Electricity was restored to our house last night at 1 am. Such relief I feel, oy! Can I get an “AMEN?”
Going commando update:
I realize that my attempt at fitting things into the category of going commando was fraught with false turns. It began to sound more like a Thankful Thursday than a post about underwear and nakedness. But it reminded me of a great story my mother tells from her childhood.
My mother grew up in Germany during the war. Her father had some relative–an aunt, a grandmother, a sister–I don’t really know and have never gotten the detail right on this–who had a farm away from the little Medieval town where my mother lived with her parents. They would send my mother to get fattened up because they had no food during the war. Rationing and what not.
My mother was particularly impressed with the woman at the farm. This woman, my mother says, was the hardest-working person she has ever met or seen. My mother has a memory of the woman working in the fields and lifting her skirt, squatting to pee and going back to her work. Lifting her skirt, no pulling down of any undergarments, squatting, peeing, and moving on. Almost like the women who work in the fields, squat to birth a baby, wrap it up, and keep working, the rhythm uninterrupted. How do they cut the cord? Where does the placenta go? Probably just hack it with a scythe and let it fall to fertilize the soil. Totally commando. Wow.
Two Peasant Women in the Peat Fields, Vincent Van Gogh, 1883
twinklysparkles 
Glad you guys made it through your third world odyssey reasonably ( I assume) unscathed. I was very fortunate in my part of PA, we got dumped on but never lost power. People all around, particularly to the east, lost it and some are still without. Hope this isn’t a harbinger of the winter to come.
I think about a week or so before this snow, I wrote that it always used to snow at least once before Halloween. Not some huge snowstorm, but a little gentle and beautiful dusting. Spoke too soon.
We got hammered last winter, I guess Ohio and PA, too (I thought you live in OH). Everyone in the NE and Great Lakes. But I can’t remember what happened all over the country now can I?
I am stocking up on candles, camping fuel. What else? I can’t even remember what we’ll need any more.
Let’s all hope for a decent (some snow and pretty, not too many nights in the teens and no days in the teens, sunshine) but not impossible winter.
I do live in Ohio Twink as far as a house and mailing address is concerned. But my annual income requires that I spend my working days in Birmingham, Memphis or Harrisburg where our offices are.
That aside, look into a Vermont Soapstone wood burning stove. They take up very little space, give off a tremendous amount of heat, are pretty to look at and lend a certain ambiance that is of varying value to different individuals. I can’t imagine going through the winter without a fireplace. Further, I heat my shop with wood and it’s worth every bit of the inconvenience.