Drip is Good But Not From My Nose

Except for the fact that my kids were the best they could be you can keep yesterday.  My $600 Chevy Blazer, now up to a $3,000 Chevy Blazer, is broken down in the shop with a ridiculously high bill.  I mean like a whole pay period bill.   Spouse has never met a Lost Cause Used Car he didn't like.   In order for spouse to get to work and me to school we had to leave the house at 6 am to drive to the boss's house in Utica, a half hour plus in the wrong direction, with a hefty load of ice and snow on the roads.   That fiasco required rising at 4 something to get farm and myself ready to leave.   Thankfully I had my brand new-to-me heavy wool trousers, purchased over the weekend at the fabulous Key in Cazenovia - the Episcopal Church sponsored thrift shop that has replaced the Bargain Box in Morristown which I love so dearly and never have a chance to go to.  It's only four hours away, so what's the big deal?  I love a pair of wool trousers - lined - in the intense cold.  Combined with turtleneck, Md. Sheep and Wool fleece vest, wool blazer and wool duffle coat, along with SockLadySpins hand knit socks, Kimmi Cornerstone knitted cap (everything is personal with me) I was ready to face the dark, cold and ice, then later, students and administration.  After driving almost two hours I reached school.  Scratchy throat is evolving into head cold.  I knew all those kids spewing mucous all over my room for a week would surely result in something ugly and it did.  I feel awful, but let's go back.  I worried all day about the farm, the electric - as we were pulling away I yelled the barn lights are on! but spouse wouldn't turn back - and the water.  Ran out of school to get to the PO, the gas station, and Dollar General to get the cheapest Friskies Mariner's Pate in the area.  My fears were well-founded.  Ten more miles and I'm at the farm.  After greeting doggies the first thing I do is build the fire.   As I turned on the faucet to make coffee I got a tiny drip.  Oh, NOOOOO - frozen pipes.  Dirty water came out.  What could that be?  Went out to the milk room where all the plumbing starts - frozen up like an ice cube.  I turned on my dye oven - the only heater I have out there and a good one.   Put what little unfrozen water I had in the tubs in the big dye pots and turn them on high to boil.  Anything to get heat in the room and start the pipes thawing.  Our water runs from the milk room through wrapped pecks tube through the barn into the apartment.  The kitties like to scratch off the insulation (!!) to make a cozy spot to perch.  Perhaps that was it.  All I could do was tell the sheep I would have some water for them soon - I hope.  There is some snow on the ground, and sheep do eat snow, but my sheep are used to water and plenty of it.  I retreated inside to lie down and keep a paper towel under my runny nose.   Matt came home, changed clothes and ate his hearty meal of yellow rice, beans, cheddar cheese, pears and spring greens washed down with hot cappucino.  Belly full he ventured out with tools and melting devices to get my water back.  I swallowed some Ibuprofen for my pounding head and went out to chores.   Will buy some cold pills on the way to work.  Grades are due, progress reports are due, I have to go to work.  Besides, I'm saving my days for sick sheep and snow.  I might have to give in if this cold gets worse, but, for now, it's into the breach!