We’re a third of the way through the month of June and, thanks to a cold front, the northern counties of Arkansas will remain pleasantly and unseasonably cool for several days. By the numbers, yesterday the heat index here at 4pm was 72°F, which is 18°F cooler than the average high.
We woke up this morning to 54°F.
Little Rock, by contrast, a few hours south on the other side of the front, recorded a heat index of 102°F and began today at 70°F.
Now two weeks past The Big Blow, tree damage I hadn’t noticed before is becoming apparent on The Mountain. Nothing major, at least not that I’ve seen. Branches that broke but didn’t fall are more obvious now.
Dead leaves among the living make the storm’s casualties stand out.
The longer I live in this place, the clearer it becomes that freedom is work. At this stage of my Life, of course, I already knew that — the independence we all say we want doesn’t happen without effort.
Dependence is easy, but it’ll cost you your soul.
Maybe I should’ve taken better advantage of the mild weather and done something productive — maybe a bit of that freedom-generating work I just waxed all high-toned about — but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind today to break a sweat.
(Translated: “I wasn’t in the mood.”)
It was a great day to sit in the shade and think. So that’s what I did.
The rest of this week holds promise for the cabin project. I believe I can make progress toward getting the woodstove installed (not that there’s any great rush to heat the space this time of year).
At the other end of the cabin (and the opposite extreme of the temperature scale), I’ll run another pass-through to permit a second electrical feed off the pole. That’ll supply power to an air conditioner which, together with a couple of large fans, should keep things tolerable while we work.
The pass-through is temporary (’til we wire the cabin, that is). The AC unit, however, is meant to be a permanent solution — we believe it can work long-term.
For now, since the walls and ceiling aren’t yet insulated, we won’t judge it too harshly. As long as we can cool the place some, we’ll be thrilled.
Doing this build on a shoestring — and that’s where we are — is one helluva challenge. It forces what some would call “compromises,” and it’s true that we’re smarter and more realistic about this than we were a couple of years ago.
The result will be humbler. It’ll take longer to finish.
And yet we view none of those things as negative. We’ve come a long way to get this far, and nothing will stop us now.
It’s simply the next chapter in our adventure. We live on The Mountain. Life is good.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB