today was....interesting.

waking at 8 to greet the chimney sweep, i saw a fresh blanket of snow outside, so called him. he said that he could not make it over the pass between valleys, so would try and come when he could.

i decided to drive the car while i still could to the nearest public road, a mile and a half away, and leave it there.

walked back, enjoying the spectral sight of all the trees' filigree relief against the clouds.

meanwhile a neighbour, hearing of my plight, had offered to try and sort me out.

this is the downstairs woodstove, which runs the house radiators, heats the hot water, and bakes food, so 3 days with it not drawing was starting to get annoying, though the woodstove upstairs was cranking, making at least one room warm.

then the horse wagon came over to bring paddy back from the stables where he stayed while i was away. he made it ok. paddy, shaggy in his winter coat, ambled down the ramp, mellow as can be, and i led him to his stall.

the wagon got stuck turning around, and for 20 minutes he spun his wheels, and i pushed and tried various tricks to get him going. finally what worked was tugging him with the motocultivator!

as he receded into the white distance, i noticed he had punctured a water pipe, and it was squirting up into the air. luckily i had what i needed to repair it so got that done.

then my neighbour came over and we discovered that the problem was not so much in the chimney, but behind the oven, so we unscrewed that and cleaned out the gunk blocking the hole in the back that leads to the chimney.

that was sorted, and so i took a break and put some lunch in the oven, and awaited the water to heat.

soon that was accomplished, and yet the central heating was moribund, the water overheating and spouting out the emergency tube, but no luck with the radiators.

so now it's down to bleeding them, up and down emptying a big bucket...

by the time i ate it was 4.15, cruising on yesterday's nutrition all day, low maintenance compared to the house systems!

nice baked potato, some home grown borlotti beans in tomato-pepper sauce, and some baked broccoli with mushrooms and zucchini.

half an avo for clorophyll, and now after 45 minutes of bleeding the water is just starting to warm.

yay.

heads downstairs to empty the bucket again

now its almost hot.

all's well that ends well

~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~