I Felt the Earth Move, or Come on, Irene.

So Tuesday we had an earthquake. We all felt it at work, even though the news media apparently don't think anything exists north of Boston. It's not my first tremor and nothing even fell off a shelf, so it was really no big shakes (ba dum dum *ching*), but it was kind of fun to get to experience it.

Now, of course, there's Hurricane Irene, which will be downgraded fairly soon to AA+ tropical storm status. Apparently, this is "the worst storm the East Coast has seen in 50 60 70 100 1000 years!" Also apparently, "East Coast" in this case means New York City. For us, it's not going to be much worse than some of the nor'easters we've gotten over the past few years. For North Carolina, it certainly wasn't any worse than the double whammy of Bertha & Fran in 1996, or the devastation and widespread flooding of Floyd in 1999.

At any rate, my only concern is whether it will keep me from coming home after work this evening. Although I'm admittedly blasé about the storm as a whole, I'm not stupid enough to drive into dangerous winds and flooding, if that should occur. I just hope it doesn't make all the crazies insistent upon coming to see us today.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Last night forecast low was 17F/-8C, but when I went to bed the thermometer read 12.4F/-10.9C, and the power had gone out twice from the high winds. The second time it was out for about a half hour, which was a bit disconcerting. Although we have an oil furnace, the thermostat and ignition are electric. It will be a happy day when we have a masonry heater (Finnish style, rather than one of those Baroque ceramic numbers) and rely primarily on wood.

Today, the National Weather Service was calling for a high of 28F/-2C, but it barely managed to squeeze up to 18F/-8C before I left the house. And I set my mittens down to get something and then walked out of the house without them. Tonight, we're getting single digits. All of it is good incentive to work on the Japanese sweater, which I did for a while last night by candlelight.

Meantime, I am continuing to play around with SketchUp. Look what I've done with the upstairs!



Currently, the rooms on either side are divided up into two smaller rooms, so this plan will necessitate taking out a couple of walls which, IMO, have no good reason to be anymore. I suppose when the Tobey family were raising their eight kids (yes, eight kids, in a 1500 sq. ft. house), it gave them more of a sense of privacy, but for us, it just doesn't work so well. This also moves the east bathroom wall (this is standard N-is-up view) a further foot and a half eastward to allow some rearrangement there. And what is now our TV room/stash storage/retiring room, will, at least theoretically, become a combined office/crafting/retiring room. And the wall dividing off what we're currently using as a giant walk-in closet disappears for a more open bedroom floor plan.

Of course, the plan also requires raising the roofline to create a shed dormer, since the south face currently has only a half-wall and no windows. I hate this for several reasons, but the biggest are that it means we get less light in the winter time and we have poor airflow upstairs in the summer. Also, raising the roofline a bit on that side should open up a bit more attic space, and I really, really think we need to finish the attic to use it for storage. And insulate it a lot better.

Of course, it's much easier to sort it out in a freeware computer program than to come up with the money to execute the plans, but I figure it'll be another 25 years or so before we retire, so there's time. In the meantime, it's a fun exercise to think about how to make the best use of the space we have. David and I are fans of Sarah Susanka and her Not So Big series, and my ideas are largely informed by her ideas, though I'd say that, on some level, it's an aesthetic principle that I already understood intuitively.

In a nutshell, it's about using smaller spaces smartly (intelligent design?) - open floor plans, multi-use spaces, creating spatial divisions with fewer walls, creative approaches to storage, etc. Right now, as I've mentioned, our house suffers from some serious flow issues. Our nominal guest room is cramped and only accessible by navigating through David's very cluttered studio; the studio has no built-in storage; the kitchen is cold, poorly laid out, and only accessible through a very narrow doorway; and because the washer and dryer take up much of our side mud room, which is the main entry we use, the mud room has been essentially shifted into David's studio, which makes it even more cramped. Among other things.

So what I've tried to do is identify changes that will, again theoretically, rectify those problems and leave us with spaces that we actually use, instead of a lot of cluttered, cramped areas that aren't so fun to spend time in. Since it's a very old house that's had a lot done to it over the last 300 years, I'm sure we'll run up against all sorts of unexpected issues, and I'm anticipating needing to consult an engineer at some point to discuss the feasibility of some of our ideas. Still, it's a very intriguing project and one I'm enjoying the hell out of.

Storm Clouds Gathering

Not the metaphorical sort, though. Nature has decided that this week would be the perfect time to make up for all the rain we didn't get this spring. And Nature, as we all know, doesn't really care about things like weddings and visitors from out of town. And lawns badly in need of mowing before said visitors arrive.

I suppose it's just as well that there's plenty to be done indoors, too. I spent today rearranging and cleaning the kitchen and feel like I made a really big dent in it, though there's still a fair bit that needs to be done. Of course, there's also a fair bit to be done in the living room, the bathroom, the guest room,... I think you get the point.

I also have cake layers to bake - lots of them. That's right. I'm baking the cake(s). It's a minor modification of a family favorite recipe that I do very well. So now I have 5 pounds of butter, 5 pints of heavy cream, 10 pounds of cake flour, 10 pounds of sugar, and 5 dozen eggs in my kitchen waiting for a couple marathon days of baking. While I'm also working on getting everything else cleaned up.

The decorating part, though, is a bit beyond me. Fortunately, my mother (who does have experience in this regard) volunteered for this duty while we were hunting for someone to hire, which will save us a bit on an already stretched budget. We planned for 60 guests and are getting 90, so the reception expenses have gone up just a wee bit, though likely not as much as they could have.

And the kilt hose moves along, but it's going to be close. The calf decreases are done now, though, and I think I can get it done. If not, I'll just cast off a little early and wear a thin sock under it to cover my toes. And the weather predictions are now calling for the possibility of a little clearing by the weekend. So maybe, just maybe, we can pull all of this off.

April Showers?

This was the view from our front door this afternoon:



I actually don't mind these April snowstorms so much, as they generally melt off quickly. The latest snow I've ever seen was on April 28, 1994, when I was living in St. Paul. It was 6" of heavy wet snow and absolutely lovely, and it was almost all gone by the next day. This one is supposed to linger a little longer than that, but it'll be gone soon enough.

And when I trekked down the hill to check the mail, there was a package containing this:



Sock yarn from Scout! This is a superwash/nylon sportweight that Scout just got, spun exclusively for her, and I'm the very first one to get some all dyed up ("cerrillos mine" colorway). Thanks, Scout! All I can say is mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, soft. Now I have to finish up that Bearfoot sock to free up my needles.

A Brief Plug

David has been bugging me to mention this, and I keep forgetting, but he and the artists' co-op he belongs to signed on as underwriters for his favorite local radio station. WXGR is a non-profit, non-commercial station, and since they're a low signal station (meaning they have a very limited range), most of their listeners are web-based. They specialize in electronic/trance/world music, so if that's within the scope of your musical interests, give them a listen. And maybe consider donating, so that David will have something to listen to while he works.