The comforting glow of a fireplace brings a nostalgic coziness to a winter’s evening at home, but a fireplace adds more than sentimental value to a house.

Diane Saatchi, senior vice president with The Corcoran Group in East Hampton, N.Y., says upscale buyers generally warm to houses with at least one fireplace and take definite note when a home doesn’t have one. And, she adds, buyers in the upper bracket may expect more than one fireplace these days.

Why such interest in an amenity that harks back to the stone age? Saatchi says that adding a fireplace costs much less than upgrading a kitchen or bath and provides a great focal point when entertaining or relaxing. 

Another reason is that it’s not your grandfather’s fireplace anymore. Technology has made fireplaces cleaner, safer and more efficient. Duo Dickinson, an architect in Madison, Conn., says many of the newer prefabricated designs do a better job of keeping in warm air generated.

Today’s home buyers and remodelers have multiple choices in the type of fireplace that comes with their home or the type they add. Some still prefer the traditional wood-burning fireplace that makes them feel like a Scout on a camping trip. Others prefer gas units for simplicity and cleanliness.

There are pros and cons of each. While the look and smell of a traditional fire is appealing to many of us, a full-masonry firebox with a masonry flue is expensive to construct. The vapor from burning wood can be an irritant, especially after the fire has burned, warns Saatchi. The ashes need to be emptied, and most communities require a glass door for safety, which not everybody considers attractive. Lastly, stacks of firewood may attract insects and rodents. 

For these reasons, some homeowners install a wood-burning fireplace outdoors on a deck or in a screened porch.

An alternative to an expensive masonry fireplace with chimney is a direct-vent gas fireplace, which is made of metal and  vents through a wall. Ron Holl, owner of Property Recondition Service, a residential remodeling company in Atlanta, says this type of fireplace is efficient, easy to install and operate, and is programmable.

And there’s no wood to chop.

A gas fireplace’s remote control, for instance, allows users to turn the fire on or off, adjust the flame, and maintain a room’s desired temperature.

Jeff Brooks, who runs an Internet-marketing in San Francisco, went the gas route and was able to heat his entire home with just a gas fireplace and no furnace, he says. “I was shocked but it worked. My wife loved how warm it was.” (But keep in mind he lives in California, not Minnesota.)

Some companies sell  unvented gas fireplaces, a different technology that depends on extremely high heat to burn off wastes rather than venting them. Some local building codes ban these, and Holl thinks the units create moisture that causes mold to develop.

Yet another choice is the combination route: a wood-burning fireplace with a gas line, so that you can burn wood logs or gas.

Consider these other tips if a fireplace is part of your home:

Raising the fireplace up in a master bedroom allows you to sit up in bed and view a fire.

A raised fireplace in a kitchen or hearth room allows those working or dining nearby to see the fire. A large opening permits cooking, even if just roasting s’mores.

Double-sided fireplaces let you enjoy flames from two rooms.

A pot-belly or Franklin stove adds an antique cachet, says Dickinson. 

Think about scale when building or remodeling. The fireplace should be in proportion with the room’s size and height but not block views.

Fire is the third leading cause of home-related injury and deaths, says Meri-K Appy, president of the Home Safety Council in Washington, D.C. The following guidelines should help you prevent fires:

Have your fireplace inspected annually and professionally cleaned to prevent creosote building up, which leads to chimney fires.

Burn only seasoned hardwood--oak, hickory, ash—since it produces less smoke than unseasoned woods or woods with sap or pine.

Install a sturdy fireplace screen to prevent embers and sparks from popping out of a fireplace onto rugs, furniture and people.

Use clean newspaper or kindling to start a fire.

Build a fire for the length of the time you’ll be present to enjoy it. Put it out before you leave the house or go to sleep. 

Gas fireplaces should be professionally inspected and properly vented. Any time you burn fossil fuel, wood or natural gas, be sure you have a carbon monoxide detector.

HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- The Montana Department of Livestock says concerns about disease led the agency to impose a new rule on cattle from Canada if they are not merely passing through the state.

The rule effective this week requires documentation that breeding cattle are free of brucellosis, tuberculosis and trichomoniasis. Also set forth are strict requirements for animal identification, including a demand that animal ID include hot-iron brands, not just tattoos. Officials say tattoos can become hard to read over time, and to examine tattoos, animals must be restrained.

The rule, similar to new rules in North Dakota and several other states, comes as the federal government this week began allowing cattle over 30 months of age into the U.S. market. Some U.S. ranchers worried about mad cow disease oppose that action, which reversed a border closure the U.S. Department of Agriculture imposed in 2003 after mad cow disease was confirmed in an Alberta cow.

