DayCreek Open House

by | Oct 5, 2003

Two years ago (our last open house) it poured rain all day, but this year the weather was much better. The sun played hide and seek with the clouds, but didn’t spoil the Solar Tour of Homes.

Visitors started arriving by 10 AM and there was pretty much a steady flow of people all the way to 4 PM. Visitors from Sioux Falls, Duluth, Indianapolis and other parts of the Midwest made the trek to see our cordwood house in the making. It was great to put the faces to the names of those who are frequent visitors here on Daycreek.com. I only wish we had more time to spend with everyone. There were a total of 59 visitors that signed-in, but I’m sure the total head count was closer to 80 or 90.

It would not have been a success without the help from our friends from the Oneida Nation and my friend Tom. Laura, Bonnie, Dave and Debbie mixed mortar and built a cordwood wall, while Tom, Jo and I discussed topics such as solar heating, cordwood building and just about everything else “under the sun.”

All and all, it was a lot of fun and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves—we sure did.

The Bugs
The timing was perfect for the open house, for if it had been on Sunday everyone would have been running for their cars! Just like Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, The Birds, swarms of “The Bugs” started attacking during the afternoon. (Okay…they really didn’t attack, they were just attracted to my light colored T-shirt.) But what gives? Do I look like an aphid or box elder tree? There were thousands upon thousands of multicolored Asian lady beetles and box elder bugs flying everywhere.

Ever since Tippi Hedren came to town, the bugs have been acting strangely. I think she’s the one to blame—she’s evil! (I think I will steer clear of gas stations, small diners and telephone booths for a while. What’s a telephone booth?   )

Actually, on second thought the bugs started gathering on the day that the Cubs beat the Braves. If they make it to the world series, hell will have frozen over and all sorts of strange things are bound to happen. Maybe I should start on that root cellar/fallout shelter instead.

 

A Cedar Waxwing lives up to its name. Within two days, the birds had eaten all of the berries from a juniper near the house. Now if they would only eat those dang bugs!