Do you remember the child’s game called Rock, Paper, Scissors? On long car trips it helped to pass the endless hours and the only equipment required was your hands. It was a battle among your flattened palm that represented paper, your fist that was a  rock, and the scissors that your extended index and middle fingers became. The rules were simple: paper covers rock; rock breaks scissors; scissors cut paper. We seemed to have played a grownup version of this recently.

Since where you live and what you live in is such an important part of feeling happy, it’s no surprise that over the years we’ve often discussed the various housing options available to us. From the beginning Bill has dreamed of a log home and we watched an entire season of a home building TV show that went through the entire process from groundbreaking to roof capping with tons of chinking that goes between each of those logs to seal them. Who knew that electrical and plumbing systems had to be flexible to allow for compression over time as the weight of those massive timbers moves ever downwards?

After we started vacationing in Europe, we both became enamored with stone homes. What’s more picturesque than a classic stone cottage sitting by the gurgling mill stream in a beautiful flower-filled village with snow capped mountains in the background? Having lived on the east coast of the US where hurricanes are an annual threat, the thought of living inside a building made from material that’s been around for a few million years is rather comforting.

In the house we recently bought here in Carcassonne, the heavy tile roof is held up by huge wooden beams, each made from one giant tree, two of which run through the upstairs bedroom. The previous owner opened up part of the attic to create more living space, exposing those beams in the process. We can now admire them every morning or bump our heads on it if we’re not careful when getting out of bed.

To support a heavy roof you’re going to need some pretty substantial walls and this house has them. Above is a photo of one of the exterior walls which, including the part inside the door, is 2 feet (61 centimeters) thick. Any hurricane winds are going to have to blow very hard to make their presence known.

So if we have our “paper” from those log beams upstairs, the “rock” in the walls holding up the roof, where are the “scissors”? I think I’ll quit while we’re ahead!