GM!. 🔥 Morning Fire 64 12.14.25

Facing east at 6:40 AM. A brief pause before heading to the mail trail. 12.12.25

The mail trail at sunset. If you head towards the light you will drop over a hardwood ridge. The lowland gives way to Tranus Lake. I have collected wild rice on this lake. Never fished it. Sometimes, on a hot summer day I will slip my shoes off, stand in the shallow water, and breathe in the beauty of the tamaracks and spruces growing on the far boggy shoreline. My only regret is I didn't do it more often. With as cold as it is now you might be able to walk across the ice and touch the far off tamaracks. 12.13.25

On reason I like mythology, Greek or otherwise, is there is no arguing with it. It calls us to differentiate and look deeper. Gives us pause. Slows us down.

"How can you be true to your own nature when you try to turn the many into one?" -- Carl Jung

GM! I don't know if it got above zero yesterday. One thing I noticed while delivering mail was how close I could get to deer. One would be at the wood's edge or in a yard eating. It wouldn't run off like they usually does. I assumed it was so cold they wanted to conserve energy. The fur on their faces was puffy. It didn't look like it was lying flat like usual. When I got back to the office, at 6:30, a fellow carrier and I walked in from the parking lot together. He offhandedly mentioned that he pet a deer on Elm Street. "It wouldn't move," he said. "I always wanted to pet a deer, so I did!" I thought of all the times hunting them. Trying to get close enough for a shot, and here he is petting one. It's 17 below out there now. Hayden (16 yrs. old) and I are going to . . . here, I wrote this last night: "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 hopefully gets above zero. "Looking forward to working with my son and helping out a friend on a Sunday." I hope you have a great day! Morning Fire 64 12.14.25

"The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well? You may say the wisest thing you can, old man — you who have lived seventy years, not without honor of a kind — I hear an irresistible voice which invites me away from all that. One generation abandons the enterprises of another like stranded vessels.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

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