I was finally able to assemble all the parts and pieces of the woodshop’s tiny woodstove and get the stove operational. Last Wednesday Ian loaded the woodstove with paper and kindling and, with match in hand, sent the stove on its maiden voyage. While yellow flames flickered and wood crackled, a flood of memories of our family home in Corvallis emerged, including that of our wood burning stove with its nurturing warmth.
I’ve always been partial to heating with wood and the feeling runs deep. We moved into our home on Tampico Road in September of 1982 with little being finished. The home was watertight, although there was no siding on the outside, just black plastic to keep the moisture out. Our front door was made of cardboard, and when the weather turned cold, we simply wrapped our cardboard door with a blanket, giving us an insulated door. The only heat source was a portable electric heater that was moved from room to room. We didn’t get our main heat source, a wood burning stove, until a couple of months later. Dale Romrell, the Facility Manager at Hewlett-Packard, knowing our plight, offered to sell us his old woodstove. We agreed on a price of $300 and terms of $100 per month. In January we started our first fire in the stove and the home and family were finally warm.
Every Saturday I would take the chainsaw and walk into the forest behind our home and cut down a few small trees that were standing dead. These were the only trees that were dry enough to burn. I would drag the trees to the front yard where I would cut them to length and carry the wood into the garage. This became a weekly ritual.
As you might have heard said, wood warms you twice - once when you cut it, again when you burn it. You might as well add a third warming, too, when you haul it from the woods to the house. Cutting wood was a perfect excuse for going to the woods when there were less manly house chores to be done, as well as the obvious justification for owning a pickup truck. But then there’s the messiness of wood, the dirt, bark and bugs a woodbox collects, the inevitable trail of debris across the living room floor and the not infrequent chore of cleaning and carrying the ashes out.
After the barn/woodshop was built a few years later, the woodstove from the house was relocated to the shop and a new wood burning stove was purchased. The woodstove remained in the home until Lisa and I remodeled the home in 2004, installing a gas fireplace. The new gas fireplace was now heating the home. It was neat, clean, and convenient to use. On cool mornings I’d flip the switch and put my backside to the fire. No stoking the stove, no waiting at all, instant heat. It was nice. It was toasty warm sitting on the hearth sipping hot chocolate, but I learned to miss my old wood stove. Gas and wood don’t heat the same, don’t warm the body in the same way.
Now, on cold winter mornings, I’d take all the trouble and mess again just to have my crackling wood fire back. But I now have that option. All I have to do is drive my truck to the woodshop in Ian’s backyard and fire up the wood burning stove. More nurturing memories to be made.
I received my Fitbit 2017 year in review statistics. My Fitbit tracked 3,565,614 steps, 1,635 miles walked or run, and 560,272 calories burned. I didn’t make my goal of 10,000 steps per day, only averaging 9,768 per day. But, given my knee replacement surgery that kept me from getting many steps in January and February, it’s not too bad for an old man.
After years of dealing with an annoying fungus located under the nail of my big toe, I finally gave up and had the toenail removed. The fungus has been there for as long as I can remember. As the new nail grows out I’m suppose to apply a special cream to the toe on a daily basis. Hopefully when it’s fully grown the fungus will not return.
I heard back from my friend (who owns an architecture/construction firm) who was going to talk with his partner about hiring me. He did speak with his partner and his partner wants someone younger. Well, at least they were honest about letting me know I was too old for them.
Vivian has a new box she seems quite satisfied with.
Both Lisa and I wondered if we were doing the right thing when we brought her home. It has been nine years since the cat bite, nine years without an energetic, playful, and mischievous fuzzball to grace our home. We have since become quite comfortable with our lifestyle, and we knew the addition of Vivian would transform our routine, our daily habits, our way of living.
On occasion during the past nine years we would look at cats at Petco or at a rescue shelter. I sensed Lisa missed having a cat around the house, but because of health concerns with Lisa and another potential cat bite, we never seriously considered having another cat. Although, I think we both knew, in time, we would once again bring a kitten into our family.
In the last four weeks we have found this transformation of routine to be the case. For the first few days Vivian pretty much stayed within the confines of the utility room, finding comfort in the area where her food, cat tree, and toys were located. Vivie has cautiously and slowly ventured out from the perceived safety and security of what we now call her “cat den” to other areas of the home.
It’s been an adjustment. It’s like we are new parents and Vivie is our new child. Lisa rolls out of bed in the morning and checks on Vivie, chats to her, pets her, feeds her, scoops out the poop from the litter box, vacuums any litter debris from the floor, and then Lisa will get herself ready for the day. When Lisa goes on her business trip next week this responsibility will fall to me.
Vivian has bonded with Lisa, following her around the house and spending her days with Lisa in the office. Vivian is like the energizer bunny. She keeps going and going until she has nothing left. One minute Vivie will be ping-ponging across the floor, and the next minute she is sound asleep in the drawer of Lisa’s desk. When she wakes up, she’s adventuring once again. Vivie’s the busiest and most energetic little kitten I could have imagined. We both have grown quite fond of the little rascal.
