Why run with the crowd when you can run around in circles?

Monday, January 24, 2011

Winter Camping



Living in a 30 foot RV, you’d think I’d be miserable, camped out in the snow all winter.

You’d be wrong. Yeah, that surprised me too.

I’ll admit it; the start of the cold weather season was tough. The fire wood that had been freshly pulled from the swamp did nothing but smoke and make creosote in my wood stove. I did manage to successfully burn an entire winter’s worth of kindling in a couple of weeks, trying in vain to get the swamp wood alight. As convenient as it was to not have to add any more clothing layers before going outside, I began to tire of wearing my hat and gloves inside all the time. As condensation dripped off everything, I began to wonder where I had stashed my foul weather gear.

I was sure I wouldn’t make it. As my friends watched me suffer, they were anticipating the ‘moving Kit back into the house’ breakfast party.

And then someone swapped me a load of real, non swamp-infested wood in exchange for some canvas work.

Nothing beats a wood stove. My favorite winter morning pastime is to get it cranked to 82 in here, and then don my summer wardrobe, which consists of, well, let’s just say it creates no laundry. On milder days, when temps hover around 20, I can even open the outer door, leaving the storm door in place, which thrills the dog no end, because she can come and go through her dog door at will. For a canine, nothing beats dashing out after squirrels, and then popping back in for a biscuit and a thaw by the wood stove before heading back out for more fun in the snow.




Life ain't so bad.



Now, if we could get rid of that daily snow shoveling routine, I might not even mind winter so much.