The Nativity Scene of Deer—Three is the Magic Number

Well yesterday was an interesting day, and busy too. We have a new co-worker who started on Monday. So far we’ve all gone out to lunch as a group both Monday and Tuesday. Normally we almost never do that. He’s going to get the wrong idea about us. He seems quite nice and is moving to this area from distant state. I do tend to get along better with men at work than with women. I think it’s because I grew up with brothers. How are you in getting along with same or opposite genders at work? Or does it totally not matter (which would be the idea situation, for sure!) Anyway, I’ve scored two different chicken salads in the past two days and finally brought them home from work last night. It was a good thing I did, because….

The power was out when I got home. Apparently the heavily falling wet snow knocked a power line down or something. I had stopped to fill the tank with gas and get bread and milk so it was dark outside already. But the lights in the house were off even though my son’s car was in the driveway. I was thinking maybe he was in bed sleeping (he works odd hours) but he met me at the door with the lack-of-power news. The microwave and stove are electric too, so no cooking could be done. We had the two salads by candlelight as the house got colder and colder. We have electric heat. I did buy a kerosene heater last spring but it’s packed in our tiny storage shed and I was hoping the power would come back on before it got to that. It would be difficult to drag it out in the dark and I would have to make room for it in the house. My son had already called in the outtage and continued to call each hour to get an update.

Finally after talking on the phone to two different friends (at least the phone wasn’t out, but we had to plug in the regular phone, the cordless didn’t work) he decided to go to a friend’s house to visit where it was lit and warm. As he was going out the door (quickly, so as to not let out what little heat was remaining) he said, “Look, there’s some deer!” And right on our front yard, where the neighbor had wanted to drag our “spare” car was a nativity scene of deer! Two deer were standing in the dark over one deer lying in the snow, legs gracefully folded. The snow was coming down so hard that they were covered with it. It was a beautiful and peaceful sight! They were there because of the smell of the hay over my water line. Hay smells really good even to humans, and we don’t eat it! My car still has a faint, pleasant scent of hay.

After my son left for a warmer environment, I wrapped up in a blanket and snuggled on the couch with my little dog for awhile. But as the candles got dimmer, I decided to make a trip to the discount store and get some oil lamps instead. I drove through what appeared to be a blizzard and slippery driving. My rear window wiper isn’t working and neither the mechanic with the beautiful eyes nor the place that fixed my brakes have been able to fix it. Wow, did I ever miss having it continually wipe the back window free of snow! It was difficult to see.

I went a little wild at the store and bought three oil lamps, one big one and two smaller ones and two bottles of smokeless oil. I also bought three (must have been the magic number!) new flashlights, again one big one and two smaller ones. Then I drove back home on the sloppy, messy roads but the snow didn’t seem to be coming down as hard. The neighbor’s lights were on as I drove down our dirt (now covered with snow) road, so I knew the power was back on again, yay! It had been a mere three (that number again!) hours off since I first had gotten home from work, but electricity sure does make a difference in living and comfort.

Speaking of living and comfort, the V-Man called me at work. He had spent the entire day cutting wood and then had to go in to work for the night! He was too exhausted to want company, just wanted to sleep a couple of hours before work. Plus he didn’t want me to drive all the way out to the farm in such poor driving conditions.

Yes, it’s Wednesday! Hope you have a good one.