Doggone it!

A Hermit's Day

One of my faithful blog readers wrote to tell me that the unknown bird might be an Eastern Kingbird. I will watch carefully to see if these birds look like the photo in my bird book. I have only seen the chickadees and the black squirrels feeding this morning.

She also said that hermits cannot get sick. She is right. This eye and the meds I am taking for it have made me less able to handle the rigours of living here at the lake in winter. I knew before, but I REALLY know now, that I need to be strong and healthy to live here. It is not that I couldn't burrow in and hibernate for the duration; it is that my spirits cannot remain buoyant without the knowledge that I enjoy doing what must be done. As long as a storm is simply an obstacle that requires a fair amount of physical work to dig myself out, winter storms are okay. When I am unable to gather the energy to do that physical work, I lose my optimism, and once that happens everything begins to feel impossible.

But I am not there yet!

Today's Plans (with the realities):

I will take some sand up by sled to the car and try again to free it from the ice and will take it to Wakefield to buy yogurt, milk and eggs. I will also try again to use the winter treads. I wish I were a better foul weather driver than I am.

Nothing I did worked and one of the treads is now stuck under the front wheel. I managed to flood my engine and called my mechanic to find out what to do, did it, got the engine going and still nothing moved. I called Leonard and we arranged that he would pull me out of the icy rut tomorrow.He, by the way, had tried to get the car moving last night and couldn't either.

If Leonard has cleared the parking lot at the top of the stairs I will do some more shoveling of steps.

He hadn't so I didn't.

I will use Mud Mama's sole outlines and finish the slippers I have made for Arrow and Max.

Done and very cute and useful. You can wear these slippers with no inner soles or with a doubled one that comes apart readily so a child's slipper can grow with him or her.

I will also finish knitting Arrow's Christmas sweater this evening while I watch a movie.

That's for tonight.