A couple days ago, Larry decided there was something that smelled interesting on the top of the chair. It was thoroughly investigated.
On Tuesday I was up at 4:30AM and got my post up. When I went to load the wood stove, I noticed the gasket that had been loose on the bottom was now really bad. I had to replace it ASAP. So I spent the day raking coals to get them to burn out. Fortunately we had a sunny day and the sun heated the office.
I got the kitchen cleaned up and got ready for my helper friend who arrived at 9:30AM. He went off shopping for cranberries and doing errands, like picking up my silk scarf at the Senior center.
The gutter guys had called on Monday afternoon to say they would be here at 9AM. They arrived and set up. I went out about 10 – 15 minutes later to ask about the leaf blowers they use and to pay them and they were gone! I think it’s a lot of money I shell out for 15 minutes work but I don’t have anyone else who will do the 2nd floor gutters or the ones on the 12-12 pitch roof. Sigh… So I still don’t know what they use for leaf blowers and how they like them.
Just before my helper friend arrived back home I got a call. There had been a cancellation for a phone appointment at 11AM. I had 10 minutes to wash and pick over 2½ lbs of cranberries so my helper friend could start the cranberry sauce. I ran over a few minutes but they were willing to wait.
I didn’t get to look at my scarf until after noontime. And it didn’t get washed and ironed either.
He made 
So once we’d cleaned up the kitchen and I had some lunch, I headed out to the Big garden to get some mulch laid down at 12:30PM. It wasn’t too bad at first but about 45 minutes in, the wind came up and I was just too tired to stay out in it. So I finished mulching around the kale and mesclun and cleaned up.
Cold windy afternoon
It’s been a long while since we’ve had real winter type weather and I had gotten spoiled with being able to work outside later in the year. Now I’m struggling to finish the Big garden by myself.
When I got inside, I had to sit down and rest. But I needed to start the gasket work no later than 2:30PM to allow it to cure properly before we lit the stove. I called the mulch guy for more bales and he said he’d bring 20 at 8:30AM on Wednesday.
So at 2:30PM I got started and scraped and wire brushed the old cement off and made a mess putting the black cement back on. But in the end the gasket was well cemented on and cured properly (I hope) and we kept the fires low as per instructions. I was, of course, inspected.
I made some supper and got the stoves lit. But when I went to shut the masonry heater down, it had gone out. Sigh… So I restarted it and told my son to watch it and went to bed at 8PM.
On Wednesday I have to unload mulch, clean the kitchen, wash and iron the scarf, and when it warms up by noon, go spread mulch. The contractor is coming at 3PM and we are going to move the little wood stove for the smoker to the barn. While there, we are going to get the meat saws out of the butcher shop. We plan to cut the 40# block of chicken carcasses into 5 pieces so I can start making chicken bone stock. I have some other things I need to do, but I can’t remember what. I think I wrote them down…
So another busy long day.