hill top houses

A few years ago worked on a house on a hill.

South of our valley are what we call the desert hills. There are some good vistas out there and views and MacMansions are drawn together.

So this one house was sitting on top of the hill and it had a commanding view, though most of the view was a good ways off.

I was there on an early fall day. It was cool and the lady was not in a good mood. “The wind always blows around here,” she opined.

That is why the old timers who settled in these areas put their houses down lower, much lower, survival and a degree of comfort (this was before they invented insulation, weather stripping and caulking) and even survival.

We are staying in a rental house in Portland. It is an 80’s house I think, with recent extensive upgrading. It is pretty nice, and quite tight and well insulated, except for those aluminum window frames. The glass is double, however.

But it is cold out. Not quite freezing, but with a nasty wind and high humidity, so it feels cold. And as I sit here I remember the lady complaining about the wind in Idaho.

This house is built on a pretty severe incline and today it faces right into the wind. As portland houses go it is well built, but in another area it would be considered way under insulated.

So I sit here looking out at the wind, being a tiny big nostalgic for my little burrow house with the wood stove.