Happy Halloween

Desiree and I live tucked away in the countryside. We are remote enough that we don't anticipate ever seeing trick-or-treaters. We did not buy any candy. While discussing the fact that today is Halloween, I said to Desiree, “It would be pretty freaky if a couple of kids did show up here looking for candy.”

'What would we do?” she asked.

“Not much we could do. I would have to go to the door and yell at the kids: ‘We have fish. That's all we have. Fish! Happy Halloween.’”

—Mitchell Hegman

Shifting Projects

My master ceiling project has stalled. I found a drywall finisher, but I am now waiting for his schedule to fit me in. While in waiting mode, I decided to push into the master bathroom and remove the base trim in there. We have been working on a remodel in there that will finish slightly behind the bedroom.

Interesting timing on removing the trim in the master bathroom. I first installed the trim in my house in late October and early November of 1991. Here I am, 32 years later, taking another run at things.

I don't have any photographs of my work on the trim from 32 years ago, but I did manage to dredge up a photograph of me painting some wall for the very first time. I am sharing that along with my more recent work.

Me Painting (October 1991)

Removed  Base Trim (October 2023)

Without Trim (October 2023)

—Mitchell Hegman

Craving Broccoli

When I was a kid, I would have preferred eating a bowl of rocks and bones to eating a couple of broccoli florets. At the time, I liked only carrots, corn (which is botanically a grain), and potatoes (technically tubers). Broccoli was too green to suit me. Additionally, my grandfather grew carrots, corn, and potatoes in his garden, but not broccoli. I figured that meant something.

At some inexact point in my adulthood, I started eating broccoli. Not only did I eat it, I started liking it. Yesterday, now way, way, way into adulthood, I found myself craving broccoli.

That’s weird.

The craving proved intense enough that I actually prepared some for myself. I never saw this one coming as a kid."

—Mitchell Hegman

Five Simple Rules for Living a Good Life

 

1. Don’t cook while naked.
2. Never play Bob Dylan when you are trying to romance someone.
3. Ignore the voices in your head when they urge you to invest in precious metals.
4. Don’t try riding a unicycle for the first time when everyone is watching.
5. Don’t fire an employee if they also happen to be the bosses’ kid.

—Mitchell Hegman

Lucky, Unlucky

A week ago, we enjoyed 80-plus degrees. Last night, we dipped down into single digits for a low. Of course, Montana is widely known for these extreme and often abrupt swings in temperature. The state still holds the world record for the greatest change in 24 hours. This occurred in Loma on January 15, 1972, when the temperature there rose 103 degrees, from -54 degrees Fahrenheit to 49 degrees.

Our changes are weird enough that many Arctic species of plants, which handily survive the long, bitter cold there, would perish during one of Montana’s wild swings.

Today, I am sharing the fate of two geraniums at the Hegman household. One lucky geranium lounged in the temperature-controlled sunroom for the spring and summer and remains there as of this writing. The other rather took a beating for the same length of time at the edge of the back deck. Sadly, this unlucky plant did not get toted inside before our sudden winter struck.

A bleak end for a non-native species.

Lucky Geranium

Unlucky Geranium

—Mitchell Hegman

Calling in an Early Winter

In yesterday's installment of this blog, I mentioned (okay, I extolled) Desiree's skills at decorating for Christmas—early Christmas decorating, I might add. Here in these parts, most folks won't crack open a storage box of decorations until after they've had a tiff with one of their relatives at a family Thanksgiving dinner.

Be that as it may, our house was decorated, and then, a mere twelve hours later, an early, brutal snowstorm slammed down on our valley. We're talking deep snow, strong winds, and cold. Usually, winter takes a few piddly practice runs at us before we get a storm like this.

So, I wonder, is this a coincidence, or is winter one-upping Desiree?

Snow (With Decorations in the Foreground)

Outside the Sunroom

—Mitchell Hegman

An Island Girl Adjustment

If you marry a Filipina, you will be required to make a few 'island girl adjustments' in your life. One such adjustment is in regard to Christmas. In the Philippine Islands, the celebration of Christmas spans the entirety of the 'ber' months. This means you will see Christmas decorations put on display beginning in September and continuing through December.

Desiree officially kick-started the season yesterday by decorating the inside of our house. Early or not, I must say, she is notably talented in her decorating.

“I like it,” I had to admit when I came home from a trip to town.

I am sharing three photographs featuring Desiree's early Christmas work. It's good stuff.

—Mitchell Hegman