Sunday, January 18, 2009

Fun Monday - Front Porch Lookin' In

Our hostess this week, Julie over at Another Chance Ranch, apparently overheard me lamenting that I needed to clean my house and put away the Christmas decorations, because here's her assignment:
Instead of standing in your front door and taking a photo of what you see outside, let's turn around and take one of the inside. Maybe that will prompt some of us to pick up a tad (you know who you are). :)

So last night I diligently put away the boxes of Christmas decorations.  I even straightened up a bit.  Then today hit.  I thought of doing a quick deep cleaning, or taking the photo from a different door - but that just didn't seem right.  I figure anyone who is reading this wants to know what our life is really like, not see some great photo like you can get from buying a magazine of lovely houses that no one really lives in.  So here is the view, in all of its dirty glory.

Yes, I know the photo is a bit tilted, but sometimes so am I. If I'm not going to clean, then getting a straight photo probably isn't going to happen either.  Let me describe a bit of what you see when walking in.  

First, I don't have a garage, so this is our main entry to the house as well as our family room.  We use it to house our impressive collection of winter footwear, including the three pairs of ice skates (one still in the box) by the slider.  It also houses our collection of winter outwear.  You can see Diva's winter gear lying on the floor drying out after some tumbling in our latest 8 inches of snow -- and looking out the slider you can see some of that snow.  Lot's of it, actually.  A careful viewer can even glimpse the treehouse that came with our house.  

Next, notice the folded up treadmill.  I insisted we put the treadmill in this room so I might use it occasionally.  I knew if we put it in the basement I'd never step foot on it.  Need I tell you how well that strategy is working?

Then there's the Dell box.  Since Kilowatt is so handy, we periodically receive such parcels from friends and family with the message  - 'can you fix this?'

Finally, the boxes on the surround sound speaker that look like shoe boxes - those are train boxes.  Kilowatt picked out his birthday present yesterday.  And the surround sound doesn't go with the teeny tiny TV  you can see in the photo - there's more to this room than you can see from this photo. 

Finally, because I'm in rule breaking mood this week - here's a photo looking out. 

This photo is of Kilowatt using another one of those tools you just don't hear much about down south - the roof rake. Yes, when the snow gets too high on your roof, you have to clear it off just like your driveway and sidewalk, or risk something called ice dams.  

And the brown thing you see in the left - that's a snow shed.  If you want your bushes to look good in the summer, you've got to cover them in the winter to keep the snow from weighing them down.  Then you put fencing around them to keep the deer from snacking.  Hungry deer don't care that my front door is mere feet from their target.  

Well, I'm off to see what you see looking in at your house.  I hope someone else has a house as 'lived in' as mine!  

19 comments:

Hula Girl at Heart said...

Wow. That is some serious snow. And a roof rake? Holy cow. I thought cleaning the gutters was bad enough. How on earth do you survive the winter without going insane? Redrum, redrum, redrum.

karisma said...

LOL! Well look at that, it could be my place except for the fact that I see snow! No snow here! I had to giggle at the Dell box! If my pics had come a few days earlier you would have seen a pile of similar type boxes in the front door! SB also seems to cop everyones fix jobs!

Jan said...

Gawd, that snow. Love your post, and I've love to re-visit in the summer. Bet your yard is wonderful.

Kila said...

LOL, plenty of snow here in Wisconsin, too.

I thought treadmills were for hanging up clothing!

Pamela said...

awww a roof rake. We needed one of those for the very first time in the 32 years we've lived here. We didn't have one.

If I'd taken a photo of our entrance a few weeks ago -- it was coats, and boots, and rugs, and towels. We weren't prepared for winter at our front door.

Hootin Anni said...

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr, that 'rule breaking photo' looks too darned cold to me.

And your other photo? Looks like a tornado went through it. [kidding----I've had that before!!!]

Have a great Monday, and thanks for visiting. Your company is always a delight.

Molly said...

Thank for the look into your home. But, most importantly, thank you for the roof rake explanation. We have experienced ice dams. Trying to reach the snow with a shovel doesn't work very well.

Molly said...

Do you have place to ice skate nearby? I grew up ice skating, but where we live now does not have many ice skating opportunities.

Cruise Mom said...

Jan:
Our yard is quite nice, totally because of Kilowatt. I lack the green thumb. I'll have to do a front porch looking in come July!

Kila:
If the clothing weren't on the floor, it would be on the treadmill:)

Molly:
Our neighbor hires a guy who climbs on her roof with a shovel. The roof rake is a better investment:)
We have 3 indoor ice rinks within 10 miles, plus our town's parks and rec department floods and maintains an outdoor rink. And of course everything here but the rivers freezes hard enough to skate on too!

Cruise Mom said...

Hula,
Who says I'm sane? I willingly live here!

Driftwood and Pumpkin said...

Don't we all have a folded up treadmill?! I think it is in some decorating rulebook somewhere! ;0) I ♥ this post!

Gattina said...

If you want to see more of my cat collection, it's here ! http://gattinawritercramps.blogspot.com/2008/01/show-tell.html

Karmyn R said...

That is a lot of snow! I have a sunporch on the back of the house that looks similar to your front (shoes and coats everywhere!)

A friend of mine moved to NH the year of the Big Blizzard (from Seattle). At first she was delighted with all that snow, but after 3 days, called me up crying. Now, I think she just puts up with it!

Jientje said...

That is the first time in my life I 've seen a roof rake! I had no idea!! If it snows in Belgium, it usually does not last long, so ...

Anonymous said...

I am so jealous of your snow because my daughter is still asking where the snow is. Nice post, good luck with the treadmill

Living Life said...

I was a careful viewer and it was fun looking at all the things in your home. Thanks for the view outside too. I live in Southern PA and I had never heard of the roof rake. I guess any amount of snow we get here usually does not last a very long time and a roof rake is not needed.

Sayre said...

I think normal people have lived in houses. If it looks perfect, you don't have kids or anyone else to strew things behind them.

My house is VERY lived in.

ChrisB said...

Wow I didn't realise you had to do much to protect your roof and plants in the snow.
My grandchildren would think they were in heaven with all that snow and being able to ice skate.

Anonymous said...

Please tell me that you were inside when you broke the rules. Just looking at him using the roof rake makes me cold. I would love to have some snow here though, I bought a sled this year and guess what...no snow!

I love how you left everything the way it was. :)