Wednesday, January 1, 2025 — 78 days to spring

The new year got off to a good start. Dieter brought the cleaned out carburetor for the WD, installed it, and got the tractor to start up and run. We went to town and got a jug of hydraulic fluid, filled the fluid reservoir in the tractor, and got the loader working. I believe that leaves only airing up a couple of tires that are a bit low, and tomorrow the tractor will go to work and clear the tractor parts off my trailer. Zack is coming to help, so I'll be spared climbing up on the tractor and relearning how to operate it. If all goes as planned, we'll have time to go down to the wood lot and cut some firewood to heat the kitchen and the living room through the colder weather that's coming.


Thursday, January 2, 2025 — 77 days to spring

Sometimes things don't go as planned, and it's OK. Zack came to help out, as planned, and Nate, who is eight, came with him. It's a good thing for a kid of that age to be around older guys who are working on something. He can help out, and he might learn something useful. I don't know if Nate will remember anything from today, but he saw what Zack and I were doing, and helped a little. So what were we doing? We aired up the tires on the WD, and figured out how to use it. We got it running, and Zack figured out how to operate the thing. We got started clearing heavy stuff off my trailer. We didn't finish that because of a leaking hydraulic hose. The leak was serious enough to persuade us we should get a new hose. Zack took it with him when he and Nate left. When the new replacement hose is ready (tomorrow, I hope) we'll install it and finish unloading the trailer.


Friday, January 3, 2025 — 76 days to spring

Bummer. Zack and I braved the cold and got back to work on the WD.  He brought and installed the new hydraulic hoses, and set about trying the tractor to see how well it would work. The starter tried to start the thing, twice, and that was it. The starter wouldn't try anymore. We were at a disadvantage without a test light. I believe mine is with the old Ford in Indiana. We decided to give it up for now and get back to work on it when the weather permits. That's likely to be sometime next week.


Saturday, January 4, 2025 — 75 days to spring

All I did on the tractor today was buy a new test light. The ominous weather forecast for plunging temperatures with freezing rain turning to snow diverted my attention to getting ready for that. I brought more firewood into the house to feed the kitchen stove and the fireplace in the living room, and will do more of that as needed. My first trip to town was for dog food and diapers. The diaper situation at the local Walmart was no surprise. My size was completely out of stock. That meant a drive to the Walmart in Winfield. While in the county seat I stopped at O'Reilly and got a new test light. Maybe I'll have a chance to use it when we get back to days above freezing. Saturday treat night was dinner at the Chinese buffet. The forecast persuaded me that I should skip the movie this week. Driving out to the theater in winter weather after sundown seemed like a poor idea. Reading the paper and doing the puzzles was good enough.


Sunday, January 5, 2025 — 74 days to spring

Monday, January 6, 2025 — 73 days to spring

Tuesday, January 7, 2025 — 72 days to spring

Wednesday, January 8, 2025 — 71 days to spring

Thursday, January 9, 2025 — 70 days to spring

Real winter arrived Sunday, with single-digit lows and highs in the teens. I spent that day and most of the week hibernating. The little electric heater in my bedroom struggled to get the room up to 50º, but most of the time it stayed in the forties. I fought back by putting a second electric blanket on my bed, and I spent much of my time there keeping warm. Snow fell in the wee hours of Monday morning, but not a lot, and there was more this afternoon, also not a lot. Hope for the future lies in the ten day forecast, which shows a couple of days with highs in the forties, and a couple more in the fifties. I've been through this before, but somehow it bothers me more than it used to. With an age that starts with 8, I've become more  of a cold weather sissy than I used to be. I've been burning through the firewood supply at a pretty good clip, and tomorrow I'll need to untarp the pile behind the shop and bring enough for another week into the house.


Friday, January 10, 2025 — 69 days to spring

Best-laid plans. More snow fell in the wee hours of the morning, and I was persuaded to delay bringing more wood into the house. Along with the snow came enough freezing temperatures to keep the white blanket from going away quickly. Even if no more falls, what's on the ground is likely to stay on the ground well into next week. Meanwhile, I need to work on making space in the shop for my defunct old Ford. Last year when the cousins moved me into a downstairs bedroom, some stuff that was in he way found its way into the shop. Now I need to figure out where to put all of it to make space.


Saturday, January 11, 2025 — 68 days to spring

Being such a cold weather sissy persuaded me to spend a lot of the day in bed under electric blankets. I did receive a phone call from old buddy Herb letting me know that he's hospitalized for observation, but he didn't get to talk long. I'll check in a day or two and see if something really serious is ailing him. This being Saturday, treat night dinner was the buffet at Pizza Ranch, and the movie was another viewing of Nosferatu. This time I followed the story better, and was able to get what was going on. The story is based on the original movie and Bram Stoker's novel, and is beautifully produced and photographed.


