Timber!

Bzzzz. Crack. Timberrr! Thump. The sound is a bit unnerving.

The time has come to remove the dead trees, at least the ones that threaten the soap shop. Better to fall now in a calculated sort of way than to come crashing down onto the rooftop unexpectedly, don't you think?

This majestic eastern red cedar was about 48 feet tall, and there's at least a half dozen more around the perimeter of the building. Patiently waiting for the whine of the chainsaw. The dreaded buzz cut. The landscape is rapidly changing.

Approximately 60% of our trees are dead now (both evergreens and hardwoods) thanks to extended drought conditions over many many years (with even more fatalities most likely to come). Many people here consider red cedars to be mere trash trees, but I've enjoyed ours immensely over the years. Their "always on" green leaves. Their edible blue berries. The long shaggy bark and aromatic red heartwood.

This grand-daddy will live on as several hearty new fence posts. But I wish it was still green and growing! R.I.P. old friend.

The Hanus Haus

It's been a long while since I've posted about our house building adventures out here in the wild. And an awful lot has happened since then too. Life...well...it happens...and Jackie & Jory's new house has now become Mike & Maggies! While it makes me a little sad our grandchildren won't be living next door, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't super excited about this turn of events. What's not to love about living in a spacious new modern barn instead of an aging 24 foot travel trailer?  Yes, we had an owner built home before the trailer, but that's another story.

This new home was originally modeled after The Plus House in Sweden, but we've modified it a bit to suit our needs and the sweltering Texas heat. Since Mike and I don't need much space, we dissected the house into 2 equal parts leaving an open two story breezeway in-between the spacious living/kitchen area on the right (see bottom photo), and the 2 bedroom/bathroom/utility area on the left. I expect we may get more mileage out of this outdoor living space than any other room in the house.  Plus the less square footage I have to clean, the happier I'll be! (You see I've never wanted a big house, just a nice one.)

So for now, we'll have one giant storage space overhead, but we can always finish the upstairs later should we feel the need. I'm thinking playroom for the grandkids on one side, but we'll see.  Right now we just need to finish the downstairs so that we can start enjoying it. Did I mention what an incredible amount of hard work this house building stuff is?

But now that we've hired outside help, we're FINALLY making good progress.  And not a minute too soon either!  Whew...

the front of the house (north side)

looking up into the centrally located breezeway

looking through the breezeway (from front porch to back porch)

cathedral ceiling in the 8' wide breezeway

living/kitchen/dining with a BIG view to the south

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