Tight.

We bought us a TIGHT house.

At least according to John Smith it's tight.

When we asked how many cords of wood he burned in a winter, the answer was eight. (EIGHT!?!)
"Cause it's a tight house", he added, "never feel a draft."

Another time I mentioned to John that I had bought mouse traps to get ready to catch the little stow-aways.

"Oh", he boasted, "you won't need those! Rarely see a mouse in here!"
"It's a tight house!"

Funny, but he kept calling it a tight house. He really thought it was I guess.

We have now lost count of the mice that have succumbed to the lure of peanut butter. When you reach ten you stop keeping track. There have been a couple times where all three traps have been licked cleaned without being set off!!

I said to The Youngest, "How small is that little ball of cuteness that is able to get it licked clean without triggering the trap!?

"EXACTLY, Mom!! And that's what you are trying to kill!!" (I think if I remember correctly she added something about us being "baby mouse killers") haha. But she does get that we don't want mice in the house. The smell wafting down from the open attic access, of mice "relieving themselves" for years, is enough to make anyone become a "baby mouse killer". Yuck!

We now know why John burned eight cord. Stand anywhere in the house and you feel a fresh breeze. Even with windows closed! We are wondering how he stayed warm with only eight!!!
But we can deduce, from the stories we've heard of John, that he stayed warm and didn't feel "any drafts" cause not only did he burn piles of wood, but kept a "pint of anti-freeze in his radiator"

I'm thinking it was that same "anti-freeze" that prevented him from seeing the mice and their calling cards.

After a month of working in this house we have concluded that if THIS house is TIGHT....

Than so is ......

......a braid whose hair band has fallen off.
......a six year old's front tooth with a gap beside it!
......a moored boat with a hole in it.
......a toilet seat with loose bolts.
......an antique piano stool that has been spun a few too many times.
......an aging deck that hasn't been water and weather proofed.
(We had a "tight" deck as well! Wanna come for the bon-fire when we have it?!)

But each day it gets a little tighter... for real. Almost emptied a whole package of pink insulation into holes here and there. Three new windows are in.

And repairs to a basement window, which required a trip to the hardware store for a glass cutter are done and the install will happen today. (see picture below)

You just have to laugh when the word "tight" is used and you walk around the perimeter of the house and see this.....

.....the basement "window". Opening is a more correct term.
No glass, no screen.
Just lovely, fresh country air where all the cute, country mice are welcome to enter.