There are some who look death right in the eyes and stare him/her down. I always wondered if I would be able to do this. I mean, such people draw upon their inner strengths; for example, walking thousands of miles in search of a better place to live. Fire, floods, plague, pestilence, they all test one’s inner reserve.

Now I know that I don’t have the inner fortitude needed to deal with such situations. I would not even have it in me to give death a sideways glance. I would not say, “take me, I’m yours!” but with a whimper, I’d most likely follow the ever so grim reaper to wherever it is I am supposed to go.

We woke up very early this morning, well before dawn. Last night the water line(s) under the sink froze, and Pete attempted to thaw them out by first cutting the wall under the sink, so that he might then thaw the pipe out with a heat gun. Alas, he did not remember where he put the heat gun, so it took him a while to find it. By then it was quite late. A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do and he did it.

We went to bed both knowing that it would be a long day if the wind persisted and the temperatures remained high. Well, we woke up to the same this morning. I fed the animals and Pete made breakfast. I did not pick up the manure because it was so blasted cold with strong winds. After breakfast, he resumed working on thawing what now were several frozen pipes.

I checked the phone and the internet – neither worked. Normally, we’d call the phone company, but I had lost the cell phone.

I could not give Pete an assist. I revised a draft of what I was working on, then for a bit I crawled into bed and finished reading the book I was reading, about the fellow who spent a year preparing for a major French horn contest. Stupid book, but I am glad I finished it because it did have a good ending. His account of the four accompanists who played with the Beatles on the Sargent Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band was also quite good.

I then got up and – what else was I to do? Resumed sorting books. I culled out a few – and straightened out our shelves. What a mess, books everywhere, and dishes piled up on the counter next to the sink. I did take a break from it all and half walked half slid down the road and found, across the road, the manure sled that had blown onto our neighbor Scott’s Property.

I came back in and resumed sorting. As of tonight, the wind is still howling, but it isn’t as strong. According to the fellow who lives in the weather radio, we have a few more days of this ahead of us.

It did today feel as though time stopped because there was a definite change of routine. I think the only way I’ll be able to resume any semblance of routine is if the wind abates and the temperature rises.

Next: 4. 1/4/22: Hardship