Ten on Tuesday - Home, Sweet Home

Today's Ten on Tuesday topic is 10 Things I Love About My Home. I live in an old house, which means tiny little corner closets, one bathroom, and lots of maintenance, but I do love many, many things about it.

1. My kitchen. It's not the granite countertop, six-burner stove kind, but my husband and father-in-law knocked down a wall and redid it themselves when we moved in, and it's just about perfect for me. This was a huge upgrade from having one cupboard and about nine square feet of countertop!
2. Our mud porch. This is what we call the room where we enter from the side door. It used to be a small open porch, but it's now enclosed, and makes a great place to hang your coat, take off your shoes, and hang my plants in the winter. 
3. The front porch. It's a wonderful place to sit and knit, read, and watch thunderstorms from.
4. Our new furnace. We replaced our 36-year-old one last year and it was such a relief last winter to not have to play furnace lottery. We still have to replace several hundred feet or more of cast iron pipe that winds around in the basement to carry hot water to the radiators with copper pipe, but since this is almost as expensive as the furnace, we're saving up.
5. The attic fan. We don't have central air, but we do have a gigantic attic fan that can help cool the house somewhat (as long as there is cool air outside for the fan to suck in!)
6. The sounds in my home. This old house has squeaky floors and doors, and the lovely clanking and comforting hissing of steam radiators in the winter.
7. The yard. We live in a small borough "in town" but are lucky enough to have a big double lot, so it feels a bit more rural. I may occasionally complain about mowing the yard, but it's good exercise, and we also have some huge shady oak and maple trees, the garden, and the perfect place to view fireworks from.
8. My clothesline. I really enjoy the process of hanging my laundry out to dry. The first thing that John did when we moved in was put up my clothesline, and it's served me well. Today I'm racing the rain to see whether my clothes dry first or get wetter from yet more rain.  
9. The barn. Even though we live in town, we're lucky enough to have a barn. It used to serve as the home for a large herd of dairy cows, and then housed circus animals when one of the previous owners of the house was a veterinarian with Ringling Brothers. Too bad the town ordinances won't allow sheep!
10. My family. It's mainly just John and I that live here now, but this house will always be home for Ryan and Justin when they visit. The measuring lines on the kitchen doorway clearly state that!

What do you love best about your Home, Sweet Home?