Not that bad in the mountains

Looking back on some of my recent posts it looks like I'm suffering pretty badly from cabin fever. It's not that bad, really. A lot of my writing has been about travel, but winter is a good time to think about travel. Yes, technically it's not quite winter, but the big fat snowflakes falling outside right now says winter to me.

My lovely wife and I often kick around different travel scenarios. That way if we do decide to hit the road we have some idea what we'll be doing. Nothing ruins travel with a spouse than being on different pages. If she's thinking of wilderness camping and he's thinking room service, there will be problems. We like to iron out some of that ahead of time.

I do live pretty well out here in the mountains. Most mornings I rarely set an alarm and wake up when I wake up. Then I light the woodstove and put the kettle on to perk. It takes a while to make coffee starting with a cold woodstove, but I'm in no hurry. While coffee is heating up it's a good time to check e-mail.

Once the coffee is ready I bring a cup to my lovely wife's who's usually waking up around then. A wife who starts her days with coffee in bed is a happy wife. After that we usually have a leisurely breakfast.

Only then do I tackle the projects of the day. As some point I usually have a little on-line business to attend to. There's a few projects that should bring in a few dollars down the line. We shall see.

After lunch today I decided to putter around with my motorcycle project. It got moved to a better spot in the basement. The seat and gas tank have been removed to allow easier access. The electrical system does not look as bad as I feared. I did discover a expedient field repair I'd once made then totally forgot about. The main fuse had blown and I didn't have a spare. Instead a hasty bypass was done, without even the benefit of electrical tape. For some reason it was forgotten about and the bike driven for hundreds of additional miles. The hasty patch didn't stand up well to years of storage either.

Tomorrow we have to go into town to the post office. While there we'll combine as many errands as we can. We'll probably meet up with some friends while in town. My lovely wife is excited by the fact that I have to go to the hardware store. She loves the hardware store.

Even when our days are quiet we are doing well. We are warm, dry, aren't missing any meals and are surrounded by thousands of good books. Life could be worse.

-Sixbears