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Today topped out at 25F here, and the low was -8. The pipes leading to the washing machine froze, rendering it unusable. It has gone 11PM here as I write this, and it is already down to 3F. Teh furnace upstairs will be out till we can get it serviced. Meanwhile, everyone is sleeping downstairs where Missus has heat in her craft room via electric wall panel or in the dining room/entry hall where the woodstove is. Strangely, it is only down to 66 upstairs and a mere ten degrees warmer down. They could all go up and sleep well while I could stay down to load the stove with more wood when it gets cold. I guess they like the adventure. No bother.

And now in other news.

I watched the entire Masterclass by Annie Leibovitz this evening. It was interesting for sure. What I found quite amazing is that the closest she came to addressing the technical was when she said that a key light should fall about one stop lower than ambient lighting. The rest was more of a lecture in approach to different aspects of the art while assuming that the skills are already mastered or not really necessary at all, when one considers how specific her skillset actually seems to be. It was weird. It was as though she doesn’t really know the craft while she produces amazing results. Obviously, she knows the craft. She just approaches it as though she is technically weak, while effortlessly getting what she wants in the camera most of the time. I suspect where the difficulty lies is somewhere between her learning in film and her current working in digital, however.

A lot of what she offers is the approach to shooting, to subjects, and to sets or scenes. She has got an amazing style and has photographed everyone from Lenon and Ono, to Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the Queen of England.

It was encouraging enough to dig up the camera batteries and charger and get the camera ready to work for a bit and get to my favorite medium. Watch this space.

Every morning I am awake for a couple of hours, usually starting around 3AM, but sometimes earlier. Nature’s Call is what initiates the alarm. If I am awake before 3:00 I can sometimes get back to sleep, which is worth it. But after 3:00, then I have an hour or less till the actual alarms will be going off, and Missus will be getting up to start her day at 4:00. Once I am awake at that time, my brain usually is off to the races, and I feel it is of little worth trying to get back to sleep till I can settle it around 6:00. Then it is back to sleep to get the rest of what my needs require.

While up, I will at least put a couple of logs on the hot coals sill lying in bed in the woodstove, then open the damper a little to bring up the burn rate, leave the door open while I visit the chamber, then close the door when I come back, and flames have developed. Ideally, I would give it time to build up enough heat that the thermometer on the flue has shown the temperature in the green range, somewhere above 400F. Then it’s back up to bed to wait for the alarms and stir Missus when they go.

Next it is time to check Messenger to see if there are any overnight messages from anyone among family. Often there are, but if not, there may be one from a scammer in India to keep me company. Yesterday there was. No foreplay. “How are you?” It was from someone I have not spoken to casually before on Facebook and did not know well. I replied back, “Well, how are you?” The account came back with, “Busy searching online on how to spend my grant money.” Ahh, now this all makes sense! Report. Delete. Gone. Otherwise, if there is someone from family or friends, my head is running well enough to write back to them. Or I could write a blog post, hence… This.

If there are parcels in the mail, then I will be checking their progress too. Is today a day to look out for a delivery or two? Actually, yes. Four pie pans from Lodge, and some new clothes from Carhartt. I am eager to try some sweet and savory pies, get my daughters started on cooking some, too. And when I asked Missus what kind of pies she would want, the list came out quickly and endlessly. I’ll have my hands full.

I have heard that people are burning their Carhartt’s over the company’s vaccine requirement for their workers. Now it is time for Conservatives to take a stand on what they view as a social injustice? I mean, let’s bear in mind that chances are, many of the workers there are fine to get vaccinated anyway, so this stand is for those likely few who would refuse, if there are any. But people will burn their best clothes over it! To me, that seems extreme. Extremely stupid. Was there an employee revolt at Carhartt? Does anyone know who there we are supporting if we burn our clothes? Well, anyway. If these people are standing up for the little guy, then why not donate their clothes to a homeless shelter? Because it is not dramatic enough, and it does not feed the need for attention, I’d guess. And while burning their clothes is symbolic, I’ll bet they also support the symbol of kneeling for the flag during then anthem to protest higher rates of killings among the black community during police interactions, too. Right? No, because bootlicking patriotism is far more important than rebelling against the boot on your neck, to them. I mean, it is just a thought.

I bought some Carhartt clothing the other day. They’re just clothes, and damn good ones at that. A vaccine is a simple and free way to increase my odds of survival if I go running headlong into a virus that can kill, just like clicking a seatbelt closed over me is simple and free and protects me in the unlikely event of a car accident. I also make my kids put theirs on. See a pattern there? (Should someone protest me for requiring them to vaccinate?) I can respect a company requiring their workers to vaccinate to prevent deaths and downtime due to unnecessary illness. They are expected to remain profitable, after all. Especially if their company is traded on Wall Street, the great American Temple of Capitalism, and the Conservative Holy Sanctuary.

