Song: Eagle's Path
Artists: David Lanz and Paul Speer
I started the day with Salmon Ochazuke...
one of my favorite quick meals.
It is very flavorful and healthful.
Its ingredients are simple and few.
I start the rice...
...pull out one package of salmon from the deep freeze...
...and pull out some Ochazuke flavor packets.
I stocked up on these as they satisfy my frequent cravings for something
quick, hot, nutritious and delicious.
I keep all of my dry goods in protective containers.
I just defrost the salmon.
I then put the salmon and just a little water in a pan on low medium heat...
...and cover it as I am essentially poaching the salmon.
After a short while...
I then mince the salmon.
I put in a portion of rice into a bowl...
...cover it with the minced salmon...
...put away the remaining salmon to put on Bandi's kibble for her next meal...
...pour boiling water on to the mixture....
...add the Ochazuke flavor packets...
...whereupon I mix it thoroughly.
This is a perfect breakfast as the salmon is a high quality protein...
and the rice keeps you filled.
I eat it with either umeboshi or kimchi.
Bandi loves salmon ochazuke.
She primarily communicates with me by gazing at me with her puppy dog eyes.
She thinks I can read her mind...
so she just silently stares at me.
If I don't respond to her look...
she then moves to her second tactic...
gently lying her head on my thigh and giving me more puppy dog eyes.
If that fails...
she will put her paw on my arm...
and then raise herself and look at the item she desires.
Of course...
this never fails.
I gave her some salmon to hold her off while I ate...
and this usually works because she knows I always share my meals with her...
usually at the end...
as I will always save some for her to eat.
She is family...
and I always share what I have with her...
each meal.
I also give her bits while I eat so we can eat together.
I will start the tour with the first floor entertainment room.
This is the room I will eventually convert into a home movie theater.
I am planning on putting up a large screen...
and a movie projector just below it.
I will also put in at least two recliners near and to either side of the
pot belly stove.
This will give the best vantage point for both...
sound and vision.
The house came with the Bose surround sound system built in.
There are four speakers around the room...
with a subwoofer in the far corner.
I will also put in some temporary beds in this room for future guests...
as they will have the whole 1st floor to themselves.
As you will see...
it has its own bathroom.
The double doors lead to the first floor deck right near the outdoor hot tub.
Even though there is underfloor heating on all of the three floors...
even under the carpets...
there is also a gas soapstone pot belly stove for extra ambiance and heat.
It also has a small fridge...
a microwave...
and sink...
for snack preparation.
The stairs to the right of the mini kitchenette goes upstairs.
The small hallway to the left goes to the bathroom to the right...
the storage room to the left...
and the first door to the left goes to the garage.
The garage door is to the left.
I turned around to take a photo of the entertainment room.
The door to the left is a closet.
Just beyond that and to the right is the bathroom.
This bathroom has a built in steam room...
as seen straight ahead.
I have yet to use it...
but I certainly will sometime this winter.
After a few minutes...
the rocks will heat up and you then just pour some water over the hot rocks
to create steam.
This sauna holds quite a few people at one time.
My guests are sure to enjoy this.
To the left of the steam room is a linen closet.
And just opposite the steam room is a built in bench.
Just around the corner from the steam room...
is a shower.
And to the left of that is a separate toilet and sink area.
Back outside the bathroom area and to the left...
is the door to the storage room.
Even though this floor is concrete...
it also has under floor heating.
I will also be making this into a home gym area later...
as there is plenty of room for storage as well.
This is the view from the storage room.
It overlooks the lower drive way...
which leads to the garage.
This room has all of the electrical and plumbing.
It also has its own thermostat.
These trash cans are for dry goods storage.
The plumbing closet is on the left...
and a door leading to the garage is to the right.
It has the boiler for the underfloor heating for the whole house...
as well as for the plumbing.
I then opened the garage doors and took some photos looking out.
I just back out and turn around in the lower driveway.
You can see both of the garage door openings here.
Straight forwards is the first floor deck...
but I shall get to that shortly.
One of the doors to the storage room is on the far side of the car.
This allows easy transition of large shopping dry goods to be directly transferred
into the storage containers.
You may also see the snowblower in the left foreground...
it weighs almost 400 lbs!
I am glad it is self propelled.
I have yet to use it...
and so the steering and control handles are still folded.
However...
I have oil and gas to get it up and running within a very short time.
I am going to use it during our next big snow storm.
In the other garage bay...
I keep my recumbent trike.
I will be using it whenever there is no snow or ice on the road.
I am back outside here...
and walking towards the 1st floor deck.
The stairway leads up to the second deck.
Just around the corner you can just see the hot tub.
It is covered right now.
I may try it out sometime in spring.
Just to the left is the door to the entertainment room.
The view from the hot tub.
This is the stairway leading from the 1st deck to the forest below...
which is also near the hot tub.
This is the stairway to the second deck.
I then went back into the house through the garage door.
You may see the slight incline up to the road.
Again...
I had to lock my car into 4 wheel drive to make it up and out the other day.
The snow was deeper then.
I will not do that again.
I will certainly use my snow blower next time.
There is a whole house security system...
with two touchpads...
one at each of the main entrances to the house.
