Keepin warm

This morning's sunrise


12/15/07 Saturday
It was twenty degrees in Midland this morning according to the weatherman. That would make it about the same here. Not a problem, I put on a flannel shirt with a quilted flannel on top of it and then wear a windbreaker to keep the wind from penetrating all that. With a knit cap on I am toasty warm. But the twenty mile an hour wind still makes my eyes water and nose run. The work gloves don’t provide much protection so I just came in to warm up my hands.

It’s going to be a busy day. There is much I’ve not gotten too with the push to get the rye planted. For one thing Matt Hanson dropped off four concord grape plants that need to be put in the ground fairly quickly. I decided to plant them where my grandparents used to have their grape vines. That again brings the nostalgic sense that we are repairing and rebuilding their dreams for this place. Continuing their love story with ours, propagating a legacy. I like that thought.

But there is much repair to be done on the old…trellis? Whatever you call the thing vines grow on. At least one of the posts needs to be replaced as well as all the two by fours that connected the tops. I’ll get on that today. I’ve been out cutting mulberry for firewood. We’ve got plenty of the elm but it’s not near as good as the mulberry to burn. Besides I want to slice off a piece for a carving project I’ve had in mind. I haven’t carved in a long time, not since we moved down here from Toledo. This mulberry is tough as nails and hard to carve but it’s a beautiful gold color. I hate to burn it but don’t have the woodworking equipment to turn it into the wonderful furniture it can make. I’ll try to save the big parts of the trunks in case that changes in the future.

One of the areas I want to plant the wildflower mix in is at the corner of where we have the apple trees planted. It’s around the high tension power pole as well as the regular electric lines. This area had lots of big weeds and I was unable to get to it with the tiller so there is lots of hand work to do with a hoe. That’s not a big priority so will wait till I have more time.

We get to go visit Don and Cynthia today. I always look forward to visiting our new friends but always am nervous. Will I say something wrong? Will I offend? I’m better than the early years after I woke up but still don’t trust myself to spout out something off the wall. It’s hard to be comfortable. I still have a hard time figuring out when something’s funny. Deciphering jokes and subtleties is one of the areas of social skills I am poor with. It often just goes over my head. Sometimes I’m better at this than others. It’s all part of the cognitive instability. You know, bob scale four, bob scale eight, that’s always changing and affected by the stress and activity of the moment. I can go from one to the other in a matter of minutes. The more familiar I am with the people and location the better I do as I can relax a bit.

Well I need to go split the wood I cut so got to get moving. I had Cherie read this over as I often do to make sure I didn’t write something that would be wrong. She’s my editor you know.