As I was saying. I bought some Carhartt clothing the other day. It will arrive today. I have a coat currently that I have worn through during years of chores-doing abuse. I was trying to remember how long ago I bought the coat. I can get back to around 2013 with it. That’s nine years of farm chores daily in the thing, which is not bad considering the holes I am concerned about are more cosmetic than anything, and it till keeps be warm and happy while working in temperatures down to 0F. Yes, I will likely put on a jumper underneath below 20F, but then it is protected from damage by the overcoat. I bought the “chores coat” the other day. Hopefully it won’t be too nice to wear out to do chores in. I also bought two pair of overalls for use this summer. I may be feeling old, but I have some things to do this summer. Overalls seems a better option for working in. Anything with an extra pocket or two, anyhow.

As far as the political statements, everything these days seems like it is one. That’s because of stupid social media. Or, as I prefer to call it, Anti-social Media, as it seems to be driving us apart. I’m going back to sleep.

I have got to remember next year that when we put the Christmas bedding on, keep a proper duvet or comforter on the bed, and use the Christmas one as only a decorative on in the days and take it off at nights. That thing is awful to sleep under, gets too hot, and I get a bad night’s sleep. Point proven when we changed the bedding yesterday and I slept much better last night. Our youngest woke me at midnight-thirty, not feeling well, and that started me off on two hours of lying awake. When Missus got up at 4AM, I went back to sleep quickly, and even with all that, I got a much better night’s sleep.

But enough about me. Yes, that is two children not feeling well yesterday, though at different times. I was out of it a bit, too. It seems to be an eight-hour bug, or so. Both daughters have lost their lunches and felt a bit better, though their heads were still complaining. I never lost lunch but felt nauseous and headachy. Well, I am feeling better today, and oldest daughter is too, though she is still wanting to rest a bit. Youngest is not great, so I will put her to her bed after schooling, then I plan to go off to Smithfield Implement to get a few things.

My shopping list at Smithfield Implement are a couple of Kilner jars, a few power strips to use to try to discourage the dogs chewing from the smaller cables coming out of the outlets, and a crock to make sauerkraut with.

The dogs made it through the night last night with fewer accidents in the house than ever. I am really eager to get them trained to only go outside. Eventually it might be nice if they can come up the stairs and sleep where we do. But not till the stop leaving bombs and slippy spots on the floors.

It’s a couple of weeks shy of mid-winter now. It is not as cold as it has been in the past, and the winds have settled in the upper atmosphere to a straight east and west line, bouncing the highs and lows over the ten-day forecast in a near straight pair of highs and lows in the low thirties down to the high twenties. There is not much variety to come, and the wet seems to be over. It was a good break from the drought, but I fear it was not the end. I seriously need to adapt this farm to a new situation as the place becomes drier than in the past.

Hoomeschool: Youngest is lay down where she can hear teacher but is unable to participate. She is not feeling well. Not something I could do when I was a kid!

I was just watching a clip on YouTube of Jon Stewart talking about Newsweek saying that he had accused J. K, Rowling of antisemitism based on a podcast he had done where he and guests went on about Harry Potter for a bit. Jon cleared the air completely in this clip by stating that he was not at all accusing Rowling of antisemitism, and that he and his guests were just having some fun in his podcast. He then accused Newsweek (and the Internet) of having an economy of arson. Well put, Mr. Stewart.

I think that the ‘economy of arson’ is a bit to the point of why I am hesitant to post as often as I would like to in this format. What I write comes from in my head, and through my interpretation, economized for writing, and condensed to the shortest possible presentation so it can be digested. Unfortunately, that results in a salad of lettuce where a Ceasar’s may be more appropriate. But not everyone wants to eat Ceasar’s, and I don’t always feel like making a Ceasar’s. So I am my mom standing there saying “well just starve then!”

There are other things that bother me from time to time, such as the blog editor or lack of, and the online blog editor which always begins to lag after only a few paragraphs of typing, or Windows 11 having the singularly worst spelling and grammar assist in the history of computing. It all adds up to being about as easy as typing the blog post up on paper and mailing it in from a post office on the other side of the country.

Dr. Laura once said on a show back in the mid 90’s that if you don’t want anyone to read something, then you should not write it down. If you write it down, then it is meant for someone to read. That was in response to a gal who had called in about someone reading her personal journal. I have always taken that as good advice.

These things have conspired with the occasional writer’s block to hinder my writing in my online journal and blog. Perhaps you have experienced the same? I share it to spur the questions.

Then there is the time of day I feel most inspired, like a drunk who feels compelled to talk or to tell everyone that he loves them. I am awake before 6AM quite often, long before I have come close to a full night’s sleep, and I feel the urge to write out my thoughts. Not to write them in detail, but to write them out of my head so I can get back to sleep and finish that full night as my brain requires of me. Ironic little ball of gelatin, isn’t it, my brain?

All that and anxiety.