Montana's rule drew praise from R-Calf USA, a Billings-based organization critical of the federal action reopening the border.

"It's recognition that we cannot compromise our health and safety standards just to accommodate additional trade," chief executive Bill Bullard said Wednesday.

peaking earlier on the USDA's border decision, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association said the United States cannot expect higher standards from trading partners than the country is willing to impose on itself.
A spokeswoman for the Canadian Cattlemen's Association said "We're not overly happy with" the tuberculosis element of the rule. Canada's government has declared the country's cattle TB-free, but that is not recognized in the United States, spokeswoman Theresa Keddy said from Calgary, Alberta. Keddy said she lacked enough information to talk about the brucellosis and trichomoniasis features of the rule.

Within months of the 2003 ban, the U.S.-Canada border reopened to Canadian beef from younger cattle. Since mid-2005 the border has been open to live cattle under 30 months. Older cattle carry a higher risk of having mad cow disease, a disorder that scientists believe is spread when farmers feed cattle recycled meat and bones from infected animals.

Two of the diseases addressed in the Montana rule, brucellosis and trichomoniasis, can cause abortions in cattle. Bovine tuberculosis is a wasting disease of the lungs.

While the Montana rule does not apply to animals passing through the state, it does apply "if they step one foot off the trailer," said Steve Merritt, spokesman for the Montana Department of Livestock.

http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/11/25/news/regional/b6712dcd829c40a18725739c005f9e9a.txt  

Joe Hoehn’s Montana elk-hunting dream came true five years ago only to end in a nightmare.

As he snuck up on a cow elk in a small clearing, Hoehn raised his 7mm semi-automatic rifle, centered the crosshairs of his scope, pulled the trigger and — nothing.

The gun’s action had frozen in the winter cold.

Frantically, he stepped behind a tree, cupped his hands around the action and huffed onto the rifle in hopes of defrosting the action.

It was then that a calf elk with the cow spotted him, bleated, and the elk ran off.

“That was my first education by my Montana brethren that you don’t bring a semi-automatic rifle out here,” Hoehn said. “I remember thinking, ‘The guys back at camp are not going to believe this.’ ” Hoehn (pronounced Hane), 44, is a general contractor from Waseca, Minn., a town of about 10,000 people south of Minneapolis.

A self-taught hunter, Hoehn started coming to Montana after an invite from his boyhood neighbor, Gene Byron, who now lives near Helena.

Prior to that, he had been hunting elk with a crowd in Colorado.

“The group got too large and unorganized,” he said.

He’s never regretted the switch.

Hoehn is one of about 44,000 out-of-state hunters who travel to Montana each year to chase wild game.

They come for a variety of reasons — for a wilderness experience, to climb mountains and take in the scenery, or for the simple reason that there are no elk to hunt in the state where they live.

Driving to his Montana hunting spot, Hoehn said he is always struck by the large, empty spaces of the state and its variety of terrain — from the rugged plains in the east to the west’s high mountains.

“I think the thing that sticks out to me is Montana’s vastness,” Hoehn said. “Compared to what I’m accustomed to, it’s underpopulated, which is a good thing.”

But it is the elk that continue to bring Hoehn back, and the challenge of bagging one.

“They are majestic, my god,” he said excitedly. “But once you see the terrain, the downed timber and the swiftness they move through it, they become a tough target.”

And to Hoehn, nothing signifies wilderness better than a bull elk’s bugle.

“That sends a chill up your neck like a loon’s call,” he said.

A barrel-chested farmer’s son of German-Irish descent, Hoehn has a quick laugh and an energetic personality.

In business for himself for 16 years, he is the father of five and also sits on the school board.

Since he’s always busy at home, the Montana trips — a 15-hour one-way drive — are his down time.

“This is the one week I can set aside for myself,” he said.

Last year, the trip transitioned into a family event when he brought his son, Shorty, who is now 17.

His 12-year-old daughter, Abbe, who bagged her first deer this year, is already lobbying to come west and hunt elk.

Hoehn has told her she has to wait until she’s 15 to carry a high-powered rifle.

“The biggest trophies I have are family and friends with the animals they have taken,” Hoehn said. “That’s what I treasure the most.”

Over the years, hunting has become a big deal in Hoehn’s family — with the annual Minnesota deer opener much like a holiday. In the week prior to the Montana trip, Hoehn’s brothers visit his 65-acre farm to hunt whitetail deer.

