Full disclosure, I opened (read drank) the first bottle of the wine we bottled for our son’s wedding. The good news is that it is pretty darned good. The bad news, hmmm, there is no bad news. I am very pleased with the taste and there is still five months before we have to serve it to guests.

E finished the battens on the siding of the bunkie. (Battens are the narrow boards between the larger boards) When the temperatures are reliably at 12 degrees he can finish the staining. Next comes the fascia. I know, the chairs look dumb painted blue. I am going to paint them black.

I assume you are all dying of curiosity about how much water we have collected this month in our tanks. I understand your enthusiasm, but you need to wait until the first of Feb for the stats. Then, I can accurately update you on what we were able to capture during the month of January. Spoiler alert. E and I had a small wager on the amount we could collect this month and, both our estimates have been surpassed. Come back on the first for the totals.

I am cleaning out the house and studio. Getting rid of knickknacks and other assorted crap that has been unused since we brought it here 8 years ago. It turns out that I am just following the current trend of getting rid of that which doesn’t give one joy. I read somewhere a woman warned this fad might just leave her at the side of the road with her dog and coffee pot but, as they say, still I persist.

I sorted through and brought down several dozen children’s books out of the studio. My friends helped me give two brand new, in the box, microwaves to the habitat for humanity store, gave an extra chair to friends for their bunkie…. and then I got serious.. I burned all of my report cards, class pictures, high school annuals and university transcripts. Those of you who knew me in my youth, will completely understand why those records do not need keeping. I went from Grade one “M must learn to modulate her voice” to Grade 12 when M’s goal “was to graduate high school without attending a single class”

I found and torched all of the paperwork from our wedding.. The lists of gifts we received, the guest book… the budget!!! Side note, my dress was $180.00, E’s tux rental was $10.00. The veil was $95.00 and the cake was $104.00.

The reality is that none of the papers which I have saved, packed and carried from house to house over the last 57 years has any worth whatsoever, to anyone.

It takes a great amount of strength to start to get rid of a lifetime’s worth of baggage. But once you get started, it gets easier and easier. E isn’t quite as committed to this project as I am. Sure, we finally got rid of his elementary school workbooks, report cards and artwork. But why is his cub uniform still sitting in

our living room