There are also many thermostats located throughout the house...
at least one on each floor...
with several on the second floor...
so I may have separate zone heating.
One last look at the entertainment room mini kitchenette.
I then walked up to the second floor...
where Bandi was patiently waiting for me.
I am in the cross hallway which lies between the two main 2nd floor bedrooms
and the 2nd floor bathroom.
This is the spare bedroom on the side where it is nearest Bandi's path to the forest.
This was the previous owner's young girl's bedroom...
and so...
the color scheme.
This is the second floor bathroom...
of which is between the two bedrooms.
They used the same tile scheme as on the floors for the shower.
My bedroom.
I chose to stay in this bedroom because it guards the home entrance portion of the deck...
as well as allowing me to see out to the entrance of my driveway.
Bandi loves this room.
She loves peering out the windows whenever she hears anything.
She alerts me to any delivery...
any animals...
everything :)
But...
she is doing her job well.
She is a great comfort to have around the home.
As you can see...
I keep one of the bay windows open...
as well as the large window near the bed...
to create a cross breeze...
even in winter.
I like to sleep cool.
However...
I also usually keep the blinds closed so as to diffuse the air flow.
I still have to do more arranging in my room...
and throughout the house...
but it will do for now.
My closet has all the space I need.
This is my view out the large bedroom window.
It is the perfect vantage point to see anyone approaching.
The following two pictures were in my room shortly after having moved in...
in Autumn.
There were still things everywhere as I was unpacking and arranging in my home.
I had to leave one blind halfway open so Bandi would not eventually tear it up
as she constantly peered through the window at the slightest noise.
You may also see the slight billowing of the large window blind
as a result of the gentle cross breeze coming through the partially open window.
Both...
Bandi and I love the coolness of the room.
Going up the hallway from my room is the washroom.
The vertical deep freeze is here as well.
Just on the opposite side is the kitchen.
And...
the great room lies just on the other side of the kitchen.
And...
of course...
my second gas fireplace for ambiance...
or for extra heating.
It has a powered blower which forces air around the firebox and out into the air.
However...
my subfloor heating system works beautifully...
and so I would only use the gas fireplaces for added ambiance.
Bandi telling me it is time to go to the bathroom...
but first...
I will show you the second floor deck.
This is all the way to the left...
as you are looking out of the house.
You may see Bandi's bathroom area from the end.
I turned around to show the view from that vantage point.
And from there...
I turned to the right showing more of the 2nd floor deck.
The stairway leading from the 1st floor deck is visible.
I then took some shots showing the front of the house.
Another shot of the 1st to 2nd floor stairway.
I rounded the corner to show the rest of the 2nd floor deck.
My front door is just showing here on the right.
I walked down to the end to take Bandi to her bathroom in the forest.
Before walking down the stairs...
I turned around to show the view back towards the front door.
This shows the vehicle entrance to my home from the stairway.
And the upper driveway is here under the snow.
The car...
when parked here in good weather...
is right near the entrance to the second deck...
so I may easily transfer groceries to the kitchen.
Up near the red reflector on the ground is where I park the car
on the upper driveway in good weather...
or when I need to take in groceries.
You may see the bay windows of both 2nd floor bedrooms.
The nearest facing bottom bay window is Bandi's favorite window
to peer out of so she may guard her home diligently. :)
The upper two windows are the loft's bedroom's main windows.
Although...
in the loft bathroom...
there are two more windows that may be opened in conjunction
with the 3rd deck door...
to create a wonderful cross breeze in the loft...
in warmer weather.
Another look at the garage on the first floor...
the 2nd deck...
and the 3rd floor deck.
And this is the lower driveway.
These are from the upper driveway.
I am headed to Bandi's forest bathroom.
I am just on the far side of the house here...
...with just a little farther to Bandi's bathroom on the other side of that berm straight ahead.
A look around at Bandi's forest bathroom.
Looking back at the house from Bandi's area.
And...heading back to the house...
and soon to the loft master bedroom.
We are in the kitchen looking towards the loft stairway.
I put a baby gate on it to keep Bandi from roaming up to it at will.
The stairway makes a u turn at the first landing.
I am on the landing and going up.
The loft is still in disarray as I still have much to unpack...
and put up.
This is the octagonal window through which I frequently take photos.
I am in the loft looking out through the great room windows.
My computer station is still a mess as I have yet to unpack most of my instruments.
That is the door to the 3rd floor deck.
This is from where I view sunsets.
Bandi loves the vantage point from up here...
as she may see much of the property.
I am thinking of placing the IR sauna here in this corner.
As you can see...
I have yet to unpack the sauna.
The master bathroom is beyond the door on the right...
and the walk in closet is on the left.
On to the master bath.
There is a pocket door which closes off the whole bathroom...
and an inner separate door which leads to the toilet room.
To the right is the master bath room.
This walk in shower is roomy...
and has an overhead heat lamp to keep one extra warm while showering.
There is also a pocket door on the walk in closet.
That to the left is a fold out ironing board.
I haven't ironed since I was in the Army.
And I am back at my loft computer station looking out.
Bandi waiting patiently for me to go downstairs.
Although she often sleeps on the loft bed...
or her doggie bed near the computer station while I am up here...
she still favors my room the most...
unless I am in the kitchen cooking. :)
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