Here's how it works in a small town

It's Saturday night and the furnace quit working.  Cliff checked it and said he was pretty sure the problem was the thermocouple.  Usually if the furnace quits working, it's due to a power failure and we turn on the burners on the gas range and hope for the best.
  

This time we have power, and I happened to remember that Cliff's sister next door has a nice electric heater she uses when there are upstairs guests.  Cliff went and got it.  It was amazing how fast it heated up our living room.  
Meanwhile, we called a local heating and cooling guy, Rick.  We got his voice mail and left a message.  While we waited, Cliff said maybe I should call our other local heating and cooling guy, Bruce.  When you get his voice mail, he gives his cell number in case you have an emergency.  Remember, this is Saturday night.  
Bruce answered his cell and Cliff told him the problem.  Bruce apologized, but said his grandson had gotten injured (no details given) and that they were at the hospital with him.  He hoped he wouldn't be there all night, and if we didn't get anybody else, he'd be glad to help us out when he could.  
Cliff thanked him and told me to try some other heating and cooling places in other towns.  
"Cliff," I said, "Outside of our community, nobody is going to come out here on a Saturday night at 6:30."
He wanted me to try, so I made a couple of calls, to no avail.  He told me to forget it.  
Before long the phone rang.  It was Rick.  

He did the job, charged a reasonable fee, and we are warm.  
Sometimes it's nice to live in a small-town community.  The population in our town is around 780, and we have TWO heating-and-cooling guys who were ready to come to our rescue.    

Hang on, spring will surely come

Here's the forecast from Fox 4 News:  "WINTER STORM WARNING for the entire metro! Snow starts after noon, maybe heavy by the evening drive- could be 2" by 4 or 5pm. High near 21. Heavy snow this evening, with a total of 6"-8" for many in the metro by morning drive Thursday. MOST snow is over by THURSDAY morning, but THIS evening drive could be a mess."  


Oh joy.  Cliff and Tony (the guy he rides with) will be leaving for work just when it's starting to pile up, and who knows what it will be like when they get off at midnight?  Sounds to me like a good time to take a vacation day, but that's their choice, not mine.  
Actually, if it's going to be this cold, I'd just as soon it snows.  Snow is pretty, and it's fun to look out the window and see it falling.  It sure as heck beats the very thin coating of ice that was on our country blacktops and gravel roads yesterday morning; the daughter said she saw several cars in ditches on her way to work.  By afternoon, the roads were clear.  
The oldest granddaughter, Amber, is spending some time here; she and her mother needed a little time away from one another (can you say "cabin fever"?) so she's occupying our guest room.  She brought her mini-pin, Sophie, of course.  
Amber leaves for work at 3 A.M.; it's a twenty-five mile drive from here, and she starts work at four.  She leaves her dog in bed under the covers.  Sophie barked at me a few minutes ago, so I took her outside to relieve herself; once back inside, I put her back in the guest room on the bed and shut the door.  She barked a few times, then I guess she crawled under a blanket and went back to sleep.  I'll open the door and let her out when Cliff gets up; she loves Cliff, probably because he feeds her bites of whatever he's eating.  He doesn't worry about her weight problem.
  

Sophie, wanting me to help her off the tall bed.

The furnace problem at the old house was quickly dealt with, once the heating guy showed up; the igniter was shot, so he installed a new one and was gone in less than a half-hour.  It could have been a lot worse!  I must remember to call the other heating guy who was going to come this afternoon and tell him we already got it fixed.  I won't know the cost until we get the bill, but you know what?  It was worth it, whatever the charge.  There's something to be said for a man who will leave his warm house and brave the cold at 8 P.M. so a neighbor's water pipes won't freeze.  God bless him.  

Bonnie and Clyde spend most of their time these cold winter days with their heads in a bale of hay.  They're not worried about winter weight gain.   

Speaking of which, Cliff and I are steadily losing weight so far; there's something exciting about getting under 180, then under 170.  Seems like a cause for rejoicing when I can say I'm one hundred sixty-something, rather than one hundred seventy-something.  It only takes two pounds to make that difference, but it sounds like a lot when I say it.