients had me smiling and thinking deeper about color. Read more

October 21, 2019

The classic dish, not the movie…

There is something about that Fall wind, swirling those colorful leaves outside your window, the chill in the air while walking your Berner in the woods or the geese squawking their goodbyes for the season, that makes you crave that soul comforting bowl of inner warmth – Ratatouille. This iconic stew of eggplant, tomatoes, corgettes (zucchini and summer squash to us) and onions is indigenous to the South of France and, while it seems simple on the surface, each chef that has cooked this dish since its inception has had subtle and various nuances in style, flavoring and technique.

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April 11, 2019

Bonfire season is fast approaching

(Note, for some of us the season lasts all year…)

Yes, we love to talk about our log homes and show off the old-school massive stone fireplaces that set the stage of our Great Rooms, or photograph the sleek linear designs of our Contemporary Mountain Home fireplaces; functional art at its best. But, many of our log home, timber home, natural wood home, White Cedar lovin’ clients are simply not the indoor type. “Get outside” is these client’s mantra. Outside to savor their morning cappuccino. Outside to read the latest Dan Brown novel or issue of Forbes. Outside to move, play, exercise, cook, eat, sip and, especially, socialize. And, just as the kitchen earns top spot for heart of the home, the firepit is the epicenter for this open-air bunch. Read more