Power outage

For some reason, the delicate flower that is Inland Power, our electric service, lost it for about six hours Thursday night.

We have kerosene lamps and candles, so it's not a big deal unless the outage lasts so long the freezers start to thaw. Or we need to shower or use a bunch of water (the well pump is electric). But this time we had the five little guinea keets in the kitchen, and guinea keets need it hot. They live under a 100-watt bulb in a cardboard box with slabs of granite to hold heat. No power, no 100-watt bulb keeping them at 85 degrees.

We could wear them inside our clothes, but Annie the dachshund would be right after them. So we got a dachshund-repelling cage, and parked it next to the wood stove on the wood box. A new cardboard box went inside that, with the wire lid that keeps keets inside. Add a thermometer, and we were in business. So we cranked the fire up and slept in the hot room until the power came back on at 1 a.m.

Everybody survived. I worried that I'd find five cooked little birds, but no. And as soon as they were back home under the hot bulb, they were squeak-toy yelling for food.