Snow Falling on Cedars

Here we go again already. -18's a killer, but at least the wind is remorseless. Cat seems to find herself operating as a hot water bottle, alternating betwixt me and Moonpie.

If I were a Norwegian Bachelor Farmer, I'd be half in the bag in my whiskey cups. But I'm not Norwegian.

"Enough tea and biscuits to sink a ship", Ian Holm? Really?

This could be an interesting next few days. The last time it was this cold in this part of our country was almost exactly 20 years ago. I was renting the farmhouse on Jess's property, but I was ferrying firewood from his place to mom and dad's house about 2 hours away.

I expect to lose running water. I don't have a lot of confidence in the wood supply -- some of it is near perfect, but there's just not a lot of it out by the tool shed to split, which I should be doing right now instead of watching football. But most of the stuff I cut yesterday is waterlogged and spongy, i.e., useless when it's this cold.

I'm hoping the batch I cut this morning is as good as it looks.

Cat has her 4 week follow up vet appointment tomorrow at 4pm. Not much snow yet. But if it starts to blow across the lane, I don't know that the plow truck will start, given it's leaking antifreeze.

However, Moonpie is excellent company, I have plenty of dog and cat food, so I may as well stage various scenes from The Day After Tomorrow to keep us busy.

And 4 hours of Downton tonight.

Oops. Forgot.

I moved up here exactly 3 years ago.

Cat's doing great. But Dog is slowing down. A little. I'll be honest: A slower Moonpie, even if it's just a step or two, makes me anxious and sad.

Of Mice And Men

So the guy I do tractor business with stopped by last night because someone had abandoned a days-old kitten at his shop. He thought for some reason that I needed/wanted a kitten/cat. I don't. I don't like cats. Moonpie doesn't like cats. I said, "Absolutely not."

So now I have a days-old kitten in a little crate just off the east door with a small cup of water and a small plate of tuna. God help me it's not a bad looking cat, and Moonpie could certainly use some help with the field mice. If it survives, it'll be treated like a barn cat, a really well-treated barn cat.

Oh, and I was sober for 2 years yesterday. Today I'm sober for 2 years and 1 day. I was working on the mini-truck yesterday morning and kind of forgot.

Vernal Cleaning

I'm still fighting depression and anxiety. Mostly anxiety. And sadness. The sadness seems healthier than it was 2 years ago, for obvious reasons. The anxiety is less severe, maybe even much much less severe. And the depression doesn't seem to be putting up much of a fight. I blame a lot of the angst on coffee.

Still, I do best when I focus on the small pictures -- shop floor, garage siding, glorious glorious mowing -- and try to... manage/turn down the volume on less small pictures -- what does it all mean?, death, etc.

In any case, Spring is a yearly miracle. Easily explained and accounted for by our planet earth's rotation around and its relative proximity to the sun. But miraculous nonetheless.

Hell's Kitchen 2013

It's interesting and fun to watch the teams panic about a slightly overcooked pancake ("Too brown on that side!!!"), and then quickly switch to the scene from New World when the colonists are boiling and eating their own belts.

Some songs

"Are You Gonna Waste My Time", Zeus
For fans of Zeppelin B-Sides.

"Hot Knife", Fiona Apple

"Again and Again and Again (and Again)", The Bird and The Bee

"The Times They Are A-Changing", Joshua Redman (guess who on piano)

"River Man", Nick Drake
Might be worthwhile to check out also the cover of this by, well, you know.

"A Lady Does Not Often Falter", Cahalen Morrison and Eli West
These 2 hippie kids aren't just the future of bluegrass music; they're the future of authentic music.

"Is Your Love Big Enough (for What's to Come)", Lianne LaHavas
The best version of this song for me is still the live performance on Letterman, conveniently located on YouTube for those connected to the intranet.

"Anthropology", Mehldau/Rossy Trio
For me, the best tune Charlie Parker ever wrote. This is a great study in solving the rhythm changes problem, by a young Mehldau. On iTunes, look for it under the record title, When I Fall In Love

"Queen of California", John Mayer
Sorry, guys. But I love his voice. Always have. Guess I'm all gay again.