Over the Hump

Sunday, February 2

Have now left January behind us, which, in my mind at least, puts us over the hump where winter is concerned. As if to emphasize the point, Friday turned mild, hovering around 0°C. Just a temporary reprieve however as it is to get progressively colder over the week, -25° and colder. Oh well, only one more month of potentially extreme cold and then it will be March. It's been very pleasant in the house the last couple of nights, even when the fire goes out it's still reasonably comfortable. I got an email from Larry Monger this morning; he has prostate cancer and is having surgery on Tuesday at two. I happened to pick up Thich Naht Han’s “The Miracle of Mindfulness” and was drawn to one chapter on setting aside the whole day for mindfulness practice so think I'll do that on Tuesday and then sit at two and do powa for Larry, also lovingkindness and tonglen practice. It can't hurt. 

I am currently sporting a sizeable cut on my brow above and just to the right of my nose. Yesterday I was adding some boughs to the lean-to I've been working on and a protruding branch caught me on the brow. After the initial reaction in which I let go with a string of curses that would put a sailor to shame, I thought nothing of it until I noticed blood dripping from my face. Turns out there was a fair bit of it so I put some snow on it for a couple of minutes and then carried on with the job at hand. When I got back to the cabin to examine my wound it looked pretty bad and probably could have used a couple of stitches. By this time it was quite swollen so I washed it again and applied some antiseptic. Started bleeding in bed last night but seems okay now. I might get a scar out of this one! 

Started a second lean-to beside the first this morning, the two of them make a V-shape. Also lugged a grill there so I can build a proper fire once everything is set up. Might be fun to spend the night at some point, preferably when the temperature has moderated some.