I'm glad I did as it was actually pretty ideal outside for a late season fire. After a couple hours the snow came, so I let the fire die down as I stood around it, poking at it now and again, sometimes while listening to music. I had to take my chair inside the garage as the snow was getting it wet. It was so very peaceful getting snowed on and watching the flames.
The snow was sticking to the ground by the time I went in, and we got about 2 inches over the next few hours to blanket everything once again. But this is nothing, really. We already have a Winter Storm Warning for Tuesday/Wednesday that they say to expect 6-8 more inches, but we'll see.
Below is a one minute video from yesterday afternoon, link here for email readers. Get comfortable, take a deep breath and let it out slowly, then watch the video and maybe you'll feel some of the peace I felt while out there yesterday. Here's sending some peace your way.
Tonight as I sat by the fire, I looked up. It was about 20 minutes after sunset, which is when bats can start being seen flying above and I like to watch for them. What happened next was a lot of leaves showering down on and around me. I never did notice any bats while watching the leaves.
It's fall and leaves are changing, but neighbor Dave's three Black Walnut trees are always the first to lose their leaves. And conveniently, mind you, as they are not good for compost or mulch in the flowerbeds. They can wash out the color of flowers and we have a lilac under them that proves it. I usually mulch them into the lawn with the mower and harvest the later leaves, mostly maple, for mulch around the yard.
That's almost it for my firewood until Tuesday, just a small pile left after this weekend. On Friday I was looking ahead and put in an order to have another face cord of mixed hardwoods delivered. I still have plenty of time for having fires before winter sets in, after all.
First face cord took 2 years to burn. Second face cord, only 3 months. Thanks, 2020.
It was a dreary and overcast evening yesterday, but at least it was dry. I went out to sit by the fire and decided to film a little and wound up taping the whole night. Don't worry, this is only the first half hour. After that I was on a video call with my mom for some time, then it just got dark. Pull up a chair and relax by the fire with me.
I've gone through a lot of wood this year. My previous face cord lasted me two whole years while this one, delivered in July, has lasted about 3 months so far. I'll have to get another delivery in the next couple weeks as last year I managed to have one more fire after the winter solstice but before the new year. It's these pandemic times, I have nothing better to do and no other place to go, may as well do something enjoyable.
So the orange one finally got sick. No, I'm not celebrating. I don't like that anyone is getting sick and that some are dying. What it comes down to is that it was preventable. They were extremely careless, and they got the Covid. It was just a matter of time, really. The timing of his illness and the extent of how ill he'll actually get is very interesting, however. Stay tuned on this one, folks.
Fall weather has definitely arrived here, and that brings outside chores that will need to be done soon. I also have to get used to wearing long pants and socks again after several months of barefoot and shorts. And non slip-on shoes seem like an atrocity now so I have been holding out still, even if that means wearing short socks with sandals, sorry. But I don't hardly go anywhere or see anyone else but my wife these days anyway, so who cares?
Friday afternoon the weather was so that I decided to have a fire while listening for the first time to the new Nightwish CD. As I had to charge up my old phone that morning to check something on it, it occurred to me that I could use it as a camera still, so I did. I wasn't sure how much space it had or how long it would run, but it was just an experiment and I didn't think anything would really come of it. Turns out it's not so bad, really, and it lasted for almost the whole time I was out there.
I was out for a walk the other day and I saw some new signs down by the Starkweather Creek canoe slide. A warning about possible PFAS in the water - in 3 languages - and a small sign with instructions on how to use the canoe slide. I still haven't seen the slide used, and I'm sure I won't until spring rolls around. You can see the creek is iced over already. We've not had a lot of snow since late October and early November, but we have had the cold temperatures with highs ranging from a bit above to a bit below the freezing mark, more below recently. I'll put closeups of the signs after the break.
Yesterday afternoon the sun finally came out, so after the Badger game I took the walk around our section of Starkweather creek to get a closer and different look at the new steps and slide. I've never done this short walk before and this seemed like a good reason to get out and do it. I start at the end of our street and walk north, crossing the bike path bridge then walking south to the Milwaukee Street bridge, and then back north a bit to our street again. All pictures in this post, and there's quite a few here, were taken on this walk.
It's hard to say why I've not seen Alice Cooper live before now. He does tour a lot, so perhaps I always thought there would be a next time. In fact, there almost wasn't a this time. Alice Cooper played Wednesday night at The Sylvee here in Madison, but I had tickets for a show I especially wanted to see on Friday, two days later. That show was cancelled a few weeks ago so I decided this was the time to see Alice Cooper. After all, he is 71 years old now, how many more tours can there be?
We knew about this aspect when we bought the house ten years ago, and it wasn't a concern then and it still isn't now as we really love our house, our location, and our proximity to work and local businesses (and the bike path though we need to take more advantage of it). I've even grown to really like watching them - in fact, I think I always have liked it. Sometimes the jets can get real loud, but they are somewhat fascinating as well - and nice to know we are so protected here in the upper Midwest. And they almost always go in twos, so if you hear one, get ready for another one coming. They also usually advertise when they will be doing extensive training, but that doesn't seem to stop some idiots in the neighborhood from complaining on the neighborhood farcebook page (I'm told). Once, we even saw a military transport plane taking off over us - it was so big and so low it felt like I could throw a rock and hit it!
Overall it was a good show, though. Aside from his guitar playing he also does a mean 'robot' and even performed with nunchucks at one point before handing out what looked like dollar-store gifts to the fans in front. Always handing them out carefully, never tossing or throwing into the crowd. (That video is here, and a there's a couple more on my YouTube channel.) Even as he left the stage before and after the encore it was with just a little wave as he was led off by his roadie. His odd behavior reminded me of autism, but I've not read a word about him being autistic so I gather it's just another part of his act.
