Fade Into You

Once in a great while, a cover song doesn’t just echo the original — it bends the light, reshaping it into something equally beautiful. That’s why I’ve collected three renditions of Hallelujah, Leonard Cohen’s immortal hymn — and two versions each of a half-dozen other songs. Today, I’ve shared a sparse but soothing rendition of Fade Into You, first written and recorded by Mazzy Star.

This song drifts and lulls. It lingers in the more thoughtful corners of my mind.

Take a moment. Let this song haunt you.

—Mitchell Hegman

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmh_WmcpCpo&list=RDBmh_WmcpCpo&start_radio=1

Sacred Duty

My house rests on the rim of a dry ravine. Ponderosa pines stand dominant on the scrubby slope below. These are hardy specimens. Ponderosas thrive where water runs sparse and winter comes at them with sharp elbows and knees. They’ve also developed a savvy way to resist wildfires. First, they shed low-hanging branches as they mature—allowing grass fires to race past rather than climbing into the tree. Additionally, their thick, puzzle-piece bark tends to flake away when exposed to flames, denying the fire a foothold

This time of year, ponderosas perform their most sacred duty: opening their cones and releasing seeds to propagate. Each seed comes attached to a close cousin of a helicopter blade. Brushed by a rush of wind, they pop free of the cone and twirl into the expanse.

The other morning, I found seeds scattered across my back deck—released from trees standing some 100 feet away.

Impressive.

I gathered a few and posed them with a Cold Smoke beer for scale. In the background, you can see the ponderosa trees themselves.

Seeds and Cold Smoke

Puzzle-Piece Bark

—Mitchell Hegman

A Functional Idiot

I’m not a recovering idiot. I’m more a full-on functional idiot. As proof, take a look at the two tubes I posted below. The tube featured on top is an ointment I apply to my skin if psoriasis flares. The other is toothpaste.

Note the caps. The ointment tube cap screws on at the small end. The toothpaste tube—as with most—screws down on the bigger, flared end. As a functional idiot, the ointment cap throws me off. Not just once in a while, but every time I replace the cap on the ointment, I try screwing on the wrong end first. You would think I might figure this out after a dozen or so times, but apparently, I’m committed to keeping the idiot part fully functional.

—Mitchell Hegman

A New House for Snowball

Let’s begin with this: Snowball is a cat. A coal-black cat. She is small in stature but solid in spirit, having spent eighteen years braving the Montana seasons on or near my neighbor Kevin’s porch. That’s a long journey for any outdoor feline, and though she carries a few scars of survival, she remains steady. Last winter, the tip of her tail—once battered in a spat with a roaming feral—succumbed to frostbite and finally let go.

Years ago, I set out to improve on a “nest” of blankets she used for shelter during cold weather. I cobbled together a little house for her from a cardboard box. It wasn’t much, but she loved it, especially after Kevin tucked a blanket and heating pad inside. That simple shelter kept her safe and warm through our most frigid spells. But this summer, yellowjackets moved in and claimed it, leaving Kevin no choice but to drag it away.

The other day, I spotted a box at Costco that seemed ideal for a new home. Back home, I cut a doorway, reinforced the walls with cardboard and duct tape, and did my best to strengthen it. It’s not pretty, but it promises warmth and dryness.

I delivered the box to Snowball once it was ready. She acknowledged it and peered inside. For now, she hasn’t settled in. But once Kevin stuffs a blanket and heating pad inside, she’ll be set for another winter.

Snowball

New House

—Mitchell Hegman

Weird Averages

I asked ChatGPT to help me compile some “weird” averages—items most people would not consider. I have not attempted to confirm the veracity of the following list, but here it is:

• The average person unintentionally eats 1–2 pounds of insects per year, mostly through fragments in processed food.
• Humans shed an average of 50–100 hairs a day.
• A TV remote is pressed an average of 1,500 times per year per household.
• Over a lifetime, the average person walks the equivalent of three times around the Earth.
• In a typical office setting, the average person who encounters bubble wrap will pop 4–6 bubbles before stopping.
• Humans share about 60% of their DNA with bananas (an average across species comparisons).
• The average home houses about 30 spiders at any given time, whether you notice them or not.
• The average person spends about six months of their life waiting at red lights.
• Office workers spend an average of 1.5 hours per day searching for misplaced documents, emails, or files.

—Mitchell Hegman

Computers

 “A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.”

—Emo Philips

“Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window.”

—Steve Wozniak

“To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer.”

—Paul R. Ehrlich

No Forgiveness in Metal

I’ve been applying finish metal to the upper walls in the kitchen at the cabin. This is a particularly tedious project given that the walls have a 45-degree jog and I must also skirt a pair of “floating” shelves

I enjoy working with metal, but there is no forgiveness in metal. It’s not like working with drywall, where you can tape and mud over mistakes. It’s not as friendly as wood, which allows you to putty a misplaced hole or slightly miscut joint. There’s no blending in.

With metal, a misplaced screw hole or a wonky cut forces you to pitch the piece into a recycle pile and start over. To date, I’ve cast aside a half-dozen pieces. Mind you, some of the profile metal sections took me several minutes to fabricate with my snips and shears.

There’s another thing: the metal can cut you. Yesterday, while trying to force a piece into a tight spot, my hand slipped and the metal cut deep into the tip of my finger—deep enough that I looked away as Desiree doctored me.

I’m sharing some photographs documenting work on the project.

The Upper Walls in Process

My Fabrication Area in the Basement

Freshly Bandaged Cut

Finished Upper Walls

—Mitchell Hegman