It Won't Be Long

The last several years I have become all too accustomed to having Winter be non-camp time. I've gotten into the routine of NOT going up late Friday night in a snowstorm, digging my way in, starting a fire, and sitting on the couch waiting to warm up.

I usually had a few beers (yeah: a few) and some Johnny Cash or other suitable tunes with me as I played the latest edition of the running game I made: see how long it takes for breaths to disappear.

It usually takes (or took) an hour or so for the condensation to disappear even an inch or two from the ceiling. It was OK, though, because I knew once it started to move to three, four, five inches from the ceiling that we were in business: an hour later, tops, the place would be 80 degrees, minimum. There is nothing better than knowing that. Not to say it wasn't all cool with me anyway; I was dressed warmly and I had Johnny or his friends blasting on the boombox I've had since 1990 (and still do), and a few beers or so. And besides, cold or hot, I'd traveled in the night to my favorite place in the world. You cannot beat that; things which seem like impediments become longed-for badges of honor in those circumstances. I wouldn't trade a second of that time for an hour anywhere else.

This video doesn't begin to explain those times. It was taken in April 2019, a cold rainy day by most standards but not those of Moose River. I've spent colder, rainier days there in July. But the fire is in the stove, it was great, and I look forward to building another fire in that same stove very soon. -MJ

The Cottage. Moose River, New York, April 26, 2019.