Suddenly, it is Christmas.
It is going to be a wet Yule week. The rain is welcomed after a particularly dry (and ridiculously warm) autumn. During this three-week break from working in the LeTourneau library, I shuttle here at Three Geese Farm between working in the shop on my latest woodworking project, a large Craftsman-style ottoman, to wielding a chainsaw out along Glade Creek, which runs through our property.
The ottoman will replace a fake-leather one that the cats over the years have largely destroyed. We keep it covered with a quilt. Pet owners know the routine: Buy nice furniture...
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And the sky is a hazy shade of winter.
— Simon and Garfunkel
The shortest day and the longest night approach as the winter solstice arrives Saturday. It is what Noah Kahan, a young energetic singer/songwriter from my beloved New England, calls “the season of the sticks.” That’s a Vermont name for the time before official winter. It comes just after all the foliage has fallen, leaving the bare limbs hanging in the air like abstract sculptures created by amateur art students.
Here in East Texas, stick season arrived just a few days ago. Leaves skitter along the driveway, fill the backyard....
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I had a semiannual physical exam a while back. Everything checked out well, I am happy to report. A few weeks later, I received an email from the health-care provider’s office, asking me to fill out a survey to ascertain how satisfied I was with the visit. Since I was not given a grave diagnosis, nor ordered to immediately lose weight or otherwise change my habits, I considered the visit a success. I ignored the survey request.
That resulted in several more requests, including one that announced the deadline to fill out the survey was fast approaching. Or what? I wondered. Will my prescription...
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Man plans and God laughs.
– Yiddish adage
Thanksgiving break was supposed to provide time to get chores done around Three Geese Farm, after we all fattened ourselves up on fried catfish and all the high-cholesterol accessories – in a break from traditional turkey and trimmings. Brother Gregg arrived on Black Friday not to shop but to help service Little Red – primarily an oil and filter change, tightening some leaky hoses and connections, etc. Thanks to my inability to distinguish between quarts and gallons, that oil change turned into a bit of disaster that required...
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