Every house has its story. What's yours?

So my neighbor made the plunge and bought himself a hot tub. Not one of those fancy ones with jets, but a rustic fire-heated hot tub that looks like a large wooden barrel. We gave it a test run the other night before he gets it positioned up on the hill where there is more of a view to enjoy (and mosquitoes to be had).

The contraption is heated by a fire built in a tank submerged in the water. It took a couple hours to heat the other night, but he didn't install the circulation pump/filter so it should go a lot quicker once it's installed. The only problem is that once it starts getting hot it's hard to keep it from getting really hot. It was nice at 38 Celcius, but once it hit 46 Celcius we spent more time sitting on the edge. Of course, the heat is easily countered with cold water from a hose, but soon you reach a high level of water and are forced to drain a bit or let it spill over.

All in all I see it as a welcome addition to the neighborhood and am not dreading the fall/winter of Sweden so much this year now that we have a new source of comfort from the cold.

The drink shelves are essential!