Finishing Torso Boy’s grave, and some other stuff

So yesterday and the day before I glued TB’s marker to its pedestal, caulked and painted it…

…and this morning it was ready to put in the ground.

I couldn’t finish the grave properly, it seems, until I went into the wash where the floods had piled up smooth/pretty/colorful rocks…

…and after altogether too much of that and some fiddle work, the grave is done…

…and up to the standards of our totally not over-the-top family cemetary. 🙂

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’m primarily going to use to cut up firewood later in the year…

I’d love to stick to my nice old-fashioned Sawzall, which does do great with smaller juniper branches when fitted with a brush blade. I’ve been dragging some of the smaller stuff down to the cabin and cutting it up with the Sawzall, and that works…

…but most of what I’ve been hauling to the woodlot is more tree-size. For that, I do still own (what should be) a perfectly good 16″ Husky chainsaw. But I’ve been procrastinating about digging it out: I put it in mothballs several years ago now and I’m kind of afraid of what I’m going to find when I try to restart it. What kind of shape will the carb diaphragms and fuel lines be in, stored so long dry? The only local saw shop closed recently, so I need to get off my ass and answer these questions in time to get the poor thing fixed.

When I was done with my morning work, I decided to treat myself to a real-people meal for once. I’ve been stashing some stuff at Ian’s…

Frozen pork, canned beans, potatoes, onions. Also tools: A spare sharp kitchen knife, cutting board, and a really nice free slow cooker. Turns out the one thing I didn’t bring and couldn’t find was a can opener. Was I thwarted? Did I feel stupid*? Nope. 🙂

And hey voilà!

Okay, we’ll see how edible it is when the slow cooker is done with it. I’m not anything like a competent cook, for conventional stuff other people would find edible. I just kind of make it up on the fly and that rarely works out well.

And hey! You know what would be nice? You know what every household kitchen really ought to have?

Stop me if this sounds crazy: What about hot running water? I mean water, hot enough to wash dishes with, that just flows that way right out of the household pipes? Because Ian’s kitchen has that now, and it’s … startlingly convenient.

I need to get back to work on the cabin’s water heater.

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*I felt really smart for about five seconds, total elapsed time. Then I spotted the perfectly good can opener elsewhere in the kitchen.