Jan 4 Frozen Indoors

I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.

D. H. Lawrence

2 degrees inside. I put on my insulated overalls and went to work. Cats needed feeding. Got that done first.

Doing my scheduling as I fed them, made decisions as I worked. Things that required doing.

Ashes needed the galvanized washtub. I opened the woodstove door, I started to pull some firewood I thought out. No luck still smouldering.

I remembered the pile of grass and twigs I had swept up months ago at the front entrance, shielded from snow.

After grabbing a 5-gallon bucket, the big dustpan, and just for fun the machete. I headed for the door in the garage. The pile was covered with snow from the big wind of yesterday.

I filled the 5-gallon bucket anyway. I noticed that my anonymous helper had been there. Someone with a big machine. I am thankful he showed up.

I went down the driveway to have a look, snow and logs pushed up, so I could get to them. Enough to get me through this cold spell.

If I could keep my new saw running. I might be able to stay warm. Not this morning, but soon.

I went around the house and cleaned the solar panels and grabbed the big washtub, then went in with everything loaded in the tub.

I loaded the woodstove with the grass and twigs, rummaged through a bag of burnables put all that inside. Lit it and hoped.

I filled my kettle for morning coffee. Being the optimist, I put it on the woodstove. All in vain. The fire went out as soon as the paper and plastic were consumed.

Undaunted I grabbed my kettle and went to my kitchen lit my camp stove. I was going to have hot coffee.

So now I am typing this knowing soon I would have to go to the very end of my driveway, cut logs, fill the sled. Drag that load through the deep drifts and chop.

Earlier my hands froze in minutes, it must be close to minus fifty.

Next would be to get the saw ready. I pulled the bar and cleaned the ice and frozen sawdust from inside. The throttle trigger seemed to be working again. I imagine the problem was ice and snow around the linkage. I filled it full of gas and sharpened the chain best I could. It was ready.

I was still at least two hours from warmth. I am having coffee with my overalls on. Know it means I will be colder when I do get outside.

Needed doing. Right now, having coffee and watching Horatio Cane solve murders.

Oh no, coffee is done. Soon time to make the walk.

Made the walk cut firewood. My saw ran ok, but the chain wasn’t sharp enough. I kept cutting till I couldn’t.

Something weird happened out there. I wore Thinsulate gloves. Way too thin, my hands were freezing so bad I could hardly hold the saw. I kept working.

After a while, I noticed my hands were warm. In 40 years of cutting in winter, I have not experienced that before.