Photo Sunday, home visit edition

My parents bought a coal and wood stove for heat a month or so ago. They have another heating system that they're planning to use when the house is finished, but it's radiant heat. Tubing installed under the subfloor runs hot liquid all through the first floor, and the heat will rise to the second from there. Problem: system has to be completely installed before you can use any of it. So finish it, you say. I agree. Problem: the floor is cherry wood, and the ceiling on the roof (a loft) hasn't been done yet. Scaffolding will scratch the floor if the ceiling's put in after the floor. So install the ceiling, you say. Again, I agree. But my folks have had a number of things happen that they had to address immediately (some of them construction-related, some health-related) that have kept them from finishing the ceiling. So the upshot of this is that for the past three winters they've had two propane space heaters to act as their heat source, augmented by layers of clothing, blankets, and occasionally by a kerosene heater (when they're in the room with it).

You heard me. Three winters. Last year the propane bill was so outrageous, they decided to do something about it. Hence the stove.

In order to install the stove, they had to finish the hardwood floor in the section where it was going to go. They'd already put the boards in, it was just a matter of giving it a few coats of polyurethane. I got to see it for the first time on Thanksgiving day:



Oh, my goodness. I want this floor.

Here's a shot of the dining room on another day from another angle:



I want my hair the color of that floor. I should have taken one just of the floor itself, but didn't think of that until right now.

I was hoping to get one of the stove in action, but totally misunderstood how long it was going to be before it's operational. Not for a week or two. Maybe if I visit sometime this winter I'll get a shot of it. But instead, here's the view off of the porch this morning.



Trees and snow everywhere, from all sides. Here's another one, with the wrought-iron dinner bell I gave Mom as a birthday present a while back:




Side note: Last day of NaBloPoMo! I did it! Yay!