The Door Into Summer
Posted on August 20, 2008 Posted by John Scalzi 36 Comments
What a lovely squared-off hole in my house. There used to be a door there; there will yet be another door there, hopefully before the end of the day. For the moment, however: square hole. Hopefully the raccoons will stay out until the door goes up.
I’m mostly posting this so Krissy can see what’s being done to her house in her absence. The rest of you are just along for the ride.
Nice deck. Really.
Heck, photograph every other room in the house for the complete “Scalzi VR experience”.
What kind of weather protection did you use on that deck? It looks fantastic.
Chris @ 2 “We call this the Hugo Room….” ;)
That particular Heinlein title always twangs my heartstrings.
That is a lovely view from the deck. I am jealous.
“The Door Into Summer” sounds like the title of a fantasy novel.
So, French, or Sliding Glass . . . . ? :-)
I bet the four-legged denizens of the Sclazi manse are happy about the big open pathway out of the cave.
Polychrome, it’s the title of a Heinlein book, natch.
I’ll bet if you set that bear of yours to patrol the deck the raccoons will stay away… Or stage a coordinated attack with those deft little hands of theirs. Or maybe they’ll just be impressed with the view from the deck and forget all about the big raid on the ape compound. Nice view.
Inevitable lame Lolcatz caption: Invisible Door.
We had to have our plain ol’ regular-size front door replaced last summer. In Texas. During a heatwave. We’d’ve taken incoming critters over the astronomical electric bill for that month….
When we replaced our kitchen door several years ago (ourselves), we got the old (non-functioning) door out, and were ready to install the new door when we realized that several pieces of wood had to be replaced.
And we didn’t have anything we could use on hand.
My husband got to go out and get the necessary supplies to secure the house, while I remained home and made sure 1) no one wandered into steal everything and 2) the cats didn’t run out the opening and into the street where they would be dead within moments.
Your project looks a lot less stressful.
Inasmuch as I don’t actually have to do anything except pay the guys when it’s done? Yes.
Does the absence of said “guys” and any tools (and door for that matter) concern you at all, or was the square hole part of a plan that has stalled?
Or did you make them clean up for the photo?
A Door Into Summer ? I’ve been looking for that . . .
Pity you didn’t have a picture of one of your cats wandering out of it.
Also, this would’ve been a great place to take a +2, -2, and make an HDR shot, no?
Dude, you need to go the full VEGA$ and, like Dan Tanna, just drive into the house, hop out, and you’re in your living room.
This looks like a title and picture for an episode of Rod Serling’s ‘Night Gallery’ – one of the ones which ends happily, not one of the scary ones.
Should an SF writer not have doors that dilate?
You want to pay for them, Johan?
Good luck!
Why do you have a heat register in front of a door?
It seems counter-productive, unless it’s a cold-air intake.
Like I designed the house, Steve H.
I’m willing to do my share. I have no objection to earmarking for your Dilation Project the ten or so dollars that used to be mine and are now yours. That is, unless you already spent them on cats, or worse.
Door into Summer? I think C.S. Lewis just rose from the grave…
It’s awfully easy to have a door into summer… during the summer. As I recall from the book, the cat kept trying to find the door into summer during the winter and was highly insulted.
Dr. Phil
My most beloved cat was Petronius. I’m not sure how anyone who reads this blog can unashamedly admit ignorance of the title.
Dr Phil- that’s why he moved to California- the door was always into summer. I wish that any of my doors here led into summer: it’s cold and rainy here in Berlin.
That’s not a real door is it, it’s a Trompe l’oeil – or maybe a portal to another reality – from out of the darkened room and into a world of light….
But even if there *IS* a door, if you *OPEN* the door, to the raccoons and skunks it will be as if there is *NO* door.
This I know:
–Pip
Yeah, 26 comments before someone pointed out the proper reference? Tsk, tsk…
How long did it take for one of the cats to bolt through? =)
One of my favorite of the non message Heinleins oddly enough,( probably because I’m a cat person).
On the subject of whom, I just read the original version of The Puppet Masters for the first time as against the version I’ve had since the seventies. And I have to say that I don’t think it reads as well.
Likewise the Re-issued version of Stranger In A Strange Land.
We all know from Grumbles From The Grave that RAH took fairly strong exception to some editors messing with his work, although he seemed happy to cut and re-write for others, but am I the only one who thinks his edited work is actually a lot better?
Is it just that the re-issues seem “wrong” because I’ve read the others a zillion times do you think?
-just curious to know what others think.
There’s a reason why the heat register is where it is. Most heat registers (forced-air heat) are placed directly under windows, and in some cases, doors. This is to insure the flow of warm air to the areas of greatest heat loss. I can understand the reasoning behind it, as it helps to keep the heat even across a room or house and eliminate cold spots.
” Most heat registers (forced-air heat) are placed directly under windows, and in some cases, doors. This is to insure the flow of warm air to the areas of greatest heat loss. I can understand the reasoning behind it, as it helps to keep the heat even across a room or house and eliminate cold spots.”
I always figured it was because it’s cheaper to run the hot water pipes or air ducts along the perimeter of the building, rather than trying to follow the vagaries of interior wall placement.
re: dilating doors
“You want to pay for them, Johan?”
I bet you could make them cheaply out of some inflatable wedges. To open the door, turn on a vacuum pump to evacuate the wedges and if possible use enough pressure to pull the tip of the wedge from the center of the door to the perimeter.
If pressure alone isn’t enough, the wedges could be built with an internal spring or cable which pulls the wedge tip to the wall when the air is evacuated.
Might be kinda loud though. And not very suitable for exterior doors since any meth freak with a steak knife could deflate your door in seconds.
“I always figured it was because it’s cheaper to run the hot water pipes or air ducts along the perimeter of the building, rather than trying to follow the vagaries of interior wall placement.”
Depends. If it freezes outside much in the winter, you want all water pipes in interior walls (except for those few exterior faucets). Some people believe that the wiring should all be external, rather than scattered thruout the living space, but I personally find that I _want_ an outlet every few feet, on every wall.
It also varies depending on if you have a basement or not.
Ah. My favorite Heinlein novel.