Did not stray too far from the path this morning when walking the dog. That wind kicked up snow, and ice crystals just to ram them straight into my face, and down my neck! Yikes. I can do with only a handful of these sorts of days. Sad part is we are still in late autumn, and winter hasn’t even officially started yet. And won’t start for another two weeks, and a few days extra on top of that.
I think it best we swap out the rain coats for proper full on winter wear at this point. Even with a warm spell the temperature it is unlikely to climb much above 7°C even if we get a weeks worth of extra sun shine. I need to find my regular walking around boots, and my good winter gloves. I have been wearing my cool weather wood splitting jacket this whole time, but I’m going to need to switch to my real winter coat sooner rather than later.
I have to make sure I have my long johns handy because I’m not much for long walks if my legs are numb, or itching like crazy. That’s all I will say about that.
The birthday parties start this weekend, and once those are done I can turn my attention to Christmas as my primary focus. My attention is being pulled in multiple directions right now, what with the birthdays, parties, taekwondo belt promotion & testing, purging the house prior to Christmas, trying to start shopping, cleaning the house regularly, grocery shopping, and life in general. Those two weeks where we have no after school programming, no school, no work. And no major obligations are lovely. Add in the bitter cold outside, and hibernating with a drink in one hand, and snacks in the other while we watch television & movies, sounds incredible.
I totally forgot to ask my spouse about the couch long shelves and table I thought about building. It totally slipped my mind. I could work on the joinery right away, but my uninsulated garage is too cold for a proper glue up at this point. Even with my 18,000 BTU propane heater, I don’t think I could get the glue to set up properly. So I could plane, joint, and hand cut mortise & tenons, but any glue would have to wait until a warm spell in March, or April to attempt. Or… A big “or” here, I bring it all inside the house just to glue it up in situ. Which I’m not a fan of. I want it sanded, and finish applied, and all the smelly bits off gassed for a few weeks before I put it in place. Oils and finishes stink to high heaven, and with this piece going directly behind the couch it will make watching tv kinda stinky for days on end, until we go nose blind to it. I just wish I had thought of it back in September, then I could have gotten it done before the snow set in. Live and learn.
I was on a real cleaning run yesterday, and once it kicks in I find it hard to stop. So I did the next best thing and searched the pantry for crackers, and boxed items that were out of date. Not like Nov 2025 out of date, but stuff from more than six months ago. Found a handful with 2024 best before dates, and several with 2023’s. Good lord does the rancid oil smell bad on those things. Crackers especially! I hate to see food wasted, but it’s inedible. I used to put that sort of thing in our compost heap, but then it attracts raccoons, skunks, and rodents too. Not cool. Going to a landfill sucks, but I can’t donate it. The rancid oil would put people in the hospital. No thanks.
Which reminds me, I was going to pull a lower cabinet apart to see what else was hidden back there that could get thrown away. I’ve seen these Millenial Inheritance videos on IG or YouTube, and all it makes me think about is clearing out our own house of junk so that my children aren’t stuck having to do it after I pass. Not that we collect glass, or ceramic figurines, or wicker baskets etc… but do we need to keep ten or more novelty drink containers from Busch Gardens, SeaWorld Orlando, Disney World, and the Metro Toronto Zoo, and Canada’s Wonderland? No I think not. One from each place seems like a reasonable compromise to me. Keep some memorable items, but we don’t need double digit multiples. That’s insane.
That’s my goal, from now until the new year. Search random drawers, closets, cabinets etc… and declutter what ever is held inside. I could do with running the vacuum around again too. I’m seeing lots of crumbs on the floor in this early morning sunlight. Onwards & upwards as they say!
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