the dharma blog

I love home ownership. Today was scheduled as a chance to catch up on some of the little projects around we’ve been meaning to do for six months. It’s actually kind of fun to knock off these 15 minute chores. Hanging a rack in the camping gear room to hang our various packs from. Hanging art in the downstairs bathroom and the doorbell in the basement stairs. Organizing the workshop. I banged out several of these types of things and — impressed by my own productivity — decided I’d go upstairs to have a beer and some chips and salsa as a reward.

And the basement door broke when I try to close it after myself.

It’s OK to laugh.

Last night was really nice. I worked at home all day so I had a fire blazing in the fireplace when Rosie got home with fixings for dinner. We had some cheese and hummus while sitting in front of the fireplace, Katie enjoying some of Sterling Vineyard’s Cabernet Sauvignon and me with a big Flat Earth Brewing Element 115 (St. Paul’s newest brewery) that Scott gave me. I got a ton of new music from a friend the night before and we listened to Jolie Holland‘s Catalpa, Bob Marley and the Wailers’ Kaya and Tom Waits’ Mule Variations. We were both pretty wiped from the first five-day week since the holidays and it was nice to just enjoy the warmth, the food, the music and the quiet of the evening.

When we had sufficiently rested, we got to work on dinner, which was pheasant, thanks to my buddy Pete. Neither of us had ever had pheasant before, much less cooked it, so we had some fun. We used The Splendid Table’s Quail Roasted in Polenta recipe and it was delicious. I liked the bird a lot, though the polenta itself almost stole the show. Rosie had also splurged grocery shopping and bought some asparagus.

Our poor pooch has been a bit out of commission lately. After every hike we’ve taken her on for the past few months, she’s limped around the house for 24 hours, heavily favoring her right rear leg. Two trips to the vet convinced us it wasn’t some horrible knee or hip problem, but probably a strained muscle. The only prescription has been rest, so she’s gotten plenty bored with no hikes and very minimal daily walks.

But tomorrow, seeing how things go, we’re going to try a hike, as much for own sanity as anything, and perhaps bring her with. We’ll keep it short, and probably pick somewhere very flat so she’s not running up and down hills too much. But it’ll be awful good to get her back at it again.

I also ordered cross-country skis yesterday. I skied on Stillwater’s team in junior high and high school. I was never any good, but I loved getting out. I haven’t skied more than a few times in the intervening decade, though the past few years I’ve really been wanting to get back into it. The snowless winters have discouraged those ambitions, but when we finally got off to a snowy start to the season in December, I decided this was going to be the year. Of course, now half the snow melted during last week’s thaw, but I’m holding out hope that real winter will come back soon.

That’s all for now. I guess I have a door to fix…