Over the years the event has grown to include about nine family members.

“It’s not only the hunting part that I like,” Hoehn said. “It’s also getting out in the woods early and watching the forest come to life. That’s the turn on for me. Being able to bag an animal is gravy.”

Last year, he and his son were both in the gravy after shooting cow elk — a first for each of them.

Shorty called the experience “pure excitement.

“I was shocked,” he said. “I got her on my last day. It was kinda surreal.”

This year, however, they returned with unfilled elk tags.

Hoehn said his wife is much more accepting of the annual trip to Montana now that he’s taking his son.

“And I must say, I enjoy it more,” he said. “Seeing your kid get their first elk is much more far-reaching than me ever getting one.”

And Shorty seems to enjoy the change in routine and the chance to miss a week’s worth of school.

“It’s a good change,” he said. “I like the scenery and the different landscape, being in the mountains.

“And it’s a good time being with my father and all that.”

The annual trip costs about $2,000, Hoehn estimated. Of that, about $1,000 is paid for a combination big game license for him and Shorty.

The past couple of years, they’ve stayed in a Forest Service cabin in the Big Belt Mountains, just west of White Sulphur Springs. For $35 a night, Hoehn said it’s a great deal.

The biggest increase in the cost of the trips has been the price of fuel, which continues to climb. But Hoehn still sees it as a worthwhile expenditure.

“I don’t think 20 years from now I’ll be able to do this,” he said.

NEWS ITEM: Bob Hart, of Missoula, caught the new Montana state record walleye on a sinker and five-inch minnow last weekend while fishing from the bank in his lawn chair on Tiber Reservoir. It was the second walleye of his life - the first a 14-incher on Saturday - and it weighed 17.75 pounds.

OK. Let's be polite. Let's be gracious. Let's be kind.

Golly-gee-whiz-son-of-a-gun, Bob, that's a really, really nice walleye. And rah-rah-rah-sis-boom-bah, let's give you a big cheer for catching it.

So much for the pleasantries. Now, let's talk about what really happened here. Bob - you rat - you've ruined my life and the lives of countless other walleye fishermen across Montana. Do you realize what you've done? Do you realize that an entire walleye fishing industry is about to crash down about our ears?

It took my wife less than a minute to start on me and capture the essence of the situation.

"Hmmmmm, that's a nice walleye," she began. "And that nice Mr. Hart was relaxing in his lawn chair when he caught it and all he needed was a fishing rod, a sinker and a minnow. Isn't that nice!

"How come you have to have that big boat and you keep buying all that fishing stuff and you don't catch fish like that?," the love of my life continued. "It looks to me like you should change your tactics. Why don't you just go and buy a lawn chair or, better yet, I can go to garage sales and find one for you. What color lawn chair works best to catch state record walleyes?"

Conventional Montana walleye wisdom would have painted a far different scenario than Bob and his lawn chair to catch the fish to break the old standard, Dan Spence's 16.63-pounder from Fort Peck Reservoir.

Everybody knew the state record would be broken by either a Fort Peck fish or one from Canyon Ferry Reservoir. Those are the big walleye waters. Longer odds would have gone to Nelson Reservoir, Cooney Reservoir or the Yellowstone River, where previous state record walleyes were caught.

Tiber was absolutely not the place it would come from. Tiber has a lot of walleyes, but they're typically small.

Consider that Walleyes Forever's Web site - www.WalleyesForever.com - has photos of 251 walleyes that ran 10-pounds-or-better which have been caught over the past decade from Montana waters. Fish from Fort Peck and Canyon Ferry litter the listings of the Montana 10+ Club. But Bob's state record is the first and only fish from Tiber to make the list.

Obviously, Bob was fishing in the wrong place.

Conventional wisdom was that a well-equipped boat angler would catch the state record, likely on a crankbait - a large, trolled lure that would imitate a minnow. That's the way many of the big ones are caught.

Or, perhaps, it would be on a trolled bottom bouncer and spinner rig baited with a minnow, nightcrawler or leech, a great tactic that takes countless walleyes all across Montana each year. Personally, I'm a leech guy when it comes to spinners.

Obviously, Bob was fishing with the wrong gear.

And we all know that walleye fishing isn't easy and that it takes years of experience on the water to get to be really good at it. You have to study the fish. You have to learn the techniques. You have to carefully hone your success over time to learn how to catch big walleyes.

But Bob comes along and catches a 14-incher one day - the first walleye of his life - and then moves directly to 17.75 pounds - the state record - for the next one.

