I have been awake since 2 for the most part. Partly the old bursitis and sciatica in my hip kept me up, but I think I just fretted a lot.
I wish I could be one of those calm, serene people who took things in stride and never got ruffled, but I am not. I obsess and I fret. I grind my teeth, stay awake all night and get fever blisters.
Yesterday, the sleet started in Elgin around 11 and the snow mixed with sleet had begun in ear test by noon. It was 2 before I got my classes covered and got out of there. The drive home was tense, but okay. Getting up our hill to the house was a different matter. Right inside the gate, the car started slipping. I debated leaving it there, but I would have spent the next 4 days worried that it would slide down in the road or that something would happen to it. So with a little salt and cat litter and a shovel and 45 minutes, I got up the hill and under the carport. With only a little salt, I kept having to move the car five feet and then scoop up the salt and move it too.
I gave in and fed the stray dog, but he had to make do with sleeping on the cat bed in the shed. Poor cats are not happy, but I just can't let a stray in. And don't say call animal control. Where I live animal control consists of a shotgun and a ditch. Harsh, but true. I got some laundry done in anticipation of losing power and water, got some chicken soup going for Bella, and then noticed the water was surging.
Of course Jack has been in Alva for the both the last snow storm and this one, so I got to crouch down under the pressure tank with a phone and pull this lever and watch that gauge and flip that switch while Jack tried to diagnose my problem. Last night he thought we had a broken waterline between the well and the house, causing the pump to constantly kick on. Rather than burn up the pump overnight and then have to pull it out of the well, we opted for shutting the water off. I can turn it on for a few minutes to refill toilets and water jugs, but that is it. No dripping to protect my water line. This morning Jack thinks it must be something wrong in a control switch, but once again, this is not something I can fix. In the meantime, if we didn't have a broken pipe before, we probably will by the time Jack comes home next week.
In the meantime, the house is cold. During last winter, during the last snow storm, we stayed warm, but the furnace ran all night and it is 64 in here.
I really despise venting in this space. But I am just so tired and frustrated. I imagine we will go to Rubilee's for the day, maybe for the duration. I can walk down and heat up water for the barn cats and the stray. I have several cooking pots of water drawn up for emergencies so there is enough water for drinking by humans and animals. I don't know - maybe we will walk back and sleep in my bed at night. Maybe. Maybe. Not sure I will keep the kid entertained at someone else's house for days on end. For certain, we won't be going farther than that walk to her house.
Jack is in a mood too, frustrated that there isn't anything he can do to help. He says we just move to town and live in a condo. A condo where pipes can still freeze, where the power can still go out, where the neighbors' dogs bark and the idiot next door plays his music too loud. Yeah, that really isn't an option for me. This too will pass. We will get the water fixed, though it may take a few days depending on how much damage Jack finds when he gets home. We can stay with my in-laws in the meantime.
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