A chill indoors and out

On top of the cold of winter, and things that require attention and the ever present to do list, we awoke this morning and knew from the chill that the furnace was not humming along in its usual fashion. We checked the oil tank and discovered it was low, and I arranged a last minute delivery, but still, even with plenty of oil to meet our needs, the furnace clicked on only to shut itself off. So, we huddle by the fire with an Alfred Hitchcock movie, and the girls are under their covers fighting off the frosty air, as we wait for our beloved furnace mechanic to come and bring our heating system back to life. I heard a piece on NPR the other day about residents whose homes were damaged by Hurricane Sandy and are still without heat. I have a rough idea now of how hard that must be to bear. One day of living in a house where the temperature indoors has hovered at 50 degrees reminds me of how lucky we are that things mostly work as well as they do.