Showers

It's been a long couple of days.

It's cold here in Boise. We didn't realize just how cold it would get Monday night. It had snowed the night before though, and was cold. We thought baking a chicken and a couple of pies would keep the oven on, heating the house, for a while.

We had figured that we would fill the next evening with leftover chicken, and some cookies, and more warm oven.

Then Tuesday I woke up, and tried to turn on the shower to go in to work. It wouldn't go. I turned the nozzle again, and it still wouldn't go. I fiddled with the nozzle, and it gushed out brown, then running clear, on cold. I tried turning the nozzle to hot again. Still, there was no water.

I yelled at my husband that there was no water in the shower, and proceeded to brush my teeth in the sink. It, too, gushed an awful brown color, and then ran clear.

"Pipes must have froze," my husband informed me. "Call the landlord."

All plans for fun, enjoyable food and oven use immediately flew out the window; all our attention became focused on thawing pipes.

As a result of growing up in Southern California, the concept of "frozen pipes" in homes is foreign to me. Frozen pipes happen in exposed places, like on a ranch. Not in a house.

Suffice to say, the last few days have been rough. Sure, things could be worse. But, things could always be worse. Sam and I have been particularly grumpy towards each other, and anyone else brave enough to talk to us. We used other showers, and were clean technically, though it's amazing how dirty one can feel stepping out of someone else's shower, and not by choice.

I'm freshly showered now, for the second time today, this time with the luxury of shampoo. I've learned more about space heaters, pipe heating devices, and just generally thawing pipes than I thought could be humanly interesting.

Perhaps this ought to become a story.

For now, I'm going to enjoy the lack of tension in the house, my wet hair wet on my terms, and the new Joanne Harris novel, Runemarks . Yes, it's YA, not something I generally enjoy reading. But, a good author is a good author, and I can't put her writing down.

What are you cozied up with?