Burn pile, part V

Clear and cold (low 30s)

Oh! I forgot to tell you yesterday that I saw elk! I was driving out the road after work, ‘round ‘bout dusk, when I saw something large and bizarre looming in the headlights. I put on the brakes, and watched as four elk (two adults and two kiddos) marched silently across the road. I have to say, of the animals I’ve seen in the wild, elk are among the coolest. They always seem to be moving silently out of the mist, in a herd you’d think you would hear a mile away. When I saw them last year, there were a dozen of them, and I hadn’t heard a thing. And their bodies are weird, too. They’re like centaurs; they’re definitely cervine, but something about the way they move, the way they carry the fronts of their bodies, is oddly human.

The burn pile is almost gone. I unearthed a few more boards today, but it’s really gone down quite amazingly. The pile was a good place to hang out today, in the freezing weather. When I drove past the Ranch this morning, my car’s thermometer registered a chilly 25 degrees. So when I finally kicked up the fire this morning, hoping mightily it would start despite the wood being covered in frost, I warmed myself and was glad for the monotony of the burn pile.

It’s chilly in Slanty, too. I’ve been shivering under a blanket on the couch, and I think that infernal space heater (the one that squeaks and has a really loud fan) is going to stay on all night. Eh. At least the toilet’s not frozen… yet.