Nice to see these new posts this morning.
Steve, you are quite right about the caring and kindness of this forum. Best forum on the internet that I know of. Cool bike stuff, too.
First off, I've been sleeping a lot, like six to seven hours of naps through the day and good sleep at night. Rest is good medicine for sure. Leg is mending nicely I think as the swelling is down, color is better and pain is minimal. I've had this leg since 1945 and it's a good one. I'll be up and around doing stuff pretty soon, but not yet... patience old bear.
More good mosquito vs dragonfly stuff. The photo of the red one is beautiful. Whoever designed those wings knew what was what, eh? Didn't know about the nymphs eating the mosquito larvae. Good for them and good science stuff! Once the May Fly hatch has come and gone and I've taken a few photos I'll bore everybody with their amazing life cycle. Science stuff is pretty cool and observing our relatives in the natural world is always interesting. Got an email from a neighbor saying he had seen a yearling black bear coming down my drive... so I'll need to keep an eye on Aaniimoosh The Wonder Dog who is braver than she should be... don't want anything to happen to my little friend.
I've burned wood in one place or another for most of my life and believe no other form of heat is quite as satisfying. Especially when you can watch the fire through a glass door when the snow is falling outside the window and the temps are in the basement. It gets cold where I live, minus 63 is the record, but minus 20-40+ is common enough and long stretches below zero are normal for the dead of winter. First snow is in October and last is in May, so that doesn't leave a lot of time for bike riding. I live in a 1957 Spartan aircraft trailer and put a wood stove in it for the only heat. No running water in the winter. Kind of a hard life in some ways, but one which agrees with me. So having firewood is pretty important and the drier it is the better the heat. Five cords would be more than enough for a normal winter, but the last one wasn't normal and who knows what we'll think normal is with the earth changes we are seeing and more which will come. Anyway, I thought it would be prudent to have two winter's worth put up and then I'm ready for anything.
For me that wood stove is life itself. The wood is a gift of the forest which allows me to live here in comfort with the wonder dog as companion. We get along fine, thanks to that stove and the birch firewood. Putting it up is good purposeful exercise and carrying in fresh dry wood each day through the winter is also good. I'll be seventy next birthday and am grateful for these old legs and hands and arms that still have some strength in them, a heart that still pumps, eyes that can see and all the rest of it. Life is good...
Coffee cup is emptied out and so am I.
SB
