Warm Inside

Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? Ecclesaistes 4:11 (KJV)

With today’s high temperature hovering about 40 degrees and a cold drizzle, the Dobermans spent their day clothed in their sweatshirts and huddled together under beach towels. At one point, Lucy had her head tucked up underneath the towel. Occasionally, they would rise, walk around the house mournfully with their beach towel over their back like a horse blanket. When they had to go out, we undressed them to keep their shirts clean, causing them to race out, do their business and come right back in where they stood glaring at us until we put their shirts back on and covered them with a towel once more. Pitiful, just pitiful. What else is pitiful is how we are going to be when our next electric bill comes. Though the humans are also wearing sweatshirts and socks and keeping the thermostat at 68 degrees, the heater ran all day long. I hear dollar signs coming from the vents. 68 degrees was warmer than my office at work which was 52 almost every day this week until Thursday when I finally gave in and turned the heat on. Thirty minutes later, the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate the building. The firemen said it was caused by dust on the heat stripes and was typical of how all their runs had been going. It took hours for my heart to quit racing and visions of historical papers in flames to clear my mind, so I left the heat off the rest of the week. At one point, I was wearing my hat, scarf and leather jacket, but couldn’t type with my gloves on. For a while, my computer quit working and the technology people said my computer was frozen. That might also explain why I felt so lousy yesterday. Today, after sleeping until 10:00 and staying inside in my jammies all day long, I feel like a new woman. Your prayers, the rest, orange juice and chicken broth did the trick. The entire day wasn’t spent sleeping (well, except for the Dobermans). Though I couldn’t make a yurt with Vicki, I made some felt hats, scarves and purses. Who would have thought they would be in such demand? I have a list of friends and family waiting for a hat. I will have to go scouting some more thrift shops soon, but bet all the wool sweaters have been bought to be worn as originally intended this week. I was wishing I had not shrunk them all myself. This Florida girl only has two sweaters to her name. Too bad that pretty lavender one I got at the thrift store is now the size of a three toddler. The highlight of the day was when my friend, Patty, stopped by to check on me and pick up her red wool hat. The love and laughter of a friend warms even the coldest heart. Come to think of it, maybe it was her visit that helped to heal me!