Merry Christmas

Our Christmas tree.

Well, we’ve made it through our first week of Christmas break and Monica hasn’t smothered me with my pillow yet.  I believe this is because of her strong convictions that most murders are wrong.  It still makes me nervous each time she rolls over during the night. 

I’ve stated here before that we don’t have a store in our village.  This means that our ability to purchase fresh produce is limited.  There is an online outlet that will deliver produce out here called Full Circle.  It is expensive since it is delivered by airfreight, but worth it since this is the only way to get it here.  We get a box arriving weekly containing assorted vegetables and fruits.   The options are limited to what is available to them, but we’ve been getting hard fruit and a variety of vegetables each week.  I was a little worried about the amount of roughage we would suddenly be getting, but so far so good.

We have finished our first week of break, or as Monica calls it, “Cooped up with Clay”.  The temps have dropped below zero with the forecast calling for us not to see positive temperatures for a week or so.  With it that cold, we are not persuaded to go outside for any length of time, so Monica is cooped up with me.  I see this as the perfect time to spend with me, hearing about ideas I’ve come up with.  What she deems as bizarre, I see as brilliant.   One of my ideas is a TV show about an Amish astronaut.  Because of his religious convictions, he’s unable to use any of the buttons, levers, or dials that are used in his astronaut duties.   But he has the most brilliant astronaut mind ever.  So NASA sends up a monkey with him to be his hands while in the spaceship.  Well, we can all imagine what hilarity would ensue.  But Monica pooh-poohed the idea by consulting Professor Google and reading to me the tragic history of monkeys in space.  I reminded her that millions of people find Two and a Half Men to be entertaining so this should be a shoe in.  I’ll work out the title of the show later.  And not to worry, there will be a poop-throwing episode. 

This is about as high as the sun gets this time of the year.

Monica is working hard on her college courses.  She is working towards her teaching degree through Western Governors University, an online college.  She had a few troubles with taking tests because of our isolation and lack of reliable Internet service.  But that was fixed when our counselor was able to proctor her tests.  This got me to wondering if online colleges have online sports teams.  Do they have a team of students who are on scholarships that sit in basements and play Madden Football with other online colleges?  And if so, I wonder if I have any eligibility left.

Well, we’re down to -19 at sunrise this morning at 11:28.  The days will be getting longer now, so I can’t wait until sunrise is before lunch.  We are still lucky in that we still have running water and sewer.  Most houses around us have no water or sewer right now, so we’re just hoping not to be one of those.  The city workers are trying to resolve the problem.  But I’m not eating any of the fresh fruits or vegetables just in case.  Merry Christmas.