Since we've gotten Scott we've noticed a few more aches and pains. Obviously we aren't as young as we used to be and after all my years of holding impact guns overhead as a mechanic my shoulders and elbows have had a hard life. At this age he gets held a lot which is very important to a child's development. At his size (25 lbs. plus) he gets a little heavy! It's kind of hard on muscles and joints! Electric heat pads are not practical in our case so we put some dry beans in a sock, tie it off and set it on the kettle lid. We put another lid on top to help hold the heat and hang a blanket next to the stove.
When the blanket and bean-socks get hot we wrap them around whatever needs help. For me it's usually elbow joints. For Susan it's the muscles and tendons on the inside of her elbows. It works well. The hot blanket keeps the heat in place longer. We don't do this often but when it's needed it sure feels good.
The hot blanket trick also works well if you get chilled. I used to use a dryer when we lived in town and heat up the blanket and wrap it around whoever was chilled. Now we use the stove.
Our daughter (Barbara) has been experimenting with sourdough. I used sourdough many years ago and asked her for some to start my own batch. It makes great pancakes, rolls, etc. Pancakes are the easiest so this is my first batch of sourdough pancakes in quite a few years. They were the best pancakes we've had in a long time.
Scot likes the new clothes washing set-up. It gives him more room for his toys. We have to be in the room with him though because he likes to get out on his own.
He loves playing in the water so his favorite way to "help" is when we are washing dishes. He always cries when we're done and he has to get down.
We still have lots of ice and have been hoping for snow. If we get some snow it will bond somewhat with the ice and make travel a little easier. We had hope for some last night but we only got a little tiny bit ... not enough to do any good! In the meantime I modified our outside slip-on boots. These are some we keep by the door for quick trips outside. They're kind of the outdoor version of a house slipper. The sole was too thin for screws so I just put them in the heel. It's great improvement on the ice.
We've tried a lot of different ice cleats over the years and these are the best we've found. This pair is probably five years old now and has had a lot of use. We keep it on a pair of mud boots by the back door and slip them on when leaving that direction.
There are reasons many farms and homesteads had piles of salvaged materials, old cars, etc. They make great parts stores. It's a 45 minute drive to town when something breaks plus the added expense of buying whatever you need to get. We have different piles of everything from tires, roofing and scrap steel to the kitchen sink and bathroom tub. They make life much easier when you live in a remote location and/or are short on cash.
In this case one of the door knobs/latch broke in an interior door. It's kind of nice to just go out and get the parts and replace it rather than get in the car and travel to town. We saved about $8.00 in gasoline and $10.00 for the new knob/latch and about two hours of time.
Speaking of time ... it's time to go for a walk in the woods. When Susan gets the snowsuit out, Scott lays on it and very IM-patiently waits to get suited up. Have we mentioned that he likes being outdoors?
We went a little farther today, going through the woods to the place we shot our deer. We've been taking things slow while we evaluate how well Scott does riding in the backpack in the cold.
We found lots of tracks. These might be wolf but they are old and the snow may have melted back making them larger. Even then they're too big for coyote and I don't know anyone with a dog big enough to make them so I'm thinking they are most likely wolf tracks.
He's certainly comfortable! We were almost back home and he couldn't hold out anymore!!!
So we gave him a bottle and put him down for his nap in the living room. He slept for a couple of hours then was up for the rest of the evening.
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