Chris Wyatt's Patterdale Hall, all dressed in snow. (Submitted photo)
The Patterdale Hall Diaries | The wilderness years
- Published: January 30, 2026
By Chris Wyatt
Dec. 21, 2025
It’s the winter solstice today, and it’s freezing. I need to walk the little dog, and help Karen in her studio, but for now I’m enjoying a coffee. It’s quiet. The only sounds are Karen gently swearing at her new phone, as she attempts to get photos from the phone into Facebook, and Archie low-key growling at imaginary threats. Paradise, really.
Dec. 27, 2025
Today is the kind of day where I vacillate between extremes:
1. Build a fire, sharpen chainsaw, bring down four, leggy, 30-foot-tall, black walnut trees, section them up and stack them for next winter; or
2. Sit on sofa with dog, read book, go for afternoon beer, make beans.
Either one is attractive to me, but Archie can’t be around when I’m felling trees. So, I’m vacillating. Also, I can’t fell trees or use a chainsaw if I am alone, and everybody in my house is busy being other places. So, number 2 is currently winning.
Maybe I build a fire, sharpen the chainsaw, hangout with Archie and then come back home. I could then read a book, have a beer and make beans. This way I can be ready to fell trees tomorrow, though it is predicted to rain. Hmm. Next week will be cold again and it’s good to bring trees down in the cold, but I also have to get syllabi ready and complete inspection reports.
I’m definitely retiring in five years. This is too much. We have been in America 19 years today, maybe. I aim to work for 25 years here, and then retire. We shall see what happens to my pension over the next five years.
Ahhhh, beans.
I upped my bean intake to increase fiber, and I really enjoy the variety. These are yellow eye beans, and I’ll cook them with a smoked turkey thigh and aromatics (garlic, celery, bay leaves). Then I shall portion them up in bags and freeze them for lunches — solid rib-sticking winter food. There is nothing quite like a steaming bowl of beans on a winter’s evening. Soup of the gods.
Dec. 28, 2025
Folk say that the days between Christmas and New Year are wilderness days where time isn’t real.
Unfortunately for me time is very real, as I need to be at work tomorrow, even though the university is officially closed. Syllabi don’t just magically write themselves, especially when folk retire and leave holes in the classes that need to be expertly stitched.
For now though, I shall drink coffee and then walk the little greying dog. He is a happy beast, full of fire, but he is getting older, and his face and paws are white, not black. As winter progresses, he will grow a thick mane around his neck. It’s already coming in strong, and he looks very regal. I have been tardy this morning and he is due for a walk, but I need to drink this coffee and take my medications first. All things in time.
I’m not sure about “wilderness days,” but being in your late 50s does feel a little like the wilderness years. I need to set a few more goals. I have a cabin in the woods, we should really begin to repair it, as it is rotting from the ground up. Maybe I can get someone to work on it one wall at a time. I don’t really have money saved anymore — as I save it, it gets spent. The surgery co-pay was $6,000, and so that wiped out the cash I managed to squirrel away last year. Still, repairing one wall at a time over the next five years will probably save the building, so it is worth doing. However, I have no building skills, and so we will employ someone to do the work.
As for other goals, I don’t know. I should begin to plan next year’s garden, that always cheers me up.
Sixty-five degrees and cloudy today, it’s like a British summer’s day. Tomorrow it will be 20degrees. Ohio can be a little crazy weather-wise.
Jan. 1, 2026
A brutally cold New Year’s Day. I lit a fire but won’t stay out tonight, as I need creature comforts today.
The wood we recently had delivered burns well; it is seasoned perfectly. I managed to take little Archie for a romp in the woods, but it really is too cold, and he was raising his paw after five minutes. Five minutes next to a wood-burning stove and he was happy as a clam.
Dinner tonight will be sausages with horseradish-mashed potatoes and red cabbage, a soothing way to start the year. I shall have a lazy day tomorrow, then it’s the weekend and then back to work for another four-month semester.
Jan. 2, 2026
It will remain below freezing for three more days and then we get a reprieve. I’ll continue lighting fires at the Hall, but am unlikely to stay out overnight because of the toilet situation. Still, I can get the chainsaw sharpened, and achieve a few other easily obtainable goals.
We will get our annual family photo taken today. An annual ritual where Kate H. swings by our house and takes several rapid photos of the five of us, while squeaking a dog toy to get Archie’s attention. Genius.
Not that it works, mind you; little Arch is far more interested in everything else that is going on.
*Originally from Manchester, England, Chris Wyatt is an associate professor of neuroscience, cell biology and physiology at Wright State University. He has lived in Yellow Springs for 19 years, is married and has two children and an insane Patterdale terrier. “The Patterdale Hall Diaries,” by Chris Wyatt, is now available in book format via Amazon for $11.99.
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