Quiet in the night

Last night the power went out, after I'd eaten dinner, while I was watching a show with Tucker via laptop. It's very rare for the power to go out here, unplanned, for more than a minute at a time. This time it didn't come right back on and the power company's website showed that they wouldn't arrive on-site until a couple hours later.

I went and got my work laptop to plug my phone into, since my phone was only at 12% battery, and lit a couple candles. Despite the power never really going out, I have strategic candles and, normally, matches in every room of the house, set up so that if I need to use them for a day they're in safe and useful places. I'd been poaching my matches over last winter for the woodstove, I guess they never really made it onto my consumables list in my head and thus I hadn't replaced them, but I did still have one full box left.

My pressure tank gives me some leeway with water, so I was able to brush my teeth and do a boat shower (water on to get wet, turn it off, soap and scrub with the water off, turn it back on to rinse for a total of maybe 30 seconds of running water). I changed the sheets on my bed, which I'd been planning to do, had a chat with Tucker, and went to sleep.

I quite like the feeling of the power being out like that. The house is so beautifully quiet.

I also realize that there are candle instincts I just don't have. Changing sheets in a small room is a very different thing when I can't snap the sheets across the bed -- that would blow out the candles -- and doing it once was okay but I'm glad for electric lights normally.

The weather has turned cold and rainy, probably it won't get warm again until next July, but it's not freezing yet and the house has some retained heat so it was warm enough even without starting a fire.

And now, I will order some matches.

Devotions

The reliability of the seasons.

Tucker's patient persistence, especially in the face of tech issues.

The way the downstairs couch connects me to Hazard, who won't come to the upstairs couch to snuggle.

Cool air through a slightly-open window, and the smell of baseboard heaters.

More different kinds of squash than expected.

At least a week before frost in the forecast.

Forethought.

Apple-protector dogs that run off the bears.

Ability to work from home spontaneously on a day I was too tired to drive.

Holding boundaries.

Understanding myself better every year, with the possible exception of 2021.

Clean self in clean sheets, it never gets old.

Efficiency tricks: hanging shirts on hangers before putting them on the line to dry, so I just need to put the hangers into the closet after; putting the wet sheets on the line even if it's raining, since it'll stop raining and dry soon; putting used cloth pads in the shower so the day's supply gets rinsed in the evening under my feet when I shower, and can then go into the wash.

Control of my own space.

A deep pile of blankets on the bed.

Upstairs/downstairs migration.