After the storm

The dog barked at midnight.  (Sounds like a book title.)  Actually it was around 9:30 p.m. but my alarm clock said 12:00.  Whoa!  My alarm clock was on!  Our power had gone out during the snowstorm on Wednesday night and now that the storm was ended polar temps were streaming in.    The first day w/o power the house still had a lot of residual heat but today, I'd shut internal doors and burnt firewood to keep the main portion of the house warm.  Spent the daylight hours cleaning, decorating, doing puzzles, and even broke out a jigsaw.   W/ not much else to do in the dark, Whip and I had gone on a constitutional and went to bed early.  I hadn't had the heart to leave her in the cold foyer so, for the first time, let her sleep in the house.  She'd started barking when she heard different electrical elements start up.   So glad she woke me.   I'd made a list of things to do when the electricity came back on:  charge the phone, flush the toilets (I'd been using melted snow), rewash the clothes that I had washed once but hadn't gotten into the dryer before we lost power.  Hurried to get those things done in case we lost power again.  My biggest concern had been frozen water pipes so checked also that the heater had kicked in.  I hadn't known how quickly the buildings would lose heat.  This morning my house was down to 60 degrees.  Not too bad - would be awhile before I'd have to worry about Haven.  Checked on Mjolnir in the afternoon.  Temp was 44 degrees.  I have it set at 45 degrees normally, so in two days it had lost only a degree.  Guess I wouldn't have to worry about the outbuildings either.  Did lose everything in the refrigerator again (though I think I 'saved the bacon' by putting it in a plastic container and setting it outside the front door.  Figured out what our forefathers in the Northwoods probably did when they went to bed in the dark, cold, and maybe a little hungry - had long discussions w/ God about how thankful they were for the beauty all around them.