PICK OF THE WEEK

The pick of this week is staying home. The weather was wet and dreary. We have used our wood stove approximately three times within the past five years. Now we can add two more to the total.

The past week was one in which the wife, the child, and I all seemed a little fatigued. Whenever the child went to sleep at night, I was quick to follow, which is unusual for me. I tried to read and would fall asleep. I was supposed to be writing a letter of reference for a friend, but whenever I tried to write it I would fall asleep. I would sit down in front of the television for two minutes, and, you guessed it, I would fall asleep.

The child and I were supposed to head up to Seattle to visit one of my friends. He had to postpone the visit due to illness, which was a blessing in disguise for me. It allowed me time to just stay at home, get some chores done, and relax. Laundry, cooking, chopping wood, cleaning the gutters in torrential downpour, washing dishes, and playing with the child, along with sleeping in front of the fire have been the order of the past two days. The two highlights, however, have to be, in no particular order, (1) the fire, which actually got the house a little too warm at 82 degrees Fahrenheit, and (2) the dinner of pot roast, roasted vegetables, and Big Sky Brewing Company's Moose Drool Brown Ale that I prepared.

Now, I am going to head off to try and read a few pages in St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell before I drift off to sleep near the fire. Pick of the week, indeed.