A New Life for Deck/Acorn/Next

We caught up with our friend Ed over a few beers on Friday and talked a bit about the new life for the old Empyrean entity. Happily, a new owner has emerged, with good financing and a seemingly conservative business model that should be good for the redevelopment of this company. The brand name Empyrean has been minimized, and there is a strong focus on branding the known names - Deck, Acorn and NextHouse.

We hear that a few of the folks who were with the predecessor company are back at work, which is always good news. More importantly, customers are returning. The website is reactivated and cleaned up, and can be found at http://www.deckhouse.com/

In the meantime, we're still loving life in our NextHouse. This was the year to have the house restained, and it really needed it! The south-southwest exposure provides great passive solar, but that same sunlight fades and dries out the stain pretty quickly. The clapboards just drank up the stain and look phenomenal.

We're getting ready for Fall, collecting kindling, trimming plants, and harvesting those vegetables that the deer didn't decimate. Mama deer leaps the garden fence like it's not there, and is particularly fond of beet greens and swiss chard. Not too long til the leaves will be down and raking will be our weekend chore.