Mz, I agree with Luvs..a trap is a very good idea. Perhaps there's a wildlife sanctuary in your area that would be willing to take them ? In regards to antifreeze.. it's my understanding that the component that had the most detrimental effect on animals has been removed.. the makers claim your pets ( thereby incl non-pet animals ) can safely drink the stuff. There's also another solution that may be a little bit more viable for you. It sounds disgusting.. but most sporting goods stores carry a lot of varieties of bottled animal urine ( I know..ewwww ). Perhaps you could spray or pour it around your property line it would help deter the little pests from coming into your yard. My ex was an avid hunter... so I know all about this stuff...lol. Maybe if the little bandits smelled a "predator" in the area they would leave for parts unknown.Seems like I actually saw bottled bobcat or mountain lion urine in one of the hunting catalogs he used to get. At any rate... good luck and hopefully you'll find something that will work. Susan

Your home is beautiful ~ I love the windows and the view is breathtaking. Here are my suggestions. I think the arched, painted bookcases detract from the massive beauty of the fireplace stone. Maybe rough sawn cedar beam shelving, or pine, to compliment the weightiness of that beautiful fireplace? The other suggestion I have is to google log homes and notice the kinds of lighting and decor they use. Antlers made into chandeliers, stuffed birds hung from the cathedral ceiling as though in flight, bear rugs, massive log furniture. We have a log house with a big, natural stone fireplace (not as big as yours!) :-) Our floors are slate, too. Our cabinets are simple pine with black wrought iron handles. There are no arches anywhere in the house ~ everything is simple, straight and clean, emphasizing the beauty of the wood, stone, and glass. Our mouldings are made from rough sawn pine log ~ even around the fireplace mantle. The pieces which are highly visible have worm tracks in the wood, which is very cool. To us, anyway! We are down South for the winter, or I would try to post some pictures here for you. Your house is going to be just beautiful! Barbara

Oops, apologies... Yes, in the 'Personal Blurb' section, and if anyone doesn't know how to include clickable links, here is some info (thanks to Weed30): Listen UP!!!! How to make a clickable link!Posted by weed30 (My Page) on Thu, Mar 11, 04 at 13:33 I can't take it anymore! Y'all are posting web addresses that I have to copy and paste into my address bar and it's makin' me nuts. YES I AM LAZY!!! So I'm gonna teach you how to make a clickable link...pay attention now! Instead of just copying and pasting the URL of your target website or photo into your message, which will force people to copy and paste it into their browser, copy and paste the URL into the message you are posting, then add the tags before and after as shown: It will turn out like this: Black Swallowtail Butterfly By adding the page reference command, (a href=), you are creating a link to the page on the web. Be sure and add a name for your link, (in this case, Black Swallowtail Butterfly), and end the command. (/a) It is so much simpler for people to click on the link instead of copying the URL and pasting it into the address bar. You can try out your newfound talent at the Test Forum on Gardenweb. Try it....you'll like it!!! Thank you! Here is a link that might be useful: clickable link/Weed30

Okay, now we're cooking. So, this is the layout of our little house. We don't live there yet, we are gutting it for a total redo. This is what the floor plan will be when we are done. We can't add to the footprint r/t our proximity to the river and we don't really want to anyway. It's about 1100 sq ft. total. We are retiring here (someday:) and this is our last remodel so we are committed to doing it the right way, no cobbling or short-changing quality/desires. The living room will be knotty pine walls and ceiling in a honey pine finish from Buffalo Lumber in New York. My DH has his heart set on it and it's okay with me. Seems to suit the setting. Of course, the kitchen and living room need to work together. The entry will be the honey pine ceiling with whitewashed K.P. on the walls. Now, they offer a darker stain called fruitwood that I'm also considering for the ceilings. I've seen it on Houzz and LOVE the look. As in this: [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/by-hardrock-construction-traditional-laundry-room-toronto-phvw-vp~37184) [traditional laundry room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-laundry-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_753~s_2107) by toronto general contractor HARDROCK CONSTRUCTION The doorway to the entry will stay where it is drawn..just enough to end the cabs and allow for door trim. The doorway to the porch can move E or W just a bit and the south cabs can shrink a little. The opening to the living room is wide open to possibilities. I would like some type of peninsula set-up there for daily meals and putzing on the laptop, etc. On special occasions, we'll be setting up a table on the 'river porch' as we call it. I cook from scratch a lot. We grow gardens so fridge space is necessary. (I like the idea of a counter-depth fridge) I make big shopping trips mostly and also buy in bulk for lots of items. I will have basement storage for that kind of thing. An 18" DW will be fine for the 2 of us... don't mind doing dishes by hand and kinda want a Dishmaster faucet. We do recycle and compost, so some kind of plan for that space would be good. Let's see: The only appliances I'd like out are my kitchenaid stand mixer, my food processor, my coffee pot, toaster and coffee grinder...wouldn't be opposed to an appliance garage for the last three. Oh, and the knife block or some other easy access solution for knives. Love open shelves for my bowls and whatnot... have them now and find them very useful. We have a 39" wide green Chambers stove: that is more mint green than the pic shows (at least on my computer)and will be on the south wall. The only window is over the sink on the west wall... the river porch will be solid windows facing south but the kitchen proper just has the one. If I could keep the window centered it would look good from outside, but the further to the right the sink goes, the better my view. (or the wider the window gets, but 4' wide is about it... possibly a little wider) I'm trying to cover all the things you guys always ask people so I'm not wasting your time. And I hope I'm not being presumptuous in thinking you all will help me... :) The flooring for the whole house other than bath and master is leaning heavily towards marmoleum ploughed acre with some thoughts of a small diamond inset design in the kitchen just for a little fun. Our budget is... well, I'd love to get this done for less than 20,000. Anything more than that makes me feel itchy and nervous. Not a huge fan of granite but having said that, we are repurposing some granite and quartz stones from a wall in the kitchen for the fireplace surround in the LR. There is a lot of red granite in there. The prev. owner worked at a local quarry in the 70's, so there is granite galore on the exterior. As far as appliances, we'll be purchasing a fridge/freezer or an all fridge/freezer drawers or something. An 18" dw, range hood and sink. Don't use microwaves. What else can I tell you? My mission statement is: I want my kitchen to function efficiently, be easy to keep clean and organized, feel like it belongs to the house and will inspire and energize me. I hope someone can help. Should I upload a closer view of just the kitchen?d Thank you!