Obviously, Bob was the wrong fisherman.

If there's a single bright spot to this whole ruination our fishing lives, it's that Bob has proven that state record fish are out there to be caught. They could be anywhere. They could be caught by you. And, you never know when or where one is going to show up on the end of a fishing line.

While that's hopeful, I'm afraid that I still fear the worst for my fishing life.

I can see it all now as my wife packs me off for walleye fishing next summer.

"I know you don't want to go fish Lake Elmo - that you want to fish Fort Peck or Canyon Ferry," she'll begin. "But Bob showed us you can catch state record fish anywhere and Lake Elmo isn't so far away.

"I know you want to take your boat and all your fishing gear and you wanted to buy more stuff," she'll continue. "But look at this lawn chair I found for you at the garage sale. Sorry it's so tattered and so bright pink, but there were a lot of fishing wives buying lawn chairs and there wasn't much left. And here's a shiny new quarter so you can buy a shiny new leech to fish with."

Oh joy! I get a tattered pink lawn chair and a shiny new leech and get to go where I don't want to go.

So, congratulations on the state record, Bob - honest - even if you did it all wrong. And, by the way, in looking at my own fishing situation now, you're still a rat.

Sales of existing homes fell in June with some potential buyers staying on the sidelines, but prices rose modestly as inventories eased, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.

Total existing-home sales -- including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops -- declined 3.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 5.75 million units in June from a downwardly revised level of 5.98 million in May, and are 11.4 percent below the 6.49 million-unit pace in June 2006. 

Lawrence Yun, NAR senior economist, said some consumers are uncertain.  "Home buyers have been getting mixed signals about the housing market, which is causing some of them to hesitate," he said.  "Mortgage interest rates have risen recently, and tightening lending standards are continuing to hamper sales, but fewer risky loans will put the market on a healthier path.  Although general buying conditions remain favorable for long-term home buyers, it appears some buyers are looking for more signs of stability before they have enough confidence to make an offer."

According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was 6.66 percent in June, up from 6.26 percent in May; the rate was 6.68 percent in June 2006.

"Two bright spots in the June report are a decline in housing inventory and a modest gain in home prices," Yun said.  "Although we've seen seasonal month-to-month price increases over the past four months, this is the first time in 11 months that the median home price is higher than the year-ago price."

The national median existing-home price2 for all housing types was $230,100 in June, up 0.3 percent from June 2006 when the median was $229,300.  The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.

Total housing inventory fell 4.2 percent at the end of June to 4.20 million existing homes available for sale, which represents an 8.8-month supply at the current sales pace, the same as a downwardly revised 8.8-month supply in May.

NAR President Pat V. Combs, from Grand Rapids, Mich., and vice president of Coldwell Banker-AJS-Schmidt, said that local market conditions vary widely.  "Consumers should avoid making decisions based on what they hear about the national market because all real estate is local," she said. 

"There are pockets around the country where home sales are quite strong, so you really need to consult with a knowledgeable real estate professional about local market conditions -- experience is one way REALTORS® add value to the real estate transaction, and a reputable agent is your best resource to navigate the current market, whether it's moving up or down," Combs said.

Single-family home sales fell 3.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.01 million in June from a downwardly revised 5.19 million in May, and are 12.1 percent below the 5.70 million-unit level in June 2006.  The median existing single-family home price was $230,300 in June, up 0.1 percent from a year ago.

Existing condominium and co-op sales dropped 6.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 740,000 units in June from 790,000 in May, and are 6.6 percent lower than the 792,000-unit pace a year ago.  The median existing condo price3 was $228,900 in June, up 2.6 percent from June 2006.

Regionally, existing-home sales in the South eased by 1.7 percent to an annual sales rate of 2.26 million in June, and are 11.4 percent below a year ago.  The median price in the South was $190,800, up 0.7 percent from June 2006.

Existing-home sales in the Midwest declined 2.8 percent in June to a level of 1.37 million, and are 8.1 percent below June 2006.  The median price in the Midwest was $171,700, which is 1.5 percent below a year ago.

Existing-home sales in the West dropped 6.8 percent in June to an annual pace of 1.10 million, and are 19.1 percent below a year ago.  The median price in the West was $340,000, down 0.4 percent from June 2006.

Existing-home sales in the Northeast fell 7.3 percent to a level of 1.01 million in June, and are 7.3 percent lower than June 2006.  The median existing-home price in the Northeast was $294,400, up 1.8 percent from a year ago.