The only thing that can make a room cozier than a couple of Golden Retrievers is a nice wood-burning fireplace. Growing up, the only time I saw one was in an old Frank Capra Christmas movie. Barb grew up with one and her father loved futzing with it. We don’t use ours to heat our home, so we don’t go through a lot of firewood. I sort of like splitting firewood but we’re just a likely to toss one of those little fake logs in.

Our friend Susan always has a Hollywood fire going when we visit on Thanksgiving so this year we bought a load of firewood from her guy.

I think I might be done loading/hauling/stacking firewood for the year. Good exercise, oozing zen… but enough is enough.

Bob is smiling because he spent the last month putting a fresh coat of stain on our house and he’s working on the invoice. Bob does really nice work but he’s not cheap (who wants a cheap paint job?!). I highly recommend him.

This is Bob. Bob and his boys have been repairing the cedar siding on our 30 year-old-home. The woodpeckers have been eating us up! He’s washing off decades of grime before putting on fresh stain.

He’s about 30 feet up on a wet, slanted roof. Refuses to use a safety harness because it slows him down. I can’t watch.

The cedar siding on our house is 30 years old. We had it restrained some years ago and patched woodpecker holes when we could get to them. Over the next three weeks a couple of hard-working guys are retaining and replacing boards. Big job.

I don’t know how practical cedar siding is but really wouldn’t want anything else. Barb and I like the “cabin in the woods” look.