January 27, 2014 – Monday

-14 degrees/clear/windy

Pentoga Road

I was up twice during the night to put wood in the stove. Thankfully, that kept the downstairs warm and the furnace didn’t kick on. It doesn’t make for the best sleep patterns, but I had no problem snoozing off after returning to bed each time.

I’ve found that anticipating and arranging the hard wood before going to bed makes the task much easier. During the day, I burn all soft wood, mostly smaller pieces of popple. That works really well, but requires feeding the stove once an hour or so.

But the nighttime hours are a different story. It’s then I use hard maple, the best of the best. It burns long and gives off good heat. I get the maple from the woodshed during the afternoon hours, bring it in, then arrange it by size. Overnight, I need only to grab the exact pieces that fit in the stove, shut the door and damper, and head back to bed. It takes two minutes and seems to work.

What’s up with these propane and oil prices? I read one of the problems was that the corn was all harvested at about the same time this past year and there was an inordinate amount of propane that went to dry corn for storage. I don’t blame the farmers, but rather, the national distributors and those who manage the refineries.

I’ve heard of propane prices going over $7 a gallon and naturally, since those companies are gouging the consumer, the heating oil and natural gas people have decided to do the same.

I know of one case where a local young family has been forced to close their home and move in with relatives; and that seems to be a pattern for all over the Midwest and East Coast. I don’t know. I just keep throwing wood on the fire and try to remember to say my prayers of gratitude that Sargie and I, and our families, are warm and have full bellies.

After writing Sunday morning, I hoofed 5.52 miles, making a loop to the local lakes. As has been the case these days, there was no one fishing. It was a pretty desolate situation at both lakes.

Sargie and I did an abbreviated Sunday drive. It wasn’t a pretty day so we drove around just one lake then came back home.

I cleaned the drive and patio… again, for about the fourth day in a row. It seems an inch or two of snow falls nightly, the light stuff, that drifts each time the wind blows. I’ve a feeling some of the same snow has been moved more than once.

Sargie dusted furniture upstairs and down. I ran the vacuum. Later, papers were read, music listened to, and last night, we watched a bit of television.

Sargie and I are both ready for some warmer weather and longer days. I find myself fantasizing of a warmer season ahead, when Sargie arrives home from work and we walk up and down the rows in the garden, plucking vegetables and eating them on the spot. It’s those thoughts that help keep the winter’s darkness and cold at bay.

I haven’t made up my mind if I’ll walk this morning or not. It’s brutal out there, but then, I fancy myself a resilient kind of guy. We’ll see.

Until then, I think I’ll pour another cup of coffee, throw a lawg on the far, and think deep thoughts.

After all, a man’s work is never done… 

Somebody missed the road