Jinxed

Well, I shouldn't have mentioned yesterday morning that we still had power.  My mother always said that thoughts go out into the cosmos and come back as action, and I guess there's something to that because after finishing with the computer, I was just ready to step into the shower when Blip! the electricity went out.  Phooey.

That hellacious storm was still raging, so the outage wasn't really a surprise.  I'd had my coffee, finished the blog, and flushed the toilet so I was in pretty good shape (for the shape I was in).  PG&E said to be prepared for an extended time without power.  Oh goody.  Going out to feed all the critters left me soaked to the thigh and a jacket that, if I'd had electricity, I'd have put in the dryer, but had to hang to drip dry.  Missy, the little barn cat, had met me at the door to her stall, yelling before I'd even stepped inside.  I'd been leaving her double portions,  but her bowl was empty and she was complaining about the service in this establishment.  As I've said, I live to serve.

After about three hours in the figurative dark, I checked in with Tinka to see if she still had electricity down in Fiddletown.  She did.  Tinka said that a huge branch had fallen during the night and nearly blocked her door to the outside.  (She has one door, I have nine...nanner nanner!)  She was able to squeeze past it to get out, but it was too heavy to move.  Like the tree that fell on my barn, it could have been worse.  She has good neighbors who could help her.  We were chattering like magpies and laughing when, omigosh, the power came back on.  Let there be light!

Stove picked the wrong day to get cranky.  He would fire up, but wouldn't stay lit.  I figured it might be because the wind had pushed the rain up on the porch all the way to the door and the rack, but it could have been his bad attitude.  When there was a break, I dashed outside and brought three wagons of dry wood to the house.  Stove and I struggled all day, so it could be the chimney.  We're just going to have to deal with it because nobody is going up on the roof until this spell of weather is over.

Camille called.  Did I need anything from Wally World?  She was kind enough to pick up a staple for me as she was going there anyhow.  She's braver than I to drive while the storm was at its peak.  Later in the day, the wind dropped and the rain stopped and I took a quick and uneventful trip up to Holiday.  There were other necessities needed and now I'm set for the duration.

There is a light dusting of powder on the deck this morning, and three days of snow are predicted.  Let's hope the forecasters are overly optimistic/pessimistic, but I don't want to jinx them.