Hazy Night

I finished a paragraph, which always feels good, and I'd finished the rest of the roasted root vegetables, dipped in the grainy mustard / horseradish sauce. I made a fresh pone of cornbread, because the oven was hot, and it was so good, with fresh butter, that I almost wept. Took a nap, then woke and cooked a cheese omelet with toasted slices of cornbread smeared with bitter marmalade. I know I need to eat more. I'm trying. Woke to rain after midnight. It's warm enough in the house that I let the fire go out so that I can do a little stove maintenance, and I should be good for a foray into personal hygiene later. It's supposed to get up to fifty degrees, downright balmy, by mid-day. A couple of shotgun blasts yesterday afternoon and when I was wheeling a last load of wood to the shed I heard a vehicle on the driveway. The local constabulary looking to maintain law and order. He accepted a beer, we sat on the back stoop and chatted. He's a bit confused about how and why I live the way I do. There's nothing I could tell him. Either you get it or you don't. It's difficult to explain post-modern, much easier to split a round of wood into stove-sized chunks and keep a fire going. I tend toward the simple, though I can discuss the papal schism in the 14th century. Not to make a point. Hopefully to find some peace. That kid from Australia plays a mean guitar. Got up feeling good but no more than suited up before it started raining. Cold rain. Roasted more root vegetables and just nibbled on them all day. Sat on the sofa with a lap blanket, drank tea, and read. Conrad. I'm not a real fan but his language is so precise, then some more Thomas Perry. I'd picked up a package of shin bones cheap. They had a fair amount of meat on them, and, of course, the marrow. I stewed them for several hours in wine and chicken stock (I find beef stock disgusting) with garlic and onions. Made a great serving of soup and had the marrow smeared on toast. This was a very easy meal to fix and it was absolutely delicious. My menu for the rest of the week will be determined by what's on sale at Kroger. At the bare minimum I'll have pork fried rice for several days. I'm hoping for a brisket. Supposed to be colder but no precipitation for the next few days, so I can work on firewood, and the library called with some more books. Replenished my wash-water supply today and washed a couple of pair of socks. I need to go to the laundromat within the next week, rotate my long-underwear. We usually get a storm between Christmas and New Year, so I'd like to get a few more ricks of wood inside. Business as usual. Getting by.