Yesterday was Vivian’s first dreaded visit to the vet. She has doubled in size, now weighing a whopping two pounds. During the examination the veterinarian noticed a slight heart murmur, something that will need to be checked at her next appointment. Vivie also received her second series of vaccinations. The vet mentioned that she may experience some pain and discomfort and that has been the case. Vivian is in pain. No longer the energizer bunny, she is a lump on a log. When picked up she cries. She has no interest in eating or even moving. Poor little thing. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for her and us.
I will say that Vivian is the luckiest of lucky kittens to have Lisa as her owner. There is no one who is as caring, attentive, and dutiful as Lisa. Just look at how Lisa has outfitted her outhouse (see picture above).
Progress is being made on the wood shop. The metal roof was finally installed. My friend Bill Weaver made us a storage cabinet, and Ian and I shared in the cost of a new table saw. The flue pipe for the wood stove should arrive any day now which will allow me to get the stove placed and in operation.
2017 turned out to be a not-so-good year for blog posting. What I used to call my “Weekly Letter” resulted in only sixteen postings. Instead, maybe I should refer to each of my postings as a monthly letter. I will attempt to do better in 2018. A positive New Year’s resolution.
If you have not heard, Lisa and I adopted a kitten, Vivian Noel (Vivie). Born on October 10, 2017. It has been almost nine years since Lisa has had a cat, and when we were made aware of Vivie, it just seemed like a good time to add her into our life. She is part Balinese, part Ragdoll.
This mix of cat are extremely fond of people. They like to be “helpful” and will follow you around and supervise your every move. When you are sitting down, they will be in your lap.
They are notable for collapsing into the arms of anyone who holds them, even if they are cradled on their back. They love people, greeting them at the door and following them around the house.
Vivian has good manners and has been easy to live with. The good thing is... Vivian has yet to shed. And if she does, it will be minor in comparison to other cats. This is a good thing as we don’t like the idea of having to clean up cat hair.
Vivie is a momma’s girl, following Lisa around the house and coming to her when called. Not so with me. Vivian is still in an adjustment period. Vivie’s day is all about eating, playing hard, sleeping and then sleeping some more. Most of her day is spent in the office keeping Lisa company.
The only time I have sung in a church choir was Christmas in 1974, that is until recently. The ward was asking for warm bodies to sing in the choir for the Christmas program and Lisa felt we should be supportive. I reaffirmed the reason I had not sung in a choir in 43 years was because I could not carry a tune in a bucket even if you put it in the bucket for me. Being the good husband that I am, I reluctantly agreed to be a warm body and accompanied Lisa to the practices. I began singing tenor and then migrated to performing a solo. So low they couldn’t hear me.
I wore the new bowtie Lisa bought me for Christmas to the Sunday program and then told Nate, siting next to me, it’s not how good you sing it’s how good you look doing it.
After the Christmas program Lisa and I went home and began cooking for our Christmas meal for the following day. We cooked all that day and then again on Christmas day until the food was served at 4:00pm. We were cooking not just for the two of us, but for another family of five who were joining us at our home, the Gordon family. Hadley Gordon, from Provo, Utah served part of her church mission in Anacortes and returned with part of her family for a visit to the area. We agreed to host them while they were here.
On the last day of their visit, Bill Weaver and his wife Elaine offered to take all of us out on their boat, named Island Wanderer. We ended up at Rosario Resort on Orcas Island for lunch. Pictured are the Gordon family on the left, The Weavers (with daughter) on the right.
Both Ian and I have begun using our new wood shop. Ian made Lisa and me a bowl to store coasters for Christmas, using some walnut he acquired from the farm in Corvallis. I made Lisa a bowl out of Hawaiian Koa wood. We brought the wood home with us from our last visit in Hawaii.
It has been a year since I had my knee replacement surgery (time flies). The doctor told me at the time it would take a full year to recover, and it has. There are now days that I don’t even notice there was once anything wrong with my knee. There is no pain and no apparent limitation. Yahoo!
One of the unwritten rules of being old is that we may not talk about our aches and pains. But, I’m not keeping silent. I am grateful for my health. Aside from being 64 and having a new knee, I have no age-related health problems – no arthritis, rheumatism, etc. But I do have the odd ache or pain that I didn't have even six months ago.
One weekday a few months ago, while working on the shop, I noticed a pain in my left shoulder, arm, and elbow. Since then both arms experience the occasional ache and sometimes sharp pain. At times I’m unable to lift anything heavy. I even notice it just sitting and typing on the computer keyboard.
Now in the greater scheme of things and compared to the real health problems of some others my age, none of this is really worth mentioning. But I'm curious about whether I am alone in experiencing random aches and pains in my arms unrelated to conditions such as arthritis or rheumatism, and that don't seem to indicate a real health problem. Anyone reading this blog posting have experience with this? Thinking it might be something more serious I have an appointment with my doctor in a couple of weeks. I’ll let you know what he says.
Given some uncertainty about Lisa’s ability to work remotely for Intuit in the future, I have begun an employment search (Lisa may end up having to work out of California or D.C.). I have sent out resumes and applied to online postings, but have yet to receive a single reply. Though I have a strong resume in my chosen professional field, I’m sure my age has something to do with the lack of response.
I have a friend from church who is part owner in an architectural design/construction firm. I spoke with him today and he is setting up an interview for me with his partner. It seems, many times, it is not what you know, but who you know. Wish me luck.
