All is well here. Florida’s second weekend was a mixed bag. We got home fine, and I ate so much on that trip that my pants are tight. Yesterday I threw out all the sweets in the house, with the exception of the chocolate bars in the freezer. I don’t eat those regularly so they’re pretty safe. But I had more junk food than real food in the house, and that was just unacceptable.
Since Florida we’ve had two more gigs, one in NJ and one here in CT. Both well attended and good. Now off Pred for some time, my hands are breaking out and itching like crazy of course. It was a nice respite. I so have to find money for a dermatologist.
Yesterday and today, with some help from Karl, I processed another third of the giant hickory tree they pulled down when I was away last month. My chainsaw got a good workout. Last week I arrived home from Florida to find I had about one day’s worth of wood remaining. I called around and finally found someone who could deliver a cord, so there is a tarped pile in the driveway. It’s two years seasoned, very dry and burns like gangbusters. That’s good, but it means the stove doesn’t stay running the whole night. That’s been a problem, having to relight it morning and night. So I’ll augment with the fat hickory chunks.
I’ve decided to hire a carpenter this summer to make another back door, from the living room. This is a really cool idea. Rather than carry wood through the entire first floor from the back porch, I’ll build a wood shed behind the living room that will hold 4 cords. There are recessed shelf alcoves on either side of the fireplace, which I currently have curtained off. I could remove the shelves on the right and put a back door there, opposite where the wood shed will be. Wood can be brought directly in next to the stove. The curtains could remain so the LR will still be symmetrical. This will remove one big pain in my ass, because lemme tellya, bringing in all this wood from so far away got old a long time ago.
I still like burning it, though, and I don’t mind the labor yet.
Homesteading things.
Smidge has been sort of wailing all evening. She doesn’t have enough voice to wail, but her plaintive cries have been emanating from all over the house. I called Rose and asked if she could be in heat yet. We don’t know how old she is, but she seems awfully small for six months. I have to call the vet for that appointment anyway, and she’s not too young for spaying even if she’s only 5 months. She doesn’t *look* like she’s in heat, but she’s never been restless like this before. She could be bored. This household isn’t nearly as stimulating as next door.
Anyway, other than that she’s great.
********
I slept upstairs for the first time in over a year, last night. Rose helped me put the back bedroom together again. I needed the option of closing a door. The plywood solution to keep kitty out was just cumbersome and silly. There is enough heat upstairs from the wood stove. A friend is going to cut a vent hole, but he wasn’t able to come this weekend so I’m relying on air coming up the stairs. Meanwhile Smidge slept with me for half the night before bugging me a lot. Since she woke me I went ahead and put some more wood in the stove. After that I had to put her out of the room, but it was nice to begin letting her in there anyway.
Oh, I am so tired. There are a lot of chores here. I get up and vacuum the wood debris out of several rooms, fill and clean stoves, tend the cat, gather laundry. We got back from NJ around 3am on Friday night, and I went to bed at 4. I still haven’t caught up on sleep. Driving is precarious. I think I’ll turn in now and see if I can regain some equilibrium.
Healer, Musician, Bookmaker, Poet 
Mel said,
February 23, 2011 at 10:20 am
If last night was the first time – in Smidge’s experience, that you slept upstairs, that may be why she was crying. Cat babies get upset at changes just like any other babies. It seems unlikely that she would be in heat, if she is that young, and small, and in mid-winter. She could also be simply lonely. I personally think it is a very bad idea to spay a cat before six months – it affects how they mature. Just my opinion, but I have raised rather a lot of cats.
bornearly said,
February 24, 2011 at 9:35 pm
She actually was vocalizing for a few days before I switched bedrooms… and she never slept in my small one anyway. I’m guessing boredom. She’ll be spayed in a month, which should place her at six months (as well as we can guess). 🙂 You and our vet are in accord about that!