I deliver mail. I work with another carrier who is 62. Her husband, who is around the same age, was a mason for most of his adult life. Physical labor is hard for him now. They have a foot of snow on their roof. My sixteen year old son and I are going to shovel it off tomorrow. afternoon, when it gets above zero. Looking forward to working with my son and helping out a friend.

GM! 🔥 15 below at 6 AM in Springbrook, WI. Morning Fire 63 12.13.25 #GM

From the mail trail. Dusk. Tranus Lake landing. Below zero and falling. Friday. 3 hours of delivery left. Springbrook, Wisconsin 12.12.25

GM. It's -2 out there. The mail jeep is warming up. It's late. Enough time to say have a good day. I'm off to the mall trail. Morning Fire 62 12.12.25

“No man should work for what another man can print.” @jack mallers

I don't know if I want to improve. I want to deepen. I want to look deeper into the mystery. Grow down into this earth like the roots of a red oak. Be here now. Improvement is maybe for the first half of life. The second half about decay, deepening, and moving towards the Eternal. Photo of the Bean Brook on the mail trail at Noon on 12.10.25.

I don't know if I want to improve. I want to deepen. I want to look deeper into the mystery. Grow down into this earth like the roots of a red oak. Be here now. Improvement is maybe for the first half of life. The second half about decay, deepening, and moving towards the Eternal.

The mail trail. Tranus Lake Rd. Afternoon clouds breaking to bring below zero weather. 12.11.25

GM! It's 5:45 AM. I've been up since 4:15. No alarm clock. My body gets me up. It's just below zero out there. The snow quit falling yesterday morning. When I got home from delivering mail and loading my mom's wood stove I blew snow and plowed it. It was soft, easy to work with. It was dark. It's always dark when I'm not working on workdays. I had a powerful headlamp on, so I could see what I was doing. About 8 PM I shut the tractor off, and called it a day. Then it's run, stretch, lift light weights to keep this body fit. I eventually sat down for dinner at 9:30 PM. The rest of the family there as always. I'm lucky in that regard. It's good to be together with people you love on cold, dark days. Back to this morning. I was interrupted in my morning meditation. Sadie, the cat, climbed the Christmas Tree with about two minutes left in my sit. I thought I could sit through it. The gnawing of plastic needles and maybe the electric cord got to me though. So I got up, grabbed the spray bottle, and before I could shoot a stream of water at her she was out of the tree. I took a couple shots at her on the run. Didn't need to, but I did anyway. Just like that she goes from the great forgetting to the great remembering. Did she know better? I don't think so. Did she think she was getting away something? I don't think so. I think her desire got the best of her. It's easy to forget when that happens. I assume this because I have desires too. And have done things I probably shouldn't have done. Morning Fire 61 12.11.25

Jack pine looking over the Bean Brook. 12.8.25

GM. I'm in front of morning fire 60. It's 6:15. Anxious. There has to be over 6" of fresh snow out there. I haven't been out there since I ran in it last night. With the headlamp on it was hard to see. It was coming down hard. Nothing I haven't been through before. This might be my 17th winter delivering mail. I quit keeping track. Hoping for no breakdowns. And thankful for good snow tires, 4 wheel drive, and patience. Hope you have a great day! 12.10.25

Snow holding tight to the roof for two weeks now. Springbrook, WI 12.7.25

GM! Fire burning in front of me. It's 20 out there. They predicted snow. I haven't checked if we got any yet. I'm off to the mail trail in 40 minutes. The first of five days. They'll be dark to dark heavy holiday mail days. I'm expecting that atleast. Hayden (16 yrs. old) and I worked on snowblowers at my neighbor's last evening. He has a clean, heated, shop; wide variety of tools, and the willingness and generosity to share his expertise with us. I enjoyed it. Son and I struggled and swore (mostly me!) together and got the job done. Our blower was having problems shifting. When we pulled the bottom plate off to expose the clutch and gears it was packed full of hay, chicken feathers, and anything else our resident mice could make a nest of. Once we disposed of it and lubed up friction points it shifted smoothly again. That's it for now. Off to the mail trail. Morning Fire 59 12.9.25

On the U.S. incorporating Bitcoin into its financial strategy a friend writes: "On one hand, it signals safety to individuals to invest. On the other hand, do we really want the US government involved?" My response: " I see it this way. It doesn't matter what I want. Because Bitcoin is for everyone, even your worst enemy. No entity can control it. That's the beauty of it." Am I on the right track here? #asknostr

GM from Springbrook, Wisconsin. It's minus one out there. But warm where I'm at. :-) Morning Fire 58 12.8.25

Dear Nostrites, To be clear, to tally a Good Morning I have to start my post out with GM? Because I've done a lot of Good Morning Posts, but none with GM in them.

"All paths lie together in the hand of god like a web endlessly woven, and yours and mine are no greater or less than the beetle's or the squirrel's or the sparrow's. All are held together." ~ Daniel Quinn (Photo of coyote tracks taken on the Bean Brook on 12.7.25)

Somebody posted this. How do you find this out? With a paid subscription perhaps? #asknostr

Good morning 🔥 It's - 1 out there at sunrise. The sky was clear with stars when I was out earlier. I took a walk on the Bean Brook yesterday afternoon. It wasn't long. Enough to get some photos of coyote tracks and Jack pine trees. While I was down on my knees I heard the water flowing under the ice. Everything still and frozen above while water and whatever else keeps moving underneath. A few days prior, before the nightly below zero temperatures hit, the Bean Brook caused me to pause again. I was dumping compost buckets. Looked down at the moving water to see ice chunks floating down the middle of it. The edges were already frozen creating ice shelves. The Bean has been causing me to pause a bit more lately. I'll be going along on the mail route, and while crossing over it see beauty. So I stop, turn around, and take a photo. There's so much that goes on around it. Years back I remember watching otters play in it. It was winter. And I would come across their slides on the bank. I never seen them do it. But I can imagine they were having a blast doing it. It's Monday. My day off from the mail trail. It's back to it tomorrow. I look forward to it. It's a job and it gives me purpose. It's not terribly hard work and I like the people I work with. Would I rather be doing something else with my time at times? Of course. I've mentioned that a time or two.Working half the hours for the same amount of pay might be nice. But that's fantasy land stuff. Before tomorrow, though, I am looking forward to working outside putting up firewood for the morning fires and helping out Hayden with his Christmas projects. What did Mark Manson say? Here, I wrote down in my notebook: "The only way to feel better about yourself is to do things worth feeling good about." I hope you have a great day! Morning Fire 58 12.8.25