sunset from the car

sunset from the car
Originally uploaded by mygothlaundry

I'm ready for the holidays to be over, I think. Tomorrow after work I'm hopping in the car and heading to Charleston, and then on Saturday M & I are getting into his car, which is newer and has a real CD player as opposed to one that plugs into the tape deck and has to be held carefully on the passenger's lap lest it begin to skip, and driving up to Baltimore, hon. For like four or five days. Young M is staying behind with his sister and the dogs and I'm all a bit kerfuffled with trying to get ready and the house being a total mess and, you know, the whole thing. I recognize that it is stupid to clean up before carloads of teenagers arrive to lie around watching TV for a week, but I can't help it.

My friend K brought me a truckload of wood this morning, though! Yay! This was very, very kind of her and now that I have sort of recovered from the initial shock of how fast that antique oil furnace burns oil, I'm determined to mostly heat with wood for the rest of the winter. The house has a "fireplace insert", which is a sort of 80s invention that combines the worst elements of an open fire - it doesn't heat much - with those of a woodstove - you can't see the fire. Actually, though, it does pretty much work as long as you do it properly, which means keeping the incredibly noisy fan plugged in and working and the metal doors shut. I haven't been using it properly - let's face it, I've been using it as a large and gloriously crackling ashtray, actually - but that is all going to change. And I'm going to put plastic up over all the windows and blankets as well for that full cave look. You do what you gotta do, and I'm damned if I'm buying more oil.