Doug's Project 365

Seen at Tap 25 in Stowe, VT

Monday’s extreme winds blew the ridge cap right off our 3-season room! Fortunately, I was able to repair the damage ahead of this evening’s snow.

One of these coffee beans is not coffee at all, but a small stone that made it all the way from the farm to me. It’s the one in the middle, with white marks on it from my coffee grinder’s failed attempts to break it. Fortunately for me I use a hand-powered grinder, or it probably would have done severe damage.

Our treat after shoveling this evening: homemade hot chocolate, made with that toasted sugar from yesterday. This is also Stella Parks’s recipe.

I made a batch of Stella Parks’s toasted sugar for use in a winter-storm recipe tomorrow. It started out the same white color as the stuff in the measuring spoon.

My office’s holiday party was in the North End this evening. On my walk back, the Custom House Tower looked quite dapper above the Greenway.

There were quite a few people walking past my office today for some reason.

We had a mini-split (air conditioning / heat pump) system installed at our house over the last 2 days. Last summer’s heat was just so brutal for me that I had to do something to be able to come home to an already-cooled-down house. We have three indoor units driven by one outdoor unit, but will still use window ACs in a couple of spots including the guest room (sorry, Elaine!). Rebates meant that the latest cold-weather heating technology (rated at 100% output down to 5°F) was actually cheapest for us. I suspect we will actually use it for heat in the shoulder seasons, and having a backup available makes me less anxious about our 30+-year-old boiler.

Before our first winter in this house, we had the basement ceiling insulated. This contributes greatly to our comfort even if it doesn’t contribute much to the house’s efficiency.