CABIN FEVER DAYS

The last two days in the high country has been heinous.  The winds speeds have ranged between level one and level two on the hurricane charts.  Although there was sun at various points it has been cold.  When I came in yesterday from walking the dog I had frostbite on my cheekbones.  Our walk, normally much longer, usually ends with me trying to convince Roland it's time to go while he runs around avoiding just that.  Not this time, he trudged up to the car and waited patiently for me to let him in, out of the miserable wind.  

He stood on the couch where he isn't allowed and watched out the window while I loaded up wood for the box.  I have a hammock pillow I throw on the ground so I can get on my knees without  too much discomfort and throw wood out from under my porch.  Step two is stacking the wood on the porch and step three is hauling it in from there.  Normally step three is a pain as Roland keeps trying to escape every time I open the door.  Yesterday he wasn't even trying to get out.  Smart dog!  Building a fire in this weather sometimes produces as much heat as the actual fire.  Most of the heat is pulled out the chimney along with the wind even though the damper is shut.  Even a degree or two is helpful though!

I roasted a bunch of cuminos last night and then ground them up for the enchilada sauce I'm making.  It simmered on the wood stove all night and I awoke to the smell of the lovely red sauce and the chicken slow-cooking in the crock pot.  By the time I get home tonight it will be ready to put together and bake.  Nothing makes me drool quite as much as a bubbling pan of enchiladas oozing with cheese and smelling so enticing.  Since the wind woke me so early I have plenty of time today to put things together.  Tonight I'll take the pans over to a neighbor's house and borrow the use of their oven.  Then I'll give my Dad half a pan of red and half of white.  I try to make something big twice a week so he has meals that only need reheated if he doesn't feel like cooking.

From the sound of things this will be day three of wind.  It makes people crazy and crabby not to be able to get outside comfortably.  This time of the year brings on lots of drunkenness and domestic violence from being stuck too closely with those you "love".  Since I really don't drink any longer I cook obsessively, much to my neighbors' delight as they get all the stuff I cook and don't eat!  I'm already looking forward to getting home from work tonight, pulling up the quilts, piling up the animals and eating in the warmth of my little hovel!