In the cool dark hours of morning, when I took the girls to the stop for their school bus, three does came across the property across the street from the bus stop and dashed down the embankment after checking for the road to be clear of coming cars. One of the little girls who jumped out of another car for the bus yelled to mine, “Did you see the deer?” I shared her enthusiasm for being able to be for a moment, close to natural things.
Now I am home, a couple more logs to refresh the fire, and despite the crackle of the stove as the heat transfers through it, and the sound of the fan generating electricity from the heat of the stove and turning seemingly on its own, I do not feel the enthusiasm of nature as I listed to the cracking sound of a mouse chewing on something behind one of the heater vents in the dining room. I don’t know how he got in there, but he’s not the first. This has happened before. They have some way under the house where they can get into the vents system. We don’t use the vents as we heat entirely without the furnace. But it is something that I should still look into before we ever sell the house. Meanwhile, I could do with going down to get a little poison to do the mice in around here. We have been getting more than our fair share as the seasons change. It’s what you get in a house that has seen more than a century of life.
I am free to work in the shop today. I have a long board out there that I have cut in half and jointed to match for glue up. It had a massive amount of cup and bow in it and would be impossible to use as it was. So, I am reversing it on itself to let it keep itself straight. If the other boards are straight enough to use in the glue up, I will put the split board down the middle of the tabletop and use it as a decorative feature. When the top is finished, it is meant to go on the kitchen island.
I want to get the glue done and get the posts into the shop for the woodshed. I keep complaining that I need to get that done, but I get distracted from outside work nearly every day for at least some of the time, then when I am free to go I am tired from the errands that distracted me, or just don’t feel up to it, or even distracted by something else. I need to get that building up in the air and some siding on it and purlins for the roof at least! I also need ot start telling myself I am closer to finishing the next step than I think I am. I could skip the glue up for now and get right to work on the posts and beams, but there is the pressure of needing warm enough temperatures in the shop for the glue to set. Decisions, decisions!
I am writing now while it is still chilly out. It will warm up soon and I will need to get up and get to work. I better figure out what to eat first. My stomach has given me a certain amount of hell since starting my diet. But in two months of it, I have had to tighten my belt nearly an inch and a half. That’s the most progress I have ever made. What’s more, I doubt I will easily get back into the same old habits as I seem to have trouble with foods from the old ways now. I started out the new diet with great troubles. I have sort of settled down a bit of not just gotten used to it. One’s body is not quite the same when it seems to begin to digest itself.
Missus is teaching a 4H class this evening, and we have our last Farmer’s market tomorrow evening. That’s enough business to keep us busy! I might see if I can film some of her products tomorrow in the booth to put to a sort of commercial that I can upload to our YouTube channel and then embed in our websites. Time for breakfast for now!