September 19, 2004

• The Morning After

  I celebrated my birthday in style yesterday:  my style.  I
  took it easy.  I did some “work”, sorted two boxes of rocks that
  had been packed away for years, put a few of them out where I can see
  them and consolidated the rest into one box for Greyfox to add to the
  stock for his stand.  When I got tired I sat down and read or
  played Disgaea.  My demon horde reached the game’s maximum number
  months ago, and now I’m just leveling them up, making them more
  powerful and improving their equipment.  This is a totally
  stress-free game, all strategy and routine, not a lot of time pressure
  and fast finger movement as in the games that Doug likes best.

  The firewood guy didn’t come, but he did call several times. 
  After about the fifth try, he’d gone to a land line because his cell
  just wasn’t making it.  I live in a cell hole, and he was calling
  from another one about ten miles up the highway.  When he could
  make himself heard, he told me he’d caught some crud and was running
  behind schedule.  My instincts told me the crud he caught is
  spelled h-a-n-g-o-v-e-r, but I’m the suspicious sort where such excuses
  are concerned, and his voice just didn’t have the ring of truth. 
  I’m not worried yet.  We still have a little of last winter’s wood
  left.

  We also have the three trees that Charley cut down for us a few days
  ago.  That was my birthday present from him.  One was a
  beetle-killed spruce, a standing fire hazard.  Firefighters call
  those dead spruce trees, “gasoline on a stick.”  The other two,
  both big cottonwoods, were a hazard of a different sort.  Both
  were mere feet from the trailer, leaning toward it, overhanging it,
  unhealthy and dropping dead branches occasionally.  We had one
  smaller tree fall and hit the house last year.  I wanted those
  trees down in a safe direction, and Charley did that for my birthday.

  In addition to having caught up with the neglected dishwashing, Doug
  has been keeping up with the chore, and I think he pushed extra hard to
  get it done before my birthday.  He also did something else we’ve
  sorta been needing.  He installed a doorknob in our front
  door.  For about three years, since the old knob assembly came
  apart, we’ve used a rag to stuff the hole, and pulled the door open and
  shut by sticking a finger in the hole.

   We’d discussed buying a new knob, but I knew we had some old
  salvaged ones at Elvenhurst.  Besides, we really didn’t need a
  knob.  It’s just aesthetics.  We still don’t have a latch
  mechanism.  I didn’t bother to look to see if there were any with
  the knobs I found at Elvenhurst last week while I was looking for shelf
  brackets.  Even if we had one, it would do no good unless we
  replace the door frame.  The second avalanche off the cabin roof
  tore out the repair job that Mark had done after the first avalanche,
  so there’s just a splintered gap where the latch used to latch
  into.  So we still can’t lock the door, but visitors are no longer
  greeted by that old rag.

  Anyhow, after a low-stress birthday and a good night’s sleep, I feel
  better than I have in weeks.  Today already I’ve gotten a lot
  done, and I’m going back to it after I post this.  Speaking of
  posting, the blog Greyfox just posted would make me think he’d slipped over the edge, if I didn’t already know that’s where he lives.
  

  • 4:47 pm
  • 5 Comments