Good fireplace weather, partial packing, struggling voice

Since the temperature is falling towards freezing and the rain is falling softly – giving us the potential for several inches of snow – it seems a good time to have a fire burning in the fireplace. In preparation for the need of a fire, I spent the evening yesterday making sure we had a good store of firewood in the sunroom. The only caveat is that the wood we now have available is not nearly as dry as the several years old firewood we have fed to our recent fires. That made it a little difficult to get the fire started this morning, but thanks to Grandpa’s ministrations and diligence there is a fire burning brightly now. With a good bed of coals forming under the grate, the wood we have available will burn well as we add it to the fire.  Fires in the fireplace eventually warm the room and the house but mostly they warm the heart. It is distractingly peaceful to simply sit and watch the fire. Grandpa and Grandma will spend the majority of the day doing just that.

The softly falling rain is a boon to the ducks. They always enjoy the rain. They seem completely unaffected by the temperature. On mornings that the pool is frozen over, the ducks will climb onto the frozen surface and peck at the ice until they break through and then happily bathe in the nearly freezing water. It will be interesting this afternoon when the rain is forecast to turn to snow. We have never seen how they will react to that type of precipitation. If it gets too bad, they will resort to their enclosure which provides a dry shelter from all storms. The goats, meanwhile, have sequestered themselves inside their respective shelters. The chickens are ambivalent. If the rain is soft, they will forage around as usual. When the rainfall increases, they seek shelter until it lessens. When it snows, they will also congregate in the coops away from the snow.  

When, of if, the snow begins to fall the goats will stay inside their respective shelters even doing without water for the day. They do not like wet ground but they really do not like snow. When we feed this evening, I will carry five-gallon buckets of water to the goats in their shelters so they can drink. Tomorrow morning, if I am allowed to work from home once again, I will have to swap out the frozen five-gallon buckets with buckets of fresh water. By late tomorrow we should be above freezing and the rain is forecast to have ended, so things will thaw and dry out pretty quickly. Nevertheless, the goats will be hesitant to venture out of the dry shelters until the ground firms up. They are funny animals that way.

With our trip only a week from today, Mama and I are getting ready in little steps. We can only pack up so much at a time, but we need to be able to fit all that is going with us into the allotted suitcases. So far, we have only one half of a suitcase packed with many the items we are taking specifically to Honduras for Cori, Nate and the kids and the weight of that suitcase is already thirty-nine pounds. With a fifty pound limit, it will need to be filled with light items – shirts and undergarments – in order to meet that requirement. Since there are more than an equal amount of items yet to be packed and weighed, the challenge remains for us to arrange everything wisely in the small cubit footage of three suitcases – one of which we will have to pay extra for on the trip down. Being partially ready is better than not being ready at all but the days will pass quickly as we add time and energy to the effort.

One of the major challenges to packing the sundry items being stowed specifically for our Honduran children and grandchildren are two particularly oddly shaped pieces of doll furniture we are taking to Savanna. One is a beauty shop chair, and the other is a double stroller. The beauty shop chair is going to be difficult to pack even if I disassemble it, but Mama is determined to get it to Savanna so I will go as far as I can to make that happen. It remains to be seen if we will succeed, especially with that one item.

I was supposed to be teaching a class today but had to pass it off to a colleague. My sinuses flared up in rebellion against the contaminants they were exposed to because of ashes I cleaned out of the fireplace as well as the leaves I raked and mulched. Because of the tickling cough and profusely runny nose, I missed church Sunday, office work on Monday and presenting a class today. Perhaps by Thursday I will be well enough to teach the class I am scheduled for. I hate to pass off too many classes unless it is absolutely necessary. This one today was necessary. Mama is very concerned that I be completely healed by the time we get on our way next Wednesday morning. To do so, I will need to be very careful to avoid irritating my sinuses again.

That is easier said than done during the Winter.