All Fired Up

Last night during a raging blizzard, our power went off. I'm so thankful that our water is heated by propane and that we have a big ol' woodstove to keep us warm and that we can cook on in a pinch. Makes those power outages so much more bearable.

I gained new respect for Mr Osburn the woodstove (yes that's its brand name, not the Mr though) last night however. It was dark and the only light was from the glass door of the stove where the fire was burning. I was near the hearth, tripped on something, and fell against the woodstove catching myself with my hand. Well, I knew I was screwed even though my hand lit upon the surface for less than a second.

I immediately ran for the sink and dowsed my hand in cold water. I'm extremely proud of the restraint I showed by only muttering, "Son of a nutcracker!" This injury was significantly curse-worthy and I would have been forgiven any serious slips, but amazingly I held back.

I ended up keeping my throbbing hand in a pot of cold water for 8 straight hours. I was finally able to get some relief at about 4am, and got some much-needed sleep! The stinging, burning pain was so intense! I thought it would never quit.

Examining the damage today, about 1/3 of my palm is blistered along with 3 of my fingertips. It's gonna be a while before I can do much with that hand (which is thankfully my left one).

Today was a snow day so I didn't have to worry about work. We have gotten at least 4 feet of snow in the last 24 hours. This is one of the biggest storms I can ever remember, even surpassing our recent Thanksgiving blizzard that gave us an entire week of snow days. The plows haven't been in our neighborhood since yesterday afternoon so there is close to 3 feet of snow on the roads. We are truly snowed in. I've lived up here 18 years and never seen it like this.

I'm thankful that our power has been mostly on today, that we have a generator to run the fridge when it's not, that we have a good supply of food and yes I'm very thankful for Mr Osburn. I've kept my distance from him today though!