A friend asked me today if I was getting burned out from working on this house for so long.  I answered that the energy came in waves and I was just coming out of a trough.  This past fall's wave crested just before Christmas when we moved in.  And then there was Christmas with its own seasonal pinnacle, and the emergent details of moving in.  Once we were able to use the toilet I was about ready to take a break (which of course I didn't.)  But this past week I was granted a vacation by the flu bug. 

I'm only being slightly sarcastic, as this particular flu wasn't especially painful, and only forced me to lie around and fast for a couple days, during which time I missed a few phone calls (which seemed very important) because of our distance from any cellphone towers, and during which time it snowed continuously, allowing me to feel my weakness on many levels.

Even in this sorry state, my family coming around to entertain and otherwise care for me as well as having my own bed to lie in and look out at the snowy woods and an occasional song to sing made this an experience I found to be pleasant overall.

Sometimes I think the flu, and some other illnesses, are just some things we create for times when we forget to take a break.  Somebody stop me from working, even eating, so I can just breathe for a while and appreciate the ability to do that.

Anyway today I feel like myself again, and going outside I remember why I love the winter.  The snow is heavy on the trees but not stretching the boundaries of their what they're engineered to hold.  It hushes all the nearby sounds so effectively that today snowshoeing with our chatting Seamus we scared up a rabbit who was just ten feet away. 

It doesn't however hush the low drone of the mining drills.  I hear them whenever things are quiet.  I started hearing them several years ago when they started drilling core samples.  Erica couldn't hear them then and I wondered sometimes if my hearing (or my mind) was going.  But then I talked to some other neighbors who also heard it and we guessed like night dogs what it might be.  The theory that gave me rest was that it was iron ore boat engines.  It sounded to me like big diesels that were just running steady and I guess that's what those drills are.  I guess I wish they were boat engines.  Not that I rank those hard-working people out running a drill all night in 0º weather any lower than myself.  But knowing the richness of the minerals in this area makes me nervous sometimes as those minerals inevitably become more valuable.