Keeping the air flowing

By shovel, by foot stomp, every time I pass by these pipes I make sure the path is clear. I learned the hard way our first winter here that they lead to our furnace. If the air flow gets blocked, it’s as if the heater can’t breathe, and down drops the house temperatures.

Now I’m talking garbage

Sometimes the winter and my need to get the car as close as possible for possible plowing makes the art of taking out the garbage and recyclables a bit of a tight squeeze. My job to haul them out to the curb, so no complaints here. My dear wife Karen, when she drops stuff out…

Thank you for the driveway work

Earlier this winter I thought that maybe I’d made a bad call when I’d decided for the whole-season option and sent our plowing company the check to cover our driveway needs through winter. OK, maybe we still would have come out better if I’d checked the pay-per-plow box. But I still feel pretty good when…

Not firing up that grill

I hear that some people grill year round. Yes, even some people who live in my part of the world. No, thank you. Our kitchen stove works great! (Knock on wood.) We’re lucky enough to live pretty close to the Limp Lizard, the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que and even a stone’s throw to Ray Brothers, all home…

Paw prints prove she was there

Cherished rescue mutt Ellie B doesn’t spend quite so much time hanging out on her favorite side alcove futon during the yeah-it’s-really-winter cold. But her paw prints prove she goes in and out that door to make her way to the needed beyond.

So much winter you can’t tell there’s a pool

I know winter has settled in when I look out our back door and all I can spot are the tracks that cherished rescue mutt Ellie B has made around the perimeter of our pool. No signs of the cover stand out through the snow. And it’s not that it’s too deep, as you can…