The beat goes on

The water supply line for the house is still frozen. At least I have a well with an overflow where I can fill up my waterbricks.

A fair bit of my time is taken up with digging firewood out of the snow. I pull the pieces out of the snow, knock the worse of it off, then let it dry out by the woodstove.

There's a Buddhist saying: Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. For me, that means some things just have to be done, but your state of mind makes all the difference.

Progress is one step forward and another back sometimes. All my wife's car needed so it could start was some time with a battery charger. On the downside, there's too much ice in the driveway to drive it out. I tried to tow it out, but there is nothing solid in the front of the car to hook a tow strap on.

Going into town the roads are all broken up with frost heaves. Looking in my mirrors I saw a volunteer fireman with his red lights flashing. I pulled over to let him pass, but he pulled in behind me and walked up to talk.

“Do you want your bumper?” he asked.

Apparently on one of the more serious bumps the van's rear bumper fell off. The guy picked it up out of the road and caught up with me. That was real nice of him. We both thought it was kinda funny. Might as well laugh at life's little twists.

We did spend a marvelous evening with family and friends in town. After all, that's the main reason we are not totally nomadic.

Just to round out the evening, when we got home I tried to warm something up in the microwave and it wouldn't heat anything. Most folks would just buy a new one. My dad taught me that if it's broken anyway, it doesn't hurt to take it apart and see if it can be fixed. Sure enough, once I pulled the case off, there was an obviously broken wire. Once that was replaced, the microwave worked just fine. Chalk that up in the win column.

Most of my problems right now could be solved by a very lazy man. As the weather warms up, supply lines thaw, driveway ice melts, and there's no need for firewood. Since I'm not quite that lazy, I'll still fiddle around with those things. In the mean time, we've food, water, shelter and community. The basics are covered.

-Sixbears