Stove, Food, Wood

Neighbor Bill and his son, Bill, Jr spent a couple of hours with us yesterday figuring out what is wrong with my wood pellet stove. Bill Jr found a broken gear in the fuel stirrer motor, so that problem is resolved. I just have to buy a new motor. The son is like the dad, only more. This is per both mom and dad, said proudly.

Our weather has been ten to twenty degrees warmer than normal so we are catching a break on fuel costs. We can use any break we get.  Frieda, aka Kitten Little, has several small toy mice that she gleefully tosses in the air, bats around and tosses again. She was tossing and batting this morning. Then I saw her under the dining table eating. Not a toy, what remained of a small mouse. I picked it up and threw it away, giving her a chin scratch and a good girl. She thought that was fine, until she realized something was gone. Bad me.

I made lunch today with the last of the fresh tomatoes from the garden. The zucchini, onion and sage also came from the garden. I have a few zucchini and squash left, otherwise fresh produce is done, as of today. I'm going to braise stew meat in red wine, beef broth and balsamic vinegar for tonight. 

Mark has been playing lumberjack, making certain I have wood for the long winter season, cleaning up the recently felled trees and trees that have taken themselves down over the past few years. We supply Bill with the wood he burns in his shop. We also gave him the wood stove. It was in our garage and we didn't use it. That was a long time ago. Bill usually works with Mark on the wood cutting but his health concerns are keeping him quiet for now. Three of us falling apart in unison.

That's about it. Life is quiet, which isn't a bad thing. Except for the dog. She's not so quiet.