Picking in the Dark

The power went out last night, always a problem on the farm where animals drink SO much water. I panic and run outside to see if the neighbors have lights and they don't. Not too much we can do but wait for it to come on again. I despair that I have not been filling up my gallon jugs the way I usually do. I poured water into the stock tanks yesterday morning as I was walking out the door and didn't fill up the jerry cans as I was running late. The sheep are looking at me like where's my water and standing around the water tanks. In a real water emergency I could let them go and they would find water in various places around the farm, but they have not been let out all winter and I didn't want to deal with rounding them up. I found the head lamps and put mine on. I was able to get hay down in the darkness, no problem, and remembered the old fleeces in the grain room. Instead of fretting over something I have no control over, I sat in front of the fire and picked a fleece. The light of my head lamp was perfect. As I played with locks, pulling them apart and letting the burdock fall out I thought of the original settlers, sitting in near darkness by the fire every night. I bet they got a lot more sleep than I do.