20.12.2022 The thaw and more firewood.

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 Tuesday 20th 7C/44F. Up at 5.30. Getting warmer. 17C/63F upstairs. 15C/59F in the lounge. Kitchen at 10C/51F, Bathroom 9C/49F. All day rain is promised. That should wash away any remaining snow. A possible pause in the rain around lunch time. The freezer is back up to -8C. 

 Experimenting with the phone camera.
The kitchen in all its hideous glory.

 6.30 I have a sudden and severe burning pain right across my shoulders! Back and muscle pain is a known side effect of Sandoz Doxazosin. Which I started taking for prostate enlargement. One reference said it should not be prescribed for the elderly. Any benefits in the prostate are merely suppression of the symptoms due to relaxation. The prostate does not shrink. 

 7.15 The stove is lit. There is a very noticeable difference in the way the flames are dancing when there is some wind. The paper in the bottom of the stove is fluttering after it has almost burnt away. The wind has been very light recently. I have had to turn the air supply right down. 

 I continue to try different stretches and exercises to combat the shoulder pain. The pain came on before I took today's tablet.

 I turned on the outside lights to be able to fetch more split logs in from the greenhouse. There are only a few patches of snow left. Where I shovelled it off the drive into heaps. The logs have an average moisture content of just under 20% according to my Morsø meter. Which has a habit of not waking up despite frequent button presses. 

 8.00 The stove is now struggling to stay alight! Weird. Still pitch black outside. With just a hint of the trees against the dark grey sky.

 8.15. I've been having a WhatsApp chat with my British friend. I can see the trees moving in the wind now. 

8.30 It looks like standing water reflecting the sky on the back field. It used to flood every year. There has been lots of building and earthworks since then. The stove now needs full draught just to stay alight. I am going for a walk as soon as it is light. I don't care about the rain.

8.45. Still not light enough for a walk.

9.30 Morning coffee and a marmalade roll after a shortened walk. It was no fun walking against the traffic in the rain. Now it is becoming misty. The light patches in the back fields were only snow.

Picasa won't download my phone photos. I am having to copy them from the resized Google Photos. Not ideal! They don't appear in Pictures or Picasa. The latter has been my image catalogue for years.

 I can finally empty the recycling basket now the snow has gone. I badly need slip-on Wellies like slippers. Just for going outside on short errands. Sheepskin slippers are hopeless in wet conditions. I may have to go back to my sandals now it is warmer. Not that they are any better in the wet.

12.00 7C/45F. Returning from collecting a large trailer load of [clean] split beech logs from a new source. I found a cheap SS saucepan in the Co-op, another pair of cheap reading glasses and some bananas.

 The logs are safely under a tarpaulin in the trailer outside the greenhouse until it stops raining. They will have to come into the greenhouse but will need a new space. Unless I move the existing stack to make room for lots more. I don't want to mix new logs with old. There will almost certainly be a difference in moisture content.  

 Moving the original stack is inefficient use og time and resources. Collecting logs from further along the greenhouse in a basket is hardly an extra burden. So I levelled the top of the original stack and set up a vertical separator. Then I moved the several trolleys which were pointlessly taking up space against the house wall.

 I can now stack the new logs nearer the house doors. I shall use a plastic basket to carry logs in from the trailer. This will reduce the number of journeys drastically. At least eight logs per basket load. Compared with carrying only two or three logs in my arms. Toing and froing is a very slow process. Where lots of something must be moved over several meters.

13.00 19C/66F upstairs. The burning pain in my shoulders moved down to my upper arms for a while. I can't put up with this. What a shame I took today's tablet. This will just extend the side effects for another day! It hurts like hell! As bad as if somebody had thumped me hard and repeatedly across the shoulders.

 14.00 8C/46F. 66F upstairs. Using the  basket, it took me half an hour to move and stack slightly over half the trailer full. The average size of the logs was larger in diameter than from the previous supplier. 

 Which means splitting the larger examples. Or putting them on when the stove already has a red hot bed. Physically lifting the larger logs to insert into the stove may set the limit on size. 

 I checked the moisture content. To find they varied between 19% & 25%. The earlier batch averaged 15-19% today. Some sunshine would do wonders. To bring down the dampness. Storing logs indoors to sit beside the stove, speeds up drying. The recent, fast turnover when it was cold, prevented long term, warm storage indoors. Milder weather places much lower demands on the stove.

16.00 8C/47F outside. It is pouring down. 20C/68F upstairs! I just went out to capture the logs in the greenhouse. Using the phone camera in very dim conditions. No flash. Not too bad. The kitchen is now up to 12C/54F. The freezer has plunged to -20C.

 The steamed up greenhouse before adding more firewood. Still lots to tidy up in there too. The former hedges and towering conifers have all been chopped. A prostrate yew sprawls untidily in front. The greenhouse was invisible behind foliage for years.

  I have to contact PostNord, the Danish postal service, about a parcel I returned to a dealer. Their telephone line are only open from 10am-2pm. I have spent many wasted hours listening to their jingles as I wait in the half hour queue to be answered. 

  My new phone gave me the opportunity to chat with them via their app. The problem? A 90 minute waiting time to be served. They tell me to keep the app open so I don't lose my place in the queue. Still 249 people in front of me and 66 minutes to go. Their service closes at 6pm. Which means I may not be answered for three quarters of an hour after their closing time. Or perhaps it just means they close the queue? How could I possibly know if they don't tell me? [Or us.] 5.50 now. The excitement and anticipation in the air is palpable. 😁 

 Update: 6.00 passed without my being told to go home for the night. Things are speeding up slightly. I may be served just after 6.30pm. Problem solved. 

 Another WhatsApp chat with my sister in England. 

 21.20 7C/45F outside. Dinner was boiled potatoes with mushrooms and two fried eggs. No picture. I forgot to take one. 13C/55F in the kitchen.

 

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