Things That Go Broke in the Night...

I woke up this morning to find that our thousand year old furnace had broke during the 30 degree night. The house was a balmy 62 degrees. We knew the furnace wasn't a spring chicken, we dressed it up in duct tape and insulation. It was held together with safety pins and scotch tape. We asked it for a few more winters, it said, yes yes yes. But last night, after one final touch-up yesterday afternoon it exhaled its last warm breath onto our family.

My house likes things to break all at once. It's the blue drama queen on the top of the hill, so I wasn't surprised when I went to my laptop to find that during the night we'd lost all internet access and email. While talking to a very smart 18 year old at tech support, my cordless phone breaks into hissing mode and disconnects. Smart 18 year old boy was lost back into the world of someone else's problem, while I called back and talked with Randy, who I lovingly nicknamed, the man who knows nothing. Randy and I talked for another hour (our first date) but we didn't connect. He let me down easily, he was sending a blind date to take his place (the internet repair man)--no charge, no hard feelings-but this relationship wasn't going to work out. He just didn't understand me and we said our goodbyes.

*

Who was it that said, "Any idiot can face a crisis, it is this day-to-day living that wears you out.” Ah, Chekhov, that's right.

Anyway, since I'm typing this, I'm back online (no help to the help desk or the internet man who wasn't going to arrive until Monday, but the magic internet gods I do not see came to my rescue and put me back online.)

So I thought today would be a good day to do a gratitude journal, to remember all I have, even when I'm heating my home with propane at $4.37 a gallon, I am thankful for propane.

Oh the furnace man? He arrives sometime between 2 and 4...


Gratitude Journal

1) Space heaters, electric blankets, wool socks, sweaters, and a propane fireplace
2) Warm showers.
3) My golden retriever who tells me, "Well, since you have nothing to do and it's cold in here, let's go for a walk," which we did.
4) Acceptances-- Crab Orchard Review took 2 poems for their summer issue (congrats to January too who will be in the same issue)
5) Swiss Muesli with raspberry yogurt
6) Leftover Pink Champagne birthday cake
7) Did I say "space heaters" already?
8) People with skills who can fix furnaces.
9) The internet gods
10) hot coffee made fresh
11) Barack & Hillary
12) It's not raining
13) Dove chocolates
14) Nana is 96 and one day
15) An old home with a new roof, a good view, and alotta love.