Race against Weather

There is a limit to nailing into the composite studs of our InSoFast rigid insulation. Once the temperature gets colder than 60 degrees, nailing might bust the encased studs. Our climate has some remarkably warm and sunny days even through November, but we had reached the point where it was a race against weather!

The siding was wrapped around a good ways, though the front porch area was still undone. There were still "battens" to apply as well, then caulking applied. It had to be waterproof before any rainy season set in. 

The "finishes" phase of construction was what I was looking forward to the most. Routine trips to Lowe's for caulking might very well end up in a search for tile (which would become never-ending). 

Ooh, look at this stuff! So many distractions. 

 This deer seems to be looking at the space that eventually became our wee garden. Coincidence? More on that later. 

Although my husband really wanted an airplane for his hour-long commute to work, he had to settle with buying a bargain-priced used Prius for its ability to get 50 MPG. It wasn't a good winter car, but since the last winter seemed to mild we weren't sure we would need a winter car. The savings on gas outweighed the prospect of one or two days of snow. We had already bought a snow car the year before, which turned out to be a lemon and a gas-guzzler. It turned out we didn't even need it for the 1/4" of snow that came.

And what about the other winters you have seen here? Well, someone had told us that those horrible winters (the "snowpocolypse" type) only occur every 25 years or so. Back in the day, this area could freeze up with below-zero temps for two straight weeks. We had never seen it that bad. Perhaps heavy winter weather was an isolated occurrence around here. So the gas-guzzling lemon of a snow car was put up for sale. 

Now before you start talking about Murphy's Law, let me just say that we decided that our lives would not be lived in fear of Murphy. Yes, we had bought a snow car and afterward experienced a nice, mild winter, but that could have been because we were temporarily living in town. No, we didn't want ol' Murphy dictating our every move.