We conducted a full-on draining and cleaning of our hot tub. What makes this blog-worthy is the fact that our island girl climbed right inside the tub and towel-dried the inside, barefoot and without heavy winter garb, on a winter day.
That’s
some pure Montana stuff there.
I’ve
posted a photograph of Desiree at work, with the snowy landscape all around her.
—Mitchell
Hegman
This is a tough one, folks. I’m about to make a revelation akin to telling a kid Santa Claus isn’t real. I’m not entirely sure how this happened. Did the belt slip on my critical-thinking conveyor? Did an elbow crack somewhere in my everything-considered piping system?
Whatever
the cause, Cold Smoke Beer no longer reigns unchallenged as the absolute king
of post-chore refreshment. There are now moments when I reach, of all things,
for Kirkland coconut water instead of a Cold Smoke.
I
have no explanation. Only evidence.
And
apparently, electrolytes.
—Mitchell
Hegman
I don’t know why you’re still hesitating. For $72,800.00, the Unitree G1 Humanoid AI Avatar robot can be yours. It does back flips. It does front flips. Tariffs are included. Shipping is free. What more could a reasonable person want?
—Mitchell
Hegman
Here’s a question: when was the last time you fell out of bed and woke up later on the floor? For me, that would be the night before last. I woke sprawled out on the floor long after midnight.
The
house is a different place from floor level. For a few seconds, I thought I had
been plunked down on a new planet.
Strange
stuff.
Once
I determined I was still on Earth, I crawled back into bed and had a great
night of sleep.
—Mitchell
Hegman
While
hauling a 5-gallon bucket of split wood for the woodstove, I noticed a warning
on the side. Though the bucket originally held cat litter, the label shows it
partially filled with water and what appears to be a toddler attempting to lift
and carry it. This is not a job for a toddler. Obviously, this is a job for big
people.
Below
that image is another written warning stating that children can drown in a
bucket with only a little water in it.
Good
to know.
—Mitchell
Hegman
While sweeping around the woodstove, Desiree found what looked like a 3/8” nut on the floor. She immediately showed it to me.
“That’s
not good,” I said. Noting the nut’s dark color, I added, “It looks like it
might be from the woodstove.”
My
first thought was the nut might have come from the door handle, but a quick
glance at that proved the handle was intact. My next thought turned to the air
intake damper, which is located at the bottom of the stove. Having a
compromised damper is what my buddy Rodney would term “ungood.”
An
operating damper is required to control how hot the fire burns. If the damper
failed closed, the fire would struggle to climb. If the damper failed in the
fully open position, the fire might quickly drive the temperature to over
1000°F.
The
damper seemed fully functional, but I still felt fairly concerned. I waded
online and found an exploded view of the damper parts. No nuts there.
Yesterday
morning I stopped at the shop where I purchased the stove and consulted with
the experts. “I don’t think it’s from the stove,” one of them concluded, “but I
would hang onto it just the same.”
One
other possibility existed: the iron fireplace toolset holding the poker and
other tools. When I got home after visiting the shop, I inspected the toolset
and stand.
Bingo.
The
nut came from under the base of the stand.
Naturally,
this provided me with an opportunity to grab a Cold Smoke beer to pose with the
nut for a sense of size. The perfect way to end a mystery.
—Mitchell
Hegman
This “getting older” stuff I’ve been undergoing is getting annoying. I can tolerate the migrating aches and pains and the occasional brain cramps that prompt me to go blank when I reach a point where I’m supposed to fetch someone’s name, but now a couple of my fingernails are going wimpy on me. They are just not as tough as they used to be.
—Mitchell
Hegman
