Icicles and trees

I've spent the past week getting settled into a new house that I actually own. This house has many advantages. Some of the most basic are -

1. It's a nice place - 2 bedrooms, a kitchen/dining area, and a living room. This is more space than I really need, but not necessarily more space than my books other stuff need.

2. It's in a good neighborhood.

3. It's only about 3 miles from work, leading to a very short commute.


There are some disadvantages, though, which are small compared to the advantages but nonetheless present. The biggest disadvantage is that I live on a dirt road. It gets plowed when it snows, but it isn't possible to plow a dirt road as closely as a paved one, so there is still lots of snow. The area is also hilly. This could describe 90% of central Massachusetts, so it's no surprise, but hills plus snow plus a car that lacks four wheel drive and was definitely not designed for either dirt or snowy roads makes driving ... interesting, to put it politely.

(Another disadvantage is that I now owe more money than I ever have before, but that's sort of an automatic hazard of buying a house unless you are wealthy or buying a cheaper house than what you previously owned.)

In any case, I will leave you with a couple of pictures. First, icicles on my house. These have grown so large that I am afraid to disturb them:

Second, a big tree that overhangs my driveway. It's a Norway Spruce (Picea abies), I think.