NextDoor is a popular app that focuses on, you guessed it, next door and a little beyond. As Stallion Springs isn’t that big, it covers all of it. This post is something I will never see on an equivalent App in Amsterdam; one of my neighbors spotted a Coral snake.

For those of you interested in snakes around this area:
(I would prefer to not meet any of them. The snakes that is.)
Funny fact on page 2: they “micro fart” when it feels threatened. I think I’d “Mega fart” if I ever saw one in my yard 💩.

https://texashillcountry.com/5-surprising-facts-coral-snake/

They placed a sign next to the subdivision entry sign, stating Fiber is coming, with speeds up to 1 Gb/s. I did not call them yet, but it will be a step up from the rural internet connection I have now. Hopefully prices will be doable.

The list of things you can do with surplus cedar keeps growing. (For those of you who missed it, instead of siding boards, that cover the outside walls of the extension, I received a huge amount of 2×4’s and some boards somewhat like that size. As these cannot be used for siding, they became surplus.) So besides a table, bed, handrails and saloon doors, now I’ve made the a luggage rack;

I’m not sure it will hold the weight of all suitcases, but economy check-in allowed luggage should be fine. When not in use, it folds up to not take up space. The straps are what Ikea delivers their mattresses in, so it only cost me some time to make it.

And as I was working on cedar accessories anyway, and had a practical “issue” that I could not reach the toilet roll from the toilet seat, I made this one;

Now that the stove is operational, I also wanted to be able to vent the cooking smells to outside. I went for a DIY approach, as I think the Vent hoods that are available, are either to pricey, to ugly or both. So from wood I had left over, a ventilator, two aluminum filters, a roll of aluminum tape, and some wiring, I made this little vent hood:

It has a built in LED light, and from the back, a fan blows air outside the home, through the technical room. It’s not a huge suck zone, but it does fan out air pretty well. It switches on when the light is switched on. As the fan is on the other side of the log wall, it’s not as noisy as some vent hoods, that make it hard to have a normal conversation with anyone when it’s sucking.

Step by step, I’m getting closer to finishing; today, I replaced the temporary stairs I put in the very first time, by a permanent one with dimensions within building code. The railing ropes will be extended to make it more complete (I just did the top rope today)

And I will stain the steps and 4×4 in Federal blue, like the rest of the side deck.

Now that most of the work has been done, it’s time to put in finishing touches. And fire alarms are an essential part of general security. So I added the first two fire alarms, on in the Master bedroom and one in the Living.

They talk to each other and make a distinction between Carbon Monoxide and Fire. And they also literally talk; when the button is pressed, a female voice announces it will be loud, and gives you an option to cancel the test, before a really loud beep sounds.

It was time for a quick site update; the 3D rendering has been replaced by an actual shot (not photoshopped) of Ozuye as it looks today. You could almost think it’s in the middle of nowhere when you see the header picture, but that’s just a matter of framing.
The new look is simpler and should load a little quicker. It also focuses on the posts, as for now, those are the things most vistors look at. When I have time, I will spruce things up a little, but for now, this works.