One of Those Days

One of Those Days

WC 532

This was one of those days you look back on in ten years and laugh about. One of those days you write a story about. One of those days you write about in your Blog. One of those days you tell about on Facebook. One of those days.

I awoke from a dead sleep with a loud clap of thunder. Curious, I thought. It’s January, and I live in Montana. I stepped over my very deaf sleeping Labrador retriever, Jake. ‘Thundersnow’ I thought as another thunderclap shook the house. A quick glance out my bedroom window revealed a full-on blizzard outside.

I made my way to the kitchen and sat down with a hot cup of tea as I considered if 6 AM was too early to cancel lunch. Jane and I had a lunch date at noon. I sipped the tea and prayed the electricity and heat stayed on. Outside the blizzard raged on. My aging dog finally appeared and decided blizzard or not, he needed to use the outdoors. So I get on my best blizzard gear and out we go. I am slipping on ice as the two of us make our way to the garage to check on the car. Good to have a working vehicle in case of an emergency, I hear my father’s voice in my head.

Jake stands waiting while I try the car. “Click, click.” Nuts. This is not good. “Jake, I think there is something wrong here. I diagnose a dead car battery.” Like I know what is going on. Jake is now watching the snow piling up in the garage doorway. He doesn’t hear my diagnosis. He doesn’t hear the slamming of the car door. He doesn’t hear some choice words my father told me never to say.

I hurry back to the house with Jake, slipping on ice as we go. We wander the house, checking for more problems. There is that water pipe that always freezes when the wind blows and it is below zero. Check - it is frozen. There is that window upstairs that never seems to shut all the way when it gets too cold. Check - it is open just enough for snow to blow in. There is the problem with the local electric utility when there is a windstorm and sometimes the power goes out. Check - it just went out. There is the heat that is electric and now without power will not work. Check - it also just went out.


So now Jake and I are stuck in a house with no heat, the snow is blowing in, the water pipe is frozen, and the car won’t run. Plus a blizzard is raging outside.

I do what anyone else would do in this situation. I pack a bag. But then I think, where can I go? My car is dead, my dog is deaf, the buses are not running, there is a blizzard outside. Inside the temperature is dropping and I’m not able to get any water.

So I unpack the bag. I get out a bottle of wine from the cupboard. It’s already chilled.
Jake lays down at my feet. He’s a wonderful heating pad.