Power-less

All set for a nice relaxing evening after dinner with Ken (venison stew--ugh. I ended up bringing a huge wad of venison home for the dogs to eat, and they opened the container in the car and spilled it all over my boots and the seat--disgusto) but the power went out as soon as I hit my road. I saw the lights on my outdoor tree go out. We've had incredibly powerful winds blowing for 2 days so I guess I wasn't really surprised. Bummed, yes, but not surprised. I called the power company. They always want to know if my neighbors have power. Since I have no neighbors I always answer this in the affirmative. This was at 8:00. I know exactly what to do for an evening in the dark: get the flashlight (everyone teases me about my flashlight farm, but I never run out of batteries or flashlights), get the Coleman lantern (which is always in the same place), get some candles. A few weeks ago I found the stash of candles that Jenica and I bought at IKEA a million years ago when I was in Ill. so I had plenty.

I set myself up in the living room and did crossword puzzles for as long as I could stand to. I've decided crossword puzzles need to re-enter my life, as medicos are now pronouncing that doing crosswords will ward off dementia. When I couldn't stand to write "eft" one more time as the answer to "immature newt" I turned to the Bode Miller article in Newsweek. I think I'm in love. Man is he cute, and I am oddly drawn to his philosophy about his sport, life, competitiveness, etc.

It finally got to be late enough to go to sleep, but the bedroom was way too cold so I decided to sleep on the couch. The dogs had a love/hate response to this. Chances paced in front of the couch, staring at it while apparently trying to figure out where she would fit. Tess put herself where she always does: on top of my chest. I can stand having 45 lbs. on top of me for a little while, but she's not a cat, and after a while it does get hard to breathe. They just thought this was too queer anyway. I woke at 1:00 when the lights all came on. Poor fish, their light came on too and they expected to be fed. I threw some more wood in the stove, turned the heat on in the bedroom and went to bed. Adventure over.

This morning I realized that I have to move to the next rank of firewood and it's not quite the end of January. I have enough wood, but I'm moving through it a little faster than I anticipated. This next rank is a little damp on the ends right now. Rats!

This afternoon I head back to AuSable Forks to finish weeding their non-fiction. Crafts to history. Then I'll be finished! And we'll have to delete all these things from the data base. As Ken says, "If it ain't one thing, it's two."