An Anvil and a Set of Steps

Kalispell has a store called the Tool Palace. It started out as a sort of a pawn shop but the words “pawn shop” have been crossed off their sign (literally, just crossed out) and now it is known only as the Tool Palace. The inventory comes from estate sales, storage container purchases, etc. The owners have the husband on speed dial. Our two orchard ladders came from there, along with a vast assortment of tools.

The husband informed me on Saturday morning that he was heading into town to go look at an anvil at the Tool Palace. “Look at,” is code for “I am going to buy,” so I expected him to come home with an anvil in the back of the truck. He did not. Apparently, the employee on duty did not have the authority to negotiate. I sometimes think the husband was born in an Indian bazaar because he loves nothing more than to wheel and deal. He was unhappy that he could not talk this guy into making a sale.

He went back yesterday when the owners were there and came home with an anvil:

You may wonder why he needs an anvil. You are not alone. All I can tell you is that the husband never does anything without a plan. There is a plan for this anvil. I will let you know when I find out what it is.

He spent most of the weekend building the steps up to the loft:

They are functional.

Despite an upgrade Saturday afternoon from a winter storm watch to winter storm warning, we got only 3” of snow and none of the wind that had been so direly predicted. If there were a weather pool, I would not be betting on the forecasters. I still don’t know how it’s possible to be so wrong so often.

Spokane got quite a bit of snow, as did Montana east of the mountains. The weather in Spokane is often, but not always, a good predictor of what we’re going to get a few hours later. There have been winters when they got slammed and we got nothing and vice versa. Our temperatures dropped—it was 11 degrees when I went into town yesterday—and it’s nice and brisk out there. I’ve lived in Montana long enough, apparently, that it has to drop well below zero for me to be uncomfortable being outside provided I am dressed properly.

This was me last February when the high was like -15 for a whole week:

That is my grandmother’s wool coat and it’s very warm. And my hair is thick enough that I never wear a hat.