The planned work in the wood lot didn't get finished because old age has made me slow. After sharpening the saw I spent much of the afternoon cutting fallen branches into smaller pieces for the stove and the fireplace. Being feeble and clumsy doesn't keep me from cutting firewood, but it sure slows me down. The forecast says tomorrow will be another good day for outdoor work. Will I finish clearing this section of road? Experience tells me yes, but my age says we'll see bout that. Saturday treat night included dinner at the pizza buffet, followed by a movie called Brave the Dark. The picture's cast was all new to me. It was well-written, directed, and produced. It gets a thumbs up from this critic.


Sunday, February 2, 2025 — 46 days to spring

Another day in the wood lot went pretty well until it didn't. I made good progress clearing the section of road I was working on. As quitting time drew near I drove the truck over the newly-cleared road to a wide area where I was going to turn around and head back to the house. But there the ground was too wet for traction and I had to leave the truck there. Tomorrow is supposed to be another good day for outdoor work, so I'll see if I can install tire chains that will let me get it unstuck. After tomorrow the forecast shows a string of days with highs in the forties and fifties, and I'd prefer not dealing with a stuck truck while we're back in winter.


Monday, February 3, 2025 — 45 days to spring

I tried to deal with the stuck truck. I found my hi-lift jack and raised the right rear wheel out of its muddy hole. At that point I found that putting on tire chains is no longer something I can do. I tried putting some firewood in the hole to fill it a little, but when I tried to lower the truck onto it the jack wouldn't go down. I had an idea what to do, but it required a trip to town.


Tuesday, February 4, 2025 — 44 days to spring

This morning I went to town and bought a couple of cans of engine degreaser. I tried spraying it on the stuck jack in hopes of loosening whatever was stuck, and it worked. I was able to lower that right rear wheel, but when I started the truck and tried to move it, the result was only a little wheel-spinning. So there it sits. Getting it out will require a helper. The question now is who I can get to help. It's not a big job, but it requires two people.


Wednesday, February 5, 2024 — 43 days to spring

Talked to Zack about the stuck truck and he's willing to help out. Most likely Saturday will be our day


Thursday, February 6, 2025 — 42 days to spring

Every day I loathe and despise the Digital Age more and more. Today I wasted a couple of hours trying to enter records in a data base and finally gave up trying to make it work. Once upon a time I was able to enter numbers in a column and add them. Now my age, and maybe my TBI, make the attempt an infuriating waste of time. I will probably write the numbers on paper with a pencil and add them up with a calculator. I need them listed in a column and totaled, and that's how I'll have to do it. A younger person could probably do it with my software, but it's beyond me.


Friday, February 7, 2025 — 41 days to spring

Maybe I'm not as helpless as I thought. I figured out a way to make a file of last year's medical and dental expenses, and total them up. We're not yet halfway through February, and I may have all my tax papers ready to go to the CPA by the end of the month. There's free software for doing your own taxes, but I don't trust myself to do it anymore. I need somebody young enough to still understand what hes doing.


Saturday, February 8, 2025 — 40 days to spring

Big day. I thought we would use the mowing tractor to pull the stuck truck to more solid ground, but its battery didn't have the juice to get it started. Zack came to help on that project and Nate, who I think is eight, came with him. We tried lifting the rear of the truck one side at a time and putting dead branches under the wheels. That didn't work, so we brought a pair of 2 x 12 boards from behind the shop. Putting those under the rear wheels did the trick, and I was able to drive to solid ground. I decided to take advantage of being in the wood lot and bring a load of kindling up to the house. Zack used the clippers to cut smaller pieces off several cedar branches, and Nate and I stacked them in the road. When it seemed to be enough kindling to last at least a week, we stacked it in the truck and I drove it up to the house. By then my helpers had to go, but it was easy enough for me to put all the kindling in the stack beside the house with  a tarp to keep the weather off it. Late afternoon found me sufficiently spent to lie down and rest for an hour. Saturday treat night dinner was enchiladas blancas at La Fiesta. This weeks' movie was Love Hurts, with Le Huy Quan. I was not impressed. It was an hour and a half of shooting, fighting, beating, and swearing. So much "action" got to be a bore.


Sunday, February 9, 2025 — 39 days to spring

The forecast suggests winter weather continuing at least to the end of the month, but I am ready for it to be over. This was another of those electric blanket days when I spend a lot of time staying under warm covers. Toward the middle of the week snow is likely, and I can only hope it isn't much and doesn't stay long.


