Hearth and Home

     Up since 4:30 this AM, with a "weather-front headache".  After one large cuppa' coffee (AKA the brown liquid of life), a slice of homemade bread, a couple pieces of ginger root, and some aspirin, it is nearly gone.
But the big question is, "Where's the weather that's supposed to come with the front?"  According to both weather.com and accuweather, it was supposed to start snowing at around 3 this morning.  Sheesh! There's not so much as one flake so far.  Not that I especially care whether it snows or not... Oh, it's pretty alright.  And, if it does indeed snow, nobody would appreciate the beauty more than I would.  But, if it doesn't,  it will be much easier to feed the chickens without falling...
     Speaking of falls, it's been a week since Moshe fell on the ice and broke a rib.  He's still in a lot of pain.  Neither of us is sleeping much.  This morning I convinced him to try the couch.  I figured it would feel good to have the back of the couch supporting his back ribs.  I put the heating pad to his back, covered him with a quilt, and he's been sleeping now for a couple hours.  Bless his heart.  I've had chronic pain for over a decade now, and it isn't easy.  But, I think when a person is not accustomed to pain, it is much more difficult to deal with.
    

The animals have the right idea.  They look like mismatched bookends, holding up the pot belly stove on either end.  The stove sits on ceramic tile flooring, and there's ceramic tile up the wall behind it was well.  Those tiles absorb the heat and are toasty warm, if a little firm, to nap upon.  I can almost FEEL the "Zzzzz's" floating through the house this morning!
     We got a truckload of firewood a couple days ago.  It's mostly red oak and it burns  nicely.  Keeping the fire going has become a little bit easier for me this past week.  I'm starting to really get the hang of it.  There was only one night when it went out.  On that particular night I just didn't have the energy to try to restart it.  God is good, and it was warmer than usual that night.  Even with my unwillingness to tend the fire, the central heat didn't kick on.  We have the thermostat set at 61 degrees, and it was 63 in the house when I got up.
     Yesterday I cooked a pot roast on top of the potbelly.  It was sorta' experimental;  I put the roast, the onions, potatoes, carrots, spices, a a cup of water in the roaster pan;  put the lid on, and set it on top of the woodstove.  It took about 4 hours 'til the veggies were tender.  Wow! The meat literally fell apart when speared with a fork.  It was wonderfully delicious, and we didn't use any propane!
     So, while it's so quiet, I think I'll treat myself to another excellent cup of coffee, then start preparing the chicken food, dog food, cat food, people food...
Shalom Y'all - Twyla