[Ships-R-Us]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Ok, so I'm sure you're like me and through the years you formulated a "dream house", one that you honestly think some day you will end up with. I know I still do

So, actually I have several dream houses, depending on the time of year and my mood.

First is a cottage in the mountains of Colorado, or maybe Wyoming. Nicely wooded acres, with a lake downhill about 100 yards away. My cottage would be study and rustic, and inside very warm, plush with lots of heavy paneling. The ground floor would be split into the kitchen and living room, wrapped around the big stone fireplace. An open staircase would lead to my bedroom and study. It would snow me in 4 months of the year, so I would not have to go anywhere until spring. Isolation!

My other dream house is a lighthouse constructed of dressed stone. Yeah, the lighthouse would have circular living quarters split into 5 levels, each level smaller in diameter until the top, the lantern room.

Lantern room with balcony (accessed from below by ladder)
5th level: Sleep chamber & bathroom (accessed from below by ladder)
4th level: Study (accessed from below by circular staircase)
3rd level: kitchen (accessed from below by winding staircase)
2nd level: Living area (accessed from below by staircase)
Ground level: Storage and pantries

Naturally, this has to be on a seafront property, ideally on the US east coast or Scotland in a lightly populated area, with lots of rocky cliffs and cold, pounding surf.

I simply would love to have a small log cabin just outside the village of Mogollon, NM up on the hill on the road to the cemetery, "but not at the cemetery", heated with a wood fired old fashioned kitchen cookstove,with no electricity and lit by kerosene lamps. Within would be an old fashioned overstuffed chair with books about American History none later than the mid 19th century. The fireplace would be ornate and built from local stone with a hand hewn mantle. This cabin would have only one room. It would have running water fed from the stream just above the property which is also used for automatic garden irrigation.
My transportation to town would be a "democrat" wagon pulled by a mule, and I would have a "buckboard" wagon for my utility vehicle. I would have no tv and only a battery operated radio as a warning system for impending doom only.

PS: The cemetery there houses nearly the whole town that succumbed to the worldwide influenza outbreak of 1918. Looking at the dates of all family members that died one by one each week, the mother usually being the last to die is an unforgettable experience.