Sunday, January 12, 2025 — 67 days to spring

Today's drive to town was for a single purpose — to buy salt. I was out of ice melt, and wanted to spread some to get rid of ice and snow still covering some inconvenient spots. While I was working on that, Dieter dropped in and got the non-working starter from my WD tractor. I told him there's no need to rush, but he plans to fit it in between some of his other projects. It will be nice to have the tractor and its loader working again, but waiting until the weather is better will be OK with me.


Monday, January 13, 2025 — 66 days to spring

More cold weather meant staying inside most of the time. I did phone Zack and arrange for him to bring a working chain saw to help with firewood on Thursday, which the forecast claims will warm up to better than 40º. Thursday will also mark one month since my saw went to Wichita for repairs. I hope to have it back in working condition before the end of this month.


Tuesday, January  14, 2025 — 65 days to spring

Today I went for another session with the psychologist. It's nice to have an hour every couple of weeks when I can bend the therapist's ear for an hour. I don't know if telling the story of my life is doing me any good, but I do enjoy it.


Wednesday, January 15, 2025 — 64 days to spring

Not much of note happened today. The highlight of the day was a grocery run for orange juice and jalapeño cheese.


Thursday, January 16, 2025 — 63 days to spring

Taking advantage of a high over 50º,  I actually accomplished something today. I took the truck down in the woodlot and brought about a week's worth of kindling up to the house, and put it under a tarp in case of rain or snow. Then came the real work. Zack came by after he got off work and used his chain saw to cut up some dead trees and branches. While he did that I filled a dog food bag with small pieces, and stacked the larger pieces in the truck. We ended the day bringing the truck up and parking it by the splitter, and bringing the bag of smaller pieces into the house. I hope tomorrow I can split that load of wood, and even get the saw started and cut some more.


Friday, January 17 through Sunday, January 26, 2025 — now 53 days to spring

I have become a dedicated cold weather sissy, spending a lot of my time enjoying electric blankets in my bedroom. I have  actually ventured outdoors on a couple of good days to deal with firewood, but this time of year a lot of days are not that good. Right now it's 58º in here, and I can deal with that while I wait for warmer weather. Maybe I can even get back to regular blogging.


Monday, January 27, 2025 — 52 days to spring

Accomplishments! Unlike many of my days recently, I kept busy and got some things done. First up was a drive to the nearest Husqvarna dealer and repair center, all the way up in Augusta. Why drive an hour away? Because I figured an authorized repair center would be better at knowing what to do than some local guy. It turned out OK. The guys there showed me the proper starting technique, paying attention to correct priming, and I didn't have to leave the saw with them. I practiced starting a couple of times to be sure I could do it, put the saw back in my car and headed for home. When I got back to Arkansas City I stopped at the clinic seeking treatment for my deafness. My left ear wasn't really deaf, just clogged. I was there for about an hour, and left the clinic able to hear normally with both ears. When I got home I turned my attention to firewood. I laid the evening fires in the kitchen stove and the living room fireplace. I boxed the wood left in the truck, and set the boxes in the garage. Then I put the chain saw in the truck and drove down to the wood lot. There I spent over an hour cutting wood. I brought that wood up to the yard behind the shop, started up the splitter, and turned all that wood into pieces to fit the stove and the fireplace. Not only am I pleased with how today went, but the forecast shows tomorrow a little warmer for more outdoor work. A bonus is that highs in the sixties are predicted for several days in the next week.


Tuesday, January 28, 2025 — 51 days to spring

It's a pleasure to report another day of getting something useful done. I took the truck down to the wood lot and brought a load of kindling up to the house. I think I brought enough to last a couple of weeks. Eastern red cedar branches make good kindling. The dead needles fall off, but all the little twigs and branches remain. This time I did a little more work than usual, cutting off the smallest branches easily broken up by hand and leaving the thicker parts which I sawed into stove-sized pieces. I put the tools in the garage and tarped the firewood in the yard in case of rain or snow. At this point 80+ years told me it was time to quit and go to town for milk. That will be good for making soup for a couple of weeks.


Wednesday, January 29, 2025 — 50 days to spring

The recent drought was interrupted by a day too wet to suit me. The forecast claims the weekend will be more to my liking. Today's highlight was a drive to town to restock frozen veggies for the freezer, and some crackers. Is that boring? Sometimes boring is better than exciting.


Thursday, January 30, 2025 — 49 days to spring

Another wet day kept me inside. On the plus side, the forecast says the weekend will be sunny with highs in the fifties. Meanwhile, here in my bedroom the temperature has crept up to 65º. Now the old cold weather sissy is getting through the night with only one electric blanket turned on.


Friday, January 31, 2025 — 48 days to spring

Well, that's better. Sunshine and a high above 50º allowed me to go down to the wood lot and spend three hours cutting firewood and clearing fallen branches out of the road. My age that starts with 8 tells me that three hours of work is enough. That's OK. When I get irked over being too clumsy and feeble to do everything I used to do, I remind myself that I'm a lot better off than lots of guys my age. If I can do another three hours tomorrow, or maybe even four, I expect I'll have most of the road cleared.                                     


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