The first day of 2011 certainly started out in style as we moved from Arctic conditions to frozen tundra. It is now 3 below zero.
Yesterday I spent most of the evening trying to find any source of heat that wouldn't blow the fuses in the shed and house. Nor set a fire inside this shed, part of which is used to store gas, diesel and flammables, part of which has hay and saddles, plus a majority of my boxed and packed belongings. Or cause an explosion.
I finally, after hours of playing with a tiny little heater, managed to get it to work for short periods of time IF I turn off everything else which uses electricity. It isn't suitable for heating, but it is so welcome as a foot warmer in minus 3 degree temperatures.That tiny heater, small enough to put your feet on and stop them from freezing on the bare concrete has been the source of untold amusement throughout the evening and early morning. Copper, who had previously been MY source of heat, decided that the small heater was her source of heat.
There is a certain "sadness" about hounds. Even when the tail is wagging, the eyes remain almost pitiful. So when she sat her 65-70 lbs down adjacent to that heater and started to cling onto it as though her life depended upon it there really wasn't much I could do to move her.
We are both agreeing, in our different ways, that this is a wicked situation.
Wild critters, raccoons and skunk, have found their way into the shop part of the shed and have burrowed through my boxes seeking warmth, sending everything crashing down. Tom & Suzie helped box everything and move it all from the green shed, to this shed and tom stacked it all so neatly. But the constant flooding weakened the lower boxes and the wildlife finished it all off. If a fire started I would have a difficult time getting out.
Last winter I would bundle the dogs into the truck, drive to the opposite side of the shed away from view and let the truck run all night with the heater going, sleeping inside the truck. But the truck is on it's last legs and I don't dare run it for prolonged periods. It's a hope and a prayer just using it for local transportation. And I am now too close to residences to have a diesel truck clattering away all night so close to bedroom windows.
So this winter it's been "critter power" alone until one of the critters became a traitor and is happily hanging onto the one tiny little heater that is just big enough for her and her alone.
3 degree's below... whatever happened to 66 degrees in December?I want to be able to smile today. I want to be able to overcome this. But each time I blink tears run down my face, and I don't seem to be able to stop crying even if it's subconsciously. Yet I KEEP trying to face 2011 with as much courage as I can muster.
Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past. ~Henry Ward Beecher
