I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.
Steve McQueen
Woken by the Bixby alarm on my android phone. It’s 2 something AM. The firebox is hungry and needs feeding. I crawl out of bed (literally).
I make the zombie noises I need to make to get to the stairway, making sure I reach for the willow handrail I put by the stairs. If I get a dizzy seizure while I walk down the stairs, life is over. I thank the Gods for giving me the supplies and skills to make that.
I also made it for the girl cats who live in that room. They love to climb up and scratch the hell out of it. All part of the plan. It keeps the handrail rough and gives you a great grip.
With a few more noises I make it into the fire room. With the light from my phone, I carefully plot a path through the boy cats room. They love cardboard boxes. I put them in there for them. They tear them up and shred them. When they are done the cardboard goes into the fire. Also part of the plan. Everything works together.
Even the cat litter goes into the fire. I use wood pellets. Cheaper than clay and that helps to heat the house. In the summer I pour the litter onto a secondary garden that has become infested with thistles. The weeds don’t like the cat poop. In a few years after the sun and weather have broken down all that is bad, I will till all that into the soil.
Back to my quest for fire. I get to the woodstove. After chasing the cats off the wheelbarrow of split wood, I open the woodstove door. I can feel the warmth from the coals, that’s good the fire might relight after I fill it with a few logs.
The ashes inside would need emptying soon. Something that needs snow on the ground. Right now all very dry long grass everywhere. Add hot coals and ash to that, and we get a grass fire, that leads to a forest fire then my house becomes ash.
For now, it means adding wood at shorter time intervals. At the beginning of winter not so bad the fire doesn’t need to run as hot.
The fire fed and me back in bed and these words written. I can close my eyes and try to sleep again. Remembering to tell Bixby to wake me up in a few more hours. I also have my cold alarm set. I sleep with thin blankets when the cold wakes me I know the fire needs attending.
It is daylight now after 8:40 AM. My day’s work has been laid out for me. The wheelbarrow is empty needs more wood split. I hope that I have enough cut leftover, so I don’t have to chainsaw today. The chain is dull and needs sharpening. Just one more thing to do. As I make the walk down my narrow steps, I can feel grit under my shoes. When I get to the bottom of the stairs I understand. The litter box I keep at the top of the stairs is at the bottom and the litter is everywhere. Without getting angry I continue on and give the fire another feeding, add some shredded cardboard and a little flame. A kettle of water for coffee gets added.
I make it outside to feed the strays and see more snow falling. I feed the boys and decide not to feed the girls until the litter is cleaned up. Not out of spite, maybe a little I just cleaned those stairs a few days ago. I feed some of them directly on the stairs to make sure that the aggressive girls don’t eat all the food and leave none for the timid ones.
The snow outside is sticking that’s a first for this season. Usually, that doesn’t happen until after Halloween. It means that I need to get out there to find the cut pieces I need to make split wood. I thought about a few gigundus pieces I cut the other day. I don’t look forward to those. I noticed that a 5-gallon container of water feels like 15 gallons in weight. My muscles are definitely getting weaker. My 60-pound generator now feels closer to 85 pounds and takes a lot of effort. I need to bring that inside to warm up and then haul back to outside, so I can use the electric splitter.
oh Well needs doing. That’s the G, B & the U.
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