Homestead Day 52 Sunday 11/12.2017

Dogs were barking last night while I was warming myself and reading the depressing news in the Lower 48. After they wouldn’t shut up when commanded, I arose to see what was the matter. There was a fair sized moose standing in the yard. He/she seemed in no particular hurry and just loitered about for most of 10 minutes before ambling on down through the yard and out of sight. It wasn’t a big surprise as we have seen moose droppings and moose tracks in the yard before. Not being anything close to a moose expert, I was unsure of the sex of the animal. In retrospect, I think it was a female since it had no horns or any indication that it might grow horns. Standing at my window, I was within 20 feet of the critter. That is as close to a live wild animal as I have ever been. It was pretty cool.

Spent the entire day still trying to get the damned plumbing done. One small problem led to another small problem which led to another small problem etc. etc. etc. Finally, I became so frustrated with the project that I just moved on to cutting firewood. The upstairs would have to wait until I was in a better frame of mind.

Our current firewood source is destruction lumber. It makes me almost ill to see this beautiful lumber reduced to useless chunks. We’ve been cutting up the useless chunks and burning them to stay warm. When we run out of that, I’ve decided that we’re going to burn the huge front porch. The previous owner detached it from the house and it has become a safety hazard from rotting wood supports and rotting deck boards. There are still few good planks which I will save but most of it is warped, deteriorating and unusable. I think I can save enough to deck out a smaller porch which I will roof and screen sometime in the future. They say firewood warms you three times: When you cut it, when you split it and when you burn it. I can vouch for the truth in that old saw.

For dinner we had potatoes, baked in the wood stove, and a salad loaded with everything including some beef tips sautéed in bacon fat.