I’ve been trying to actually make it some where on getting a house. What would be really grand is if I could build a passive solar house. We’ve found a lot in a neighborhood we like that is appropriate, but we haven’t done anything about it yet because we are still trying to figure out if we can afford to put a house on it. We figured the best way to figure out if we could afford a house was to draw up reasonably accurate plans and find some contractors to give rough quotes. Last Friday, we met with a local mechanical engineer specializing in passive and active solar to make sure we weren’t too far out in left field. And we have been asking around a bunch for suggested contractors. I still need to make a bunch of phone calls. One of our concerns there is whether a normal contractor will be willing/able to deal with non-standard building techniques to get a well insulated house.

My tomatoes are starting to produce. I got a whole bowl worth yesterday. Does anyone know how to tell when to pick a jalapeno? I’ve got a number of them that are a reasonable size, but since they don’t change color or anything, I don’t know if I should pick them yet.

We were hoping to go hiking and climbing this weekend — both on our own since the AMC climbing trip had filled up — but house chores took up too much time, so we only made it to a hike up Mt Chocorua. The day was splendid, and the hike was very nice. Photos and post here.