So here we are at the last day of February in a leap year. It’s our quadrennial “extra” day, a bonus we get because the Earth takes six hours longer than a calendar year to orbit the sun.
Anyone somehow annoyed by the 29th should consider that until the 15th Century, the calendar marked February 24th twice every four years to make up the day.
The technical term for “leap day,” by the way, is “Bissextus.” Let’s not start calling it that, though, or the Queer Industrial Complex will try to make it a federal holiday.
I used my bonus day to slump, if only a little. I figure I’ve earned it.
The furnace in the camper, which has worked flawlessly through the bitterest weather we’ve seen this winter, quit on us around 7:30pm last night. The burner tries to light but doesn’t. Prior to that, there was no warning that anything was amiss.
Our trusty space heaters kept it tolerable (64°F) in the living space on a cold (25°F) night. We hated to break ’em out — our electric bill had dropped by almost 62% since we stopped using the power-hungry plug-in warmers — but we didn’t have much of a choice.
Our mobile RV tech will be here Monday or Tuesday.
Deb and I dropped by Gray Spring ten days ago, on Presidents Day. At the time, I intended to post video but didn’t. Here, then, belatedly, is a series of brief clips from our visit.
Pleasant as the weather’s been lately, we’ve had a very dry winter. The Arkansas Forestry Division puts wildfire danger at “high” across most of the state, including here in Marion County. During the recent “red flag warning,” two fires burned uncontained (and upwind) within 20 miles of The Mountain.
That was sobering. I’ve never lived anywhere else that wildfire was a concern.
We’re always extremely careful with our open fires — burn barrel, fire pits, brush. We keep tabs on warnings declared at the state level and burn bans issued by county judges. So far we’re not under a ban, but I predict that’ll happen soon.
There’s a chance of a little rain late tonight. After that, it’ll be another week before precipitation returns to the forecast.
Everyone ’round here is hopin’ for a wet spring.
REGNAT POPULUS
(The state motto of Arkansas: “The People Rule”)
Just because the prime directive yesterday was making the last of our brushpiles disappear doesn’t mean that I wasn’t keeping an eye out for firewood. Honestly, I could’ve done more with lots of small stuff I came across, but I decided that’d interfere too much with the mission.
I did find an intact red cedar trunk, weathered gray and so old that all of the branches had fallen away. Optimistic, I pulled out my Stihl MS 180 and made a cut near the nine-inch base — inside it was bright purple and, more important, it was solid.
I bucked it in place, which yielded five fat lengths suitable for the fire pits. Sweet.
This morning I went back to where I’d dumped yesterday’s debris on The Monster Pile and found a ten-inch cedar stump I’d discarded. I cut three lengths from that. While I had the saw out, I shortened one of the hollow oak stumps in the utility right-of-way.
All of today’s harvest got split and stacked right away on a couple of runners near our cordwood. The work got my blood pumping. It also produced a day’s fuel for the woodstove and a couple of fires’ worth for the pits.
And I burned trash. Twice.
I guess that’s my idea of “slumping” these days.
Deb was delayed getting Home from work this afternoon. At the base of the road up The Mountain, she spotted a genuine herd of whitetails — 11 does and yearlings — in a neighbor’s backyard, and she stopped to take in the scene.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB