It is one hour before time to wake up and get ready for taking the girls to school and getting back to work on getting some work. Missus wants to get her shop ready to open. I will be glad to see her feeling well enough to try it. It’s been a hard time since just over a month ago, now. Worst scare of my life. I feel like a dog with his tail between his legs just trying to write anything about it. Too scared it will happen again! So, I want to just tuck tail and run and hide. That being said, and out of the way, here goes some other thoughts for a Monday morning lying in bed before getting up time.
This winter has been the warmest I have experienced since moving to Idaho. Remembering the first time I spent anything like winter here was November 2001. I remember listening to the weather broadcast from the government run station on a little radio in what is now the craft room. It had a daybed in it at the time, and I was lay facing the wall, cool white light reflecting dimly from the window. The wind was blowing and snow coming down. It was surreal to me, sitting in an almost century old house somewhere in a mountain valley under some of the heaviest weather I had experienced in many years. I felt vulnerable at that time, and the weather was reminding me that I was. It was bitter cold. This year, by contrast, it has not been anything like that yet, and we have made it past November, December, and are now a week into January. I am in the same house. But maybe it is the woodstove and the firewood outside that keeps the feeling of vulnerability away. The power can go out, and I am fine with it. It is also unlikely to happen anyway because the power poles on our street have been replaced and are more reliable than back then.
The worst thing that I did not anticipate in the yard from the weather warming has been the mud. We have been told for a while now that the weather is warming. This winter is suddenly much warmer. The summer before it was not cool. The summer was so dusty! The winter is so muddy! I would be a lot better off if the grass were back in the yard thick and lush. But with dry summers, I would have to be willing to throw water all over it, and I cannot justify it. It is impossible to see the reasons to put water all over the yard when it is needed for drinking and such at a much higher priority. So, I let the lawn die. The yard is extra muddy where there is no grass. I think it would be very helpful to get gravel put on the work areas of the yard, then not have mud where I do things like split logs or cut them.
It is 5:30 in the morning on January 6th, 2025. Five in the morning is typically the coldest time of the day. “What’s that smell?” “5AM.” – Laura Croft, Tomb Raider. It’s 31.7 degrees outside. It is about thirty degrees warmer than I would anticipate it to be based on the years I have lived here. That’s where we are at. Will it continue to warm in future months? Weeks? Who knows! But if it does, and at the rate it has been warming, the future is questionable.
Ash heaps. -The Great Gatsby.
The kids are ready for school, apart from getting up and getting dressed. They have their lunches ready, and cleaned up yesterday, ready for today’s activity. I need to make sure the alarms are all on. I honestly cannot remember waking up once to the alarms in the morning at my bedside. I am awake early for it, so no biggie today. But I also need to make sure the alarm on my phone will remind me at the time when I need to go pick them up. Today is a pretty easy day since that is all that is actually on my schedule. I need to see to it that we are working out Medicaid application in Idaho. I need to see to it that I am looking for a job or two. I also need to get a lamp made in the workshop, a leg for a workbench, and maybe start on a table I’d like to build. Then there is the firewood pile, which could use some effort.
My diet is coming along, still. I was actually complimented on it last week. Amazing! I feel better. I also am having a hard time eating things that are not in its narrow spectrum. I am having a hard time eating what’s in it, too. But that is for different reasons. Eating out of it hurts. Eating in it is getting a bit boring. So there we are. I think sausages and eggs would be good enough for breakfast today. Probably won’t eat much again till suppertime. I am actually enjoying wearing my overalls. The only bad part is where the straps hang on my shoulders. That gets a little painful at times. Otherwise, they are great, and the weight changes don’t bother a beltline. So that’s nice. My belt on my trousers were getting ridiculous. I have not put it on in so long, I don’t know where I would be on that old faithful rule of measure. But I suspect it would be pretty hard to keep up at this point. The belt and trousers were getting awkward when I last put them on.
Okay, I am five minutes till the alarm goes off and tries to wake me up. Instead, it is going to get me off this keyboard. I best get ready for it. I am making progress. My cynicism is getting under control for a minute. So that’s good. Now, off I go to put myself to work. Ta.