When the Homily is about Immunology

This has been a test, if this had been an actual emergency...

Sometimes I wonder if God is testing us. Subjecting us to weather extremes in order to baptize us into the fires of rural living right off the bat. First we have gotten enough rain to seemingly land a boat on Mt. Rainier, then wind and power outages (and as I've noted before power outages in rural regions are much more significant than in suburbia), and now snow, ice, and frigid temperatures.

As the temperature plummeted into the teens last night, we found ourselves ravenously burning through our firewood - thank God we don't normally see these temps, we'd never have enough firewood. We kept a faucet dripping for fear of frozen pipes and we were constantly trying to devise some additional way to keep the chickens warm.

And then, there was the issue of my beer. Did I mention my finished product? "Hop Head Heaven" certainly lives up to its name, were I to offer a simple review I would say "crisp, light, and exceptionally hoppy." I like it, but will see about adding some extra body to it next time. I am storing the 6 cases of 22oz bottles in an unused chest freezer on the back porch, and last night I began to worry if perhaps the might freeze and explode. I checked the interior temp and noted that it was running about 13 degrees warmer than the outside - hovering just above freezing. I added a few heat packets - perhaps pointlessly - but not wishing to bring the beer inside (cool,heat,cool is bad for beer), I hoped the small heat supply would perhaps keep the temperature high enough to prevent a 6.5% alcohol solution from freezing.

As of this morning, both the beer and the chickens were doing fine. No frozen pipes and the house remained reasonably warm despite the fire burning out after I added a few logs around 2:30am. At that time I paused to look out the large windows in our dark bedroom. The porch lights shed just enough light into the winter wonderland to see the snow blanketed ground and innumerable nearby trees. Further in the distance I could see the see the silhouettes of conifers reaching skyward and touching the feet of a very brightly shinning Orion who was guarding the south eastern darkness. It was a beautiful scene and I enjoyed it immensely before crawling back into the warmth of flannel sheets draping a log framed bed.

Things are a far cry from the summer-like weather in which we initially fell in love with this property. But, God will have to test us further to have us reconsider the losses of suburban life...the gains - like the Christmas card view outside last night - sustain us still.

Please, though Lord, do not consider this a request or invitation for more nasty weather. As I write, a new front is on its way which threatens to bring more snow and wind. Seattle could be in for another brutal commute home, and the rural side of life, while perhaps lacking the awful traffic, will worry about power, falling trees, and icy roads that will never, never, never see a plow or sand.

The Trooper has been locked in 4WD for three days now, and has performed like a...well, like a real Trooper. I am amazed at how she has managed her way through some pretty ugly looking roads without even a fishtail to speak of. She is decidedly not the same SUV I had in Bothell, no longer having a boat to pull she has readily adopted a new mission in life. Armed with a chainsaw, I reckon we will make it home tonight.