Batten Down

A winter blow. I knew when I rolled over and went back to sleep that the house would be cold when I woke again. Sure enough. I remember camping near Mt. Washington one January. Zero degrees. One of the Hayden brothers actually shaved. Coffee and oatmeal. Taking a shit is difficult. All of the serious hikers or climbers I know squat to defecate, faster and neater, important factors when it's very cold. Not much mention of bodily functions in literature, but there is a goodly amount of food in the O'Brian novels. Pease porridge hot. And some of the Captain's meals are quite interesting, pickled penguin? various brined pig parts, plenty of grease, greenstuff and lime juice. They knew what caused scurvy at this point, stopped for citrus, ate kale. Salt-pork, salt-beef, and peas; there was a dish called "sea-pie" that was anything that had been caught, and they kept a lot of animals on board ship. One man-of-war had a designated chicken guy. In the heat of battle he would be quieting the flock. Pigs and goats were not uncommon, always sheep, when leaving a port, mutton seems to have been a favorite. There might be three hundred men on a man-of-war, at sea for six months, imagine the logistics of that. Everything in barrels, which amuses me for a while. Cheese with the port, which would have been a hard cheddar. Possibly a goat milk blue cheese. I have my reading nest arranged and it's quite comfortable, and an enormous pile of books. Moved a chair over to the entryway, so I could slip in and out of crampons, repaired the tire on the wheel-barrow, and made a cute cover for it from a tarp and fishing weights, split some kindling, Not much and routine. It's a great relief to come inside, take off my boots, put on my house slippers, get rid of the outerwear and put on my robe. Stoke up the stove, get a drink and roll a smoke. It's almost sinful, how good it feels.