good things

[oldwrench]

The catnip plantation needs a bit of work, it's been neglected to long.

[Sakura]

Are all these houses made of wood?

[JHawkNH]

Yep. Pretty much every house in Minnesota (and the US for that matter) is made of wood. It is a cheap and plentiful building material here.

What are most houses build out of in your area?

[Zeratul2k]

I would hate to be around during a fire, then

Around here it's mostly bricks and cement construction, or poured concrete for multi-storey buildings.

[oldwrench]

Fire can be a problem, but it's pretty rare. In my Thirty-five years here,there have only been three or four house fires in town.

Building with brick, block and concrete up here has it's problems with the weather. It would be extremely cold in winter because it's hard to insulate and mortar between bricks gets damaged by the frost cycles. Concrete tends to crack from the temperature cycles, then water gets in and breaks it up.

Our new house had 9inch thick poured concrete basement walls with 2x4 studs and 4 inch insulation. The main building is six inch stud wall construction for six inches of insulation and has over 20 inches of insulation under the roof. It's pretty well insulated. When it's -30f outside, you like that. It also helps keep the heat out in summer. Zera, how would you like a temperature swing from -34c to +35c in less than half a year. That's what we get here quite frequently.

And it's still raining a lot.

[Zeratul2k]

Ah, so that's why. I always wondered why the difference on construction methods, thanks for the explanation.

And, honestly, I would prefer that than the over 30°C for months we have had around here sometimes (not this or the past year because of all the rain, but yeah).

[Sakura]

What are most houses build out of in your area?

Stone, concrete, and metal of course. Add some glass for the windows and the catnip greenhouse. Never forget the catnip.

[JHawkNH]

I am going to look into planting some catnip in my garden this year just for you Sakura.

[Dinky]

We have a few big patches of catnip growing in our backyard!! Now, if we only had a cat to give it too...

[JHawkNH]

Sakura will give you her recipe for Catnip Coffee. That should allow you to put it to good use.