When we woke up yesterday it was in the mid-forties and this morning we were greeted by this…

I don’t know about your part of the world but March in Minnesota is referred to as Fool’s Spring. Mother Nature inevitably lures you into a false sense of security with a few forty degree days and then Boom she delivers a blizzard. After thirty years of living in this state I’ve learned to appreciate those occasional warm days this time of the year but never to let my guard down or put away the snow shovel until May.

Finally!

As I was doing my daily curation today I noticed my Hive reputation score finally hit 80. Yes! I’ve been at a 79 for what seems like a year and a half. After nearly nine years of curating and creating content on this platform this feels like a major milestone to me and I think I’ll find a way to celebrate today.

Memoir Monday

I wanted to thank you all again for the support and participation you’ve shown with this initiative! It was so much fun. A few ideas are beginning to gel about how to continue it and I’ll be reporting more about that really soon. I'm leaning towards a new, self-sustaining community that doesn't rely on weekly prompts that's a repository for important memories. I'm thinking of calling it something like Memoir-able. Does that sound like something you'd be interested in?

I Forgot…

…how much work it is to own a home! After a decade of being an apartment/condo dweller it had slipped my mind how much physical and mental energy is required to maintain a home. Believe me when I tell you we hit the ground running with this new house.

Our latest dilemma is a constant ten degree temperature difference between the upper and lower levels of our split-level home. We bought a new furnace–that didn’t solve it. At the advice of our HVAC contractor we had a new cold air return cut into the lower level wall–-that didn’t improve the situation at all.

After hours of research I think I found a full-proof solution: a wood pellet stove. These wood/pellet stoves are a literal rabbit-hole of subjectivity.

Freestanding, fireplace inserts, cord-wood burning, wood pellet burning.

There are actually many brands still made in America. After sorting through all of the different options I think we’ve settled on the Harman P43. The P43 is a good balance of performance without too much technology that could cause issues down the road. It seems even wood stoves have become hi-tech.

These are very clean-burning, run for a couple days at a time, and you can even set a temperature range on them. Unfortunately, by the time we get it installed Fool’s Spring will likely be over and we’ll have to wait until October or November to try it out but it’s Minnesota so it’s anyone’s guess.

Does anyone have experience heating their homes with cord wood or wood pellets? This will just be supplemental heat for us when we’re hanging out downstairs or if the mercury dips below -10 degrees. The 30% tax credit makes this a much easier decision.

Solfeggio Frequencies

Now that I finally have a dedicated office to write in I’m finding myself trying create a vibe that helps to coax out the muse.

A few years ago I started listening to Solfeggio Frequency tracks during meditation. As I was telling @owasco last week, I’ve begun streaming these tracks on the bluetooth speaker in my office during writing sessions. I don’t think I’ve ever found anything that has helped me focus as much as these. It’s making a real difference in my writing sessions. Maybe this will be the thing that will give me that extra push I need to get some of my work into The New Yorker magazine. We’ll find out.