November winds are blowing cold here in Helena and my view to the backyard is suddenly as white as snow, quite literally. I am really thankful for the wonderful warm weather through October that allowed me to complete a number of outdoor projects. The chicken coop is complete, a new compost bin built and filled, fences scraped and painted, apple trees planted, a storage shed built on the west side of the house to hold a pallet’s worth of bagged wood pellets for the stove in the living room and a covered woodshed built and filled behind the garage for firewood storage for the new stove in the shop. Let the winter winds blow!

What doesn’t show in this photo is the floor under the rug. The sun room as we like to call it was a former laundry room. On the concrete slab I discovered 2 layers of linoleum and a tile floor from years past. I managed to scrape all 3 layers off down to a thin coat of residue glue. Cynthia and I are debating the estimates for new marmoleum flooring and in the meantime we put the old oriental rug down. With the 2 blue chairs it makes for a nice place to sit and relax and to enjoy the winter sun coming in the sliding glass doors.

Our laundry room is upstairs and I managed to get the butcher block counter and under counter cabinets installed this week. It should provide a nice spot to sort and fold clothes and just a few steps around the corner they can go in the closet.

A cabinet right next to the washer should help keep the soap in its spot and the counter clear. The shadow on the cabinet door is from the sun shining through lace curtains. With a large south facing window, the laundry should be a rather bright and pleasant room to do the weekly wash.

Now that the weather has turned cold, I often keep the pellet stove burning throughout the day. I wasn’t sure that I would like this model stove but it has completely won me over. I like that it burns compressed sawdust, a totally renewable energy source, and that it burns hot enough to minimize pollutants going up the chimney. It is a great spot to sit and enjoy my morning coffee break. Too bad my other family member is cooped up in her office at work all day. Ahhhh, I think I’ll just catch a little nap here after I post this blog.