February 7, 2010

• Since when is one “most” of three?

  As Doug was getting ready to go to sleep this morning, I solicited a situation report from him.  He had washed dishes during the night, and I asked him about the water supply.  When I asked if he had refilled the snow buckets, he said, “most of them.”  The conversation drifted onto other subjects until I brought it back around for a summation.

  I said, “So, I’ve got two full snow buckets.”  He said, “One.”  I said, “You said you filled, “most” of them.  He said, “That’s right:  I emptied six, and filled four.”  I said, “We don’t have six snow buckets.  We only have three.  One is not most of three.”  It went back and forth like that for a while.   

  That was hours ago.  I still haven’t filled the two empty snow buckets.  I was sitting on the bed using my nebulizer in preparation for going out to do it, when I noticed water dripping down the front of the wood stove.  I investigated and found that it was leaking from Kermit, the big green enameled pot that serves us as a water heater.

  It was less than half full, so I dumped the warm water in with the snow in the one full bucket, melting and shrinking its contents.  When I upended Kermit and cleaned his bottom, a bit of it crumbled away, leaving a hole just big enough to stick the tip of my little finger into.  I rounded up a strip of thin copper sheet, a container of heatproof furnace cement, and some tools, and patched Kermit’s leaky bottom.

  I have been resting for a while, but I still have a few more hours of daylight.  I need to get up from here, suit up, and go out to fill all 3 snow buckets (after I refill Kermit with the contents of the full one) and pick up the wood chips around the chopping block before they’re buried in snow.

  Life is good.  No, life is great, wonderful, sweet, marvelous and ever interesting.

  • 4:51 pm
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