Monday, February 10, 2025 — 38 days to spring

Little brother is 79 today. That hardly seems possible. I stirred to action with a trip to town for pills, followed by bringing in some firewood. I should be cutting and splitting a lot of the stuff, but I'm waiting for good weather — above 50º — to make outdoor work less unpleasant. One notable event today was a phone call informing me that the saw I left in Wichita for repair is ready for me to come and get it. As the old saying goes, I will be in tall cotton having two working chain saws.


Tuesday, February 11, 2025 — 37 days to spring

Mission accomplished, sort of. Today's first activity was driving up to Wichita to fetch that saw. Sadly, that was the extent of my activities. The rest of the day never got above 35º, and I stayed holed up in the house. The ten day forecast shows most of the days ahead in the twenties and thirties. As a cold weather sissy, I've had more than enough of this. The weather emphasized that point with four or five inches of snow after sundown.


Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, February 12, 13, 14 — 36, 35, 34 days to spring

Three more wasted days. I spent a lot of time in bed, under electric blankets. Fortunately I'm not totally helpless. I can still get up and get dressed. I can build fires in the stove and the fireplace, and I can still feed myself. I even made a town run for groceries.


Saturday, February 15, 2025 — 33 days to spring

At last, I got some outdoor work done. Taking advantage of a mild day, I took clippers down to the wood lot and cut kindling. After an hour of that I came in the house and rested about ten minutes, then went back down with a dolly and hauled what I had cut up to the house. Now it's safely under a tarp to keep off any rain or snow that may come along. My Saturday treat night dinner was at the Chinese buffet. That was the end of my night out. I don't like driving in winter weather after sundown, and the falling snow persuaded me to head for home. It was an easy choice, as none of the pictures playing locally was on my must-see list.


Sunday, February 16, 2025 — 32 days to spring

The next week can't go fast enough to suit me. Monday the 24th is supposed to begin a  stretch of days with highs of 60º or better. That will be wonderful. But getting there is predicted to have an onslaught of arctic weather with lows like -2º, -5º, and +2º. I hope that will be  the last such nonsense this year. I can really use a spell of days suitable for outdoor work.


Monday - Saturday, February 17 - 22, 2025 — 31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26 days to spring.

I hope it was the last gasp of real winter. With lows in the single digits (-2º, -5º, 8º) I spent most of the week indoors surviving under electric blankets. I ventured out for an appointment with my eye doc in Wichita, an hour of telling my psychologist the latest chapter of my life story, minimal shopping, and the survival task of bringing firewood into the house. Dinner for Saturday treat night was the buffet at Pizza Ranch. There was no movie because when I got to the theater they were closing early due to lack of business. The coming week's forecast looks much better, with highs in the sixties and seventies. It looks like a good chance to get some much-needed outdoor work done.


Sunday, February 23, 2025 — 25 days to spring

Sunshine this afternoon felt good. After all the miserable weather recently, highs in the sixties or better are a delight. I took advantage of the mild weather to bring in more firewood. Yesterday I laid in a couple of boxes to feed the kitchen stove, and today I refilled the big pot of wood for the fireplace in the living room. Otherwise I neglected outdoor work, but I expect to get busy with a chain saw tomorrow.


Monday, February 24, 2025 — 24 days to spring

Well, I never got around to using a chainsaw today, but that's OK. I enjoyed using the warm weather to get a couple of things done. One was installing tire chains on the truck. I'm now so feeble and clumsy that it was an aggravating struggle. Putting chains on both rear wheels was an ordeal of about an hour a wheel, but now they're both on, and I hope they'll stay. Remembering that I have a dermatology appointment in Wichita this week, I drove the Camry down to the gasino and filled the tank so I won't have to bother with it later in the week. Now we're getting into the time of year when it feels cool enough for a fire in the evening, but an actual fire makes the room too warm for comfort. That's fine. After last week's arctic blast, this week's warmer days are no problem for me at all.



Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, February 25, 26, 27, 28, March 1, 2025 — 19 days to spring

This old softy has been too lazy to blog for a few days, but the former arctic weather moved on enough to allow some outdoor work, including chainsaw fun. I enjoyed sawing up a fallen dead tree for firewood, hauled that up from the wood lot and split it into convenient-sized pieces, and put it away. The big tub by the fireplace is full, the wood box behind the house has enough in it to last at least a couple of weeks, and there are three boxes of stove-size wood in the kitchen. There are more that enough chilly days to suit me, but occasional highs in the seventies are a big improvement. Tonight's treat was dinner at Buffet City in Wichita. The movie was Nickel Boys, a picture unlikely ever to make it down here to Podunk. The local public radio critic called it the best movie of the year. I don't think I would go that far, but it was certainly better than most I've seen recently. 


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