A chorus of birdsong still fills the air here each morning, I’m pleased to report. (Actually, it sounds more like a junior-high band tuning up, but whatever.) The Big Blow doesn’t seem to have dealt a blow to their numbers.
I wonder about the cicadas, though.
As recently as Saturday the 25th, Brood XIX was full-throated and relentless. By the next morning, after the storms, they’d all but gone silent. I’ve heard only a few half-hearted mating calls since.
I can’t find any credible information linking a tornado with an interruption in a periodic brood’s cycle. These cicadas were expected to hang around for four to six weeks, and they were active here on The Mountain for a little over three (23 days).
It’s like someone just turned them off. I kinda miss the little bastards.
“I was always willing to be reasonable until I had to be unreasonable. Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things.”
Marvin Heemeyer
October 28, 1951 – June 4, 2004
This felt like the right day to unbox the chimney kit and take stock of what I have. I figured it’d be pretty straightforward — optimistically, I guess, I expected to find recognizable parts and a clearly illustrated installation manual.
I was wrong about that.
Before long I was feeling like Heywood R. Floyd reading the instructions for the zero-gravity toilet in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Perhaps Dr. Floyd had a sense of urgency that I don’t, but still, it wasn’t coming together for me.
And so I did the only sensible thing — I set the instructions aside and played with the parts a while. Once I’d put them together in a way that seemed logical to me, I picked up the manual again. I had it almost right.
I also discovered that I need another part — a 12-inch section of double-wall chimney pipe to pass through the thimble I’ll mount in the exterior wall. Ninety bucks for a one-foot pipe.
Knowing that I really had no choice and sooner is better than later, I saddled up and headed for Lowe’s in Mountain Home. On my way down The Mountain, I paused to commune with a whitetail in the middle of our road, and I stopped to visit with a neighbor who had quite a burn pile going.
I ran a couple of other errands while I was out, in the interest of efficiency. Another deer welcomed me Home, hanging out within a few yards of me for a good five minutes. Their nonchalance is remarkable to me.
There’s a lesson in there somewhere.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB