Board and Batten Siding...

54 degrees - 10:00 am - foggy and drizzling...

What kind of siding do you use when you live out in the middle of nowhere, on a mountain ridge, and want the home to look like it belongs there?  We decided the answer was Board and Batten siding.

Board and batten siding is the underdog of siding systems, but we like it for the following reasons:  it has the potential to be visually clean and crisp; it has a timeless look and weather nicely if implemented correctly; the system takes the natural expansion and contraction of materials into consideration; it’s been around for a long time; it’s durable; and it will fit in nice with our surroundings.

If you don’t know what Board & Batten Siding is, it’s a vertical design created using wide clear or knotty cedar boards spaced apart with narrower boards (battens) covering the joins.  There is no set board or batten widths – carious combinations are used to create different looks suitable for large or small-scale applications.  A frequent combination is 1”x3” battens and 1”x10” boards.  Rough sawn boards or boards surfaced on one side and two edges are also commonly used with the combination of 1”x2” batten and 1”x12” boards.

Here are some examples of Board and Batten Siding...

Source: annasdreamhouse.com

Source: woodsource.com

Source: woodsource.com

Busy Summer...

53 degrees - 9:09 am - foggy and drizzling...

Sorry for the lack of posts recently.  We have been so busy lately (off the mountain, instead of on the mountain), and the summer is just flying by.  I hate it and love it all at the same time.  Here we are at the end of July with August just around the corner, which is promising to be just as busy.  Hope everyone is having a great summer!

The forked horn buck decided to take a rest in the backyard a few nights ago.
At least someone is getting to enjoy the backyard.

Thunderstorm...

64 degrees - 9:08 am - overcast...

Last night we had a booming thunderstorm with an awesome light show that continued into this morning.  Here are a few pictures...

Looking Back...

57 degrees - 10:46 am - cloudy...

Looking out the windows of our home, you see an amazing view of valleys and mountains.

The view of the 4,364 foot tall mountain that we wake up to every morning is a popular destination for hikers due to the fantastic 360 degree panoramic viewpoint from the top.  On a clear day you can see five Cascade volcanoes: Rainier, St Helens, Adams, Hood and Jefferson.  It is also a former lookout site; the only thing remaining is a leftover foundation of the fire tower on the summit.

Another neat aspect of this mountain is the “Indian Pits” out on an eastern ridge, where there are about 6 strange hollowed-out pits.  Long ago these pits, along with others found along the Columbia Gorge, were made by removing heavy chunks of basalt and stacking them around the rims of the man-sized depressions.

Who built the crude pits or why is not fully known.  Anthropologists suggest that Native American Indians dug and used the pits for meditation or vision quests.  Their often spectacular locations would suggest that inspiration was an important consideration in selecting pit sites.  With few exceptions, they are positioned with sweeping views of river and sky where sunrise, sunsets and the heavens could be fully experienced.

We have had several friends hike the eastern ridge of the mountain and they have taken photos looking back at our place.  We see the mountain every day, so it’s neat to see the mountain looking back at us.

This picture was take by a friend this past weekend. 
The arrow is pointing to our house.