Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1133)

5 months ago

Hello Everyone!

Waking early, Squeezing in a supply run, Catching up on chores & The joys of fire, music and strong coffee!

Alright, I am getting started on the writing rather late but for once it is how I planned it... instead of how 'it worked out' so to speak. In all reality I am only beginning roughly three hours later than I usually do... so it is not currently super late or anything... and the fatigue has yet to set in for the evening... so we will see what all I can spell out.

Last night I had a heck of a time falling asleep and was uber concerned that I would sleep in... and miss my ride to the store but thankfully I managed to get up relatively early this morning. Which was good because I sure needed a bath before venturing into town... and making an early start to the day made that possible... because I of course had to pump the water from the tub first.

The supply run itself was good because I had been running rather low on food... and I was down to only having some super cheap coffee left. Neither one of those things by itself is all that uncommon for me of late... but I was not cherishing the idea of spending the holidays in that scenario.

Since the supply run happened relatively early in the afternoon (and I did my shopping as fast as I could) it gave me plenty of time during the rest of the day to do a bunch of stuff that I have been putting off doing. Mainly I wanted to get as much of that stuff done so that I could sort of 'free my mind' from it and not have to cope with it as well as my usual weird holiday feelings.

Honestly, I tried not to think too much as I went along doing stuff and did my best to enjoy the process... instead of focusing on the end results. None of it was all that strenuous but there sure was a lot of 'little things' that I have been neglecting to do recently... like getting rid of all the dead pokeweed plants... cleaning out the cabin along with a bunch of other chores that I have been skimping on doing.

I also decided to have that 'holiday fire' that I mentioned a few times... and although I at first was just going to burn some burnables... it was not long before I began collecting more firewood, piling it on and enjoying the blaze. At first I was not going to play any music but something sort of snapped in me when I realized that it had been a really long time since I had simply sat around a fire and enjoyed some tunes.

When it comes to the music I probably overdid it a bit... because I made the fatal error of drinking a bunch of super strong coffee and letting myself get 'all jazzed up' as I am wont to do. It is all kind of funny because at first I was thinking to have a beer (or the quarter of one that I would probably drink) but I really dislike having to struggle against a beer buzz to do the writing (which really is not that bad) then struggle even further with the proofreading and editing... which yeah is that bad.

Back to what I was getting at there, is that just as the sun was setting (and the fire had almost burned itself out) I had a decision to make as to whether I should douse everything and call it a day... or pile a bunch more wood on the fire and enjoy it. If I had drank the beer I would have assuredly chosen the former... but alas I was way too jazzed up for all of that!

So, long story short... I piled on enough wood that I could spend a few hours sitting by the fire without having to tend to it overly much. I am unsure of when the last time that it was that I just sat by a fire, enjoyed its warmth and frigging relaxed... because usually I just want to either burn the burnables and be done with it... or make some low-grade biochar... and be done with it.

The fire was really nice and the music was absolutely the 'balm' my mind needed at the time... and afterwards I felt like I had made peace with something... even if I have no clue what that 'something' is. It is difficult to describe such feelings but all of it just felt 'right' somehow. Hopefully, both that 'peace' and that feeling of 'rightness with the world' will stick around for the next few days until the holidays are over... or mayhaps even longer... but hey I will be fine with just a few days of it!

Well, I thought that I would have more to say but alas I do not... so I am going to get on with the editing and posting portion of my evening before the hour grows too much later. I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice time.