Entering Day Two...

… of nineteenth century living. We were sitting here waiting for our water hose to thaw when last we left you… but alas, Gentle Reader, it did not. Our temp rose to 33 for about an hour yesterday afternoon but that wasn’t enough to free things up and we remain a water-free zone this morning. Yesterday’s principal activity of import was to saddle up Ol’ Bessie and head into town to fetch water.

It’s neutered brass monkey cold this morning… 12 degrees when I awoke and seriously overcast, which reminds me for all the world of Detroit during the dead of winter. One of the more depressing things about winter in those latitudes… and by that I mean the swath of territory stretching about a hundred miles south of Detroit all the way east to the Atlantic… is the oppressive grayness. I can remember going for what seemed like weeks without seeing blue sky during winters in Detroit and Rochester, NY. But that’s NOT the norm here on The High Plains of New Mexico, as it’s usually one bright beautiful day after another, even in the dead of winter. Such is not the case today, though. But we’ll look on the bright side as is our wont and toss out the de rigeur “things could be worse.” As in a mere ten miles or so to the east and/or south of us:

Or worse yet… as in certain parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri:

The WeatherHeads are ALL agog about the World Class ice-storm that’s in progress as I type, and it most certainly DOES look rather grim, both on my teevee and in the radar picture. I’ll take a temporary water outage… measured in hours… over power outages and freezing temps that last for days. I just hope we hit our forecasted high of 41 today. Because heating water on the stove for bathing and doing dishes went out of fashion well over a hundred years ago.

Update, noon-thirty or thereabouts: The WX Channel revised today's forecasted high temperature downward... from 41 to 33... which means no water yet again today. {sigh} And still MORE {sighs}. It's easy for me to remain philosophical about "stuff" when events are well and truly out of my control, but it's MUCH less so when I'm a victim of a self-inflicted wound. I sincerely hope this latest trick of mine fills 2009's quota for Teh Stupid. I kinda doubt it, tho.

Update, 1800 hrs: Boy, do we EVER feel better now that we're clean! The water started coming back just after 1700 hrs with a drip every three or four seconds, which increased steadily until full flow was restored around 1730. I then did something quite out of character... jumped in the shower and ran the hot water heater entirely out of hot water before I got out. It was that good...