Spring?

As noted in my last post, we had high winds this past Monday.  According to this week's Presque Isle Advance, a 53 mph gust was recorded at the New Lighthouse on Monday evening, and a 54 mph gust at Alpena Harbor south of us.  It was certainly wild around my place!  Although quite a few people in Northeastern Michigan lost power in that storm, no falling limbs blacked us out at Presque Isle.

After a truly spectacular spring day yesterday, we're back in late winter today.  A mixture of rain and snow was falling as I drove to Rogers City this morning, and I'm told that at Onaway — at the western end of the county — they had four inches of snow on the ground.  What a delightful spring!

I'm getting the house ready for a special guest this weekend.  Bob, my architect, will drive over from Traverse City, where he has a meeting on Saturday and Sunday.  Bob's last visit was on Nov. 21, 2010, when the house was still skeletal inside and only half-sided on the exterior.  Much to my surprise, Bob told me recently that he has never stayed overnight in a house he has designed.  This visit will be a first for him, and a pleasure for me!

Bob's Ann Arbor firm, Archiopolis Architects LLC, specializes in energy efficient design.  That design philosophy is clearly evident in my house:

Mission Statement - Archiopolis, llc is a full service architectural firm dedicated to the tenets of sustainability. In our every project we promote the design, construction, and operation of buildings that are environmentally responsible, attractive, affordable, and healthy places to live and work. A common definition of sustainability is:

Development which allows people to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

United Nation’s World Commission on Environment and Development (UNWCED, 1987)   •••