Our furnace broke again. The news came last Wednesday. Because we have a dual hot water-on-demand and in-floor heat system, this means that we also have no hot water in addition to having no heat. Of course this happens in February because the last three times this happened (oh yes, I am now experienced in this particular calamity), it always occurs in the winter. Never in July or August. The good news, I am not sick or dead. The same cannot be said for the mice.
It started two weeks ago when I came home to find my partner filling the bathtubs full of water and every pot and pail she could find. This is rarely a good sign. It turned out that we needed repairs to the well and she was preparing for the worse: the repairs might take longer or be more complicated that expected. Again, this is from our extensive experience in living in a home that likes to keep us entertained. I felt the house giving a full belly laugh as we scampered about like nut-hoarding squirrels, filling every possible water container in sight. The only thing worse than having no heat is not having running water. Trust me on this, having experienced both.
Three days later, the well was fixed, new pump installed and all seemed good on farm again until last Wednesday when we discovered two major issues. The first is that in the process of the well work, the UV purification and filter system were turned off and never re-hooked up. An oversight by us. I’m sure the house distracted us. This meant that for the past two weeks, we have been drinking unfiltered and non purified water. The good news, we were not sick. Not even a little.
The next major issue was that the boiler was leaking carbon monoxide gas. Very bad. It did explain the mysterious dead mice we had been finding in the crawl space. The boiler had to be decommission immediately. Naturally, the weather prediction was for a deep cold temperatures in the coming days. Potentially down to negative 18 Celius. Because the boiler never breaks in the summer. The good news, we were not dead. Not even a little.
I should note for those concerned, we do have a carbon monoxide detector in the main house and it had not gone off.
The other positive news is that we are in the lucky possession of owning a bad ass wood stove. She deserves a name for saving us. Plus all important characters should be given a name. I will call her Ygritte. She’s been putting her special powers to work and heating our house nicely all through this weekend, never letting the house fall below nineteen degrees. Arrow, my heat loving border collie, insists on curling up near her.
Because this is not our first rodeo, we also have one of these in our emergency kit for end-of-the-world apocalypse or at least, for when we run out of hot water:
Do you know what this is?
Read to the end to find out!
All of this emergency prepareness got me thinking about a writer’s emergency kit. What if you were stormed in, the hydro and internet goes down you had nothing to do but write? (Oh please!) Or if the world was overrun by fungi people and you were hiding out in your bunker? This would be your chance to write the ultimate ‘end-of-the-world’ diary (I’ve been watching ‘The Last of Us’ while feeding Ygritte wood). Or maybe you have some essential writing materials to have at hand while at a writing retreat or for a dedicated afternoon writing session. What would be in your writer’s emergency kit?
Blank journals and paper is at the top of the list. Pen or pencil? I’m a pencil girl at heart. There’s nothing nicer to write with than a newly sharped pencil (and I’m not talking about those new fangled mechanical pencils), but give me a real old-fashioned kind. The kind that brings me back to my childhood at school, of learning how to write and discovering the magic of words. Is it just me or is it harder to find a good quality pencil these days? Several sturdy pencils and a sharpener are on my list.
Next, do we need practical resources? What if we have a comma emergency? I would hate for my ultimate ‘end-of-the-world’ diary to be criticized for poor grammar.
What about inspirational resources? Here are some of my favourite ones that I turn to when I’m feeling stuck:
Finally, one should stock up on coffee, the elixir of writers!
Have you figured out the pot and hose picture?
Yes, it is a battery powered shower!
It beats the “cup and bucket” and “gravity feed” showers by the power of 4! (It uses 4 D-cell batteries) but sooo worth it. When you are out of hot water for a week, you’ll want this baby. It really should have a name too. Maxime. An excellent French name.
Get ready and happy writing!
