25 March 2020 Wednesday

Way over slept. Tuesday was a day where I seemed to have completely exhausted myself. Don’t remember exactly what I did. I guess I could go back and read Tuesdays’ blog. However that seems a bit extreme. I’ll just take it for granted that I worked hard and got really tired.

With Summer being laid off due to the COVID-19 media hyped panic, I am seeing her more now than I have in over a year and a half. It has been a good thing for her and I’m enjoying the company. She’s been busy for days trying to get some of her possessions unpacked from the time of our arrival in Alaska. She’s went through all of this stuff and bagged up donations to The Salvation Army. I only donate to the Salvation Army because of a story told to me by my Dad and one of his WWII experiences. He told the story of how the Red Cross was selling coffee, donuts and cigarettes to the the GIs. While the Salvation Army was providing the GIs the same stuff for free. Also, the Red Cross spends a great portion of the donations they receive on administration. The CEO of Red Cross gets a paycheck in excess of $300,000. Why do these big charities always have big paycheck people? Where is the charity?

Wednesday was another day of hanging sheetrock. I cut the last sheet and still was two sheets short of completing the stairwell. This led to a trip to town. Since the bed of ‘The Beast’ was filled with demo debris and several bags of garbage, I had to go to the dump before buying more sheetrock. Since I was already going to Spenard’s for sheetrock, I made a list of the materials we would need to install the new wall between the kitchen and the living room. It won’t block the LR off. It will provide a wall onto which additional cabinets, counter top and to move the refrigerator out of the corner. Dan, Summer’s significant other, came by and made some suggestions as to the rearranging of the kitchen. His suggestions will greatly improve the flow in the kitchen. His suggestions created the need for the additional wall. Just another bit of work. No biggy.

Returned home and finished the stairwell sheetrock. Was extremely happy to have that part of this project done. Too much time spent measuring and cutting to suit my “lead, follow or get the hell out of the way” attitude.

With the warmer weather (over 40F) we have been saving firewood. Now we’re only building a fire first thing in the morning to knock the chill off and then again at 7-8 PM when the temp outside has dropped to near freezing. We keep the evening fire going until bed time because wood is cheaper than fuel oil. Our cue to build a fire is when the heater comes on. Summer sets the heater to come on at 65F. Six cords of wood are going to barely make it to the warmer mid-April. I’ve already contacted my wood guy and ordered ten cords for delivery this summer. Had the winter been a little longer or very much colder we would have run out of wood. I’ve heard it said “You aren’t a real Alaskan until you’ve had to burn the furniture to stay warm”. That’s an experience I’d just as soon skip.

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Well, that’s it for me. Now I have to get on with Thursday’s aggravations.