As I posted on Facebook, I had the day from hell yesterday. Just about every winter calamity came together, most notably that it was so cold during the night of Sunday to Monday that the propane wouldn’t liquify so it was 40F in the rig Monday morning and it was so cold Monday that I never got the temp to stay higher than 50. I also had to spend almost two hours digging my way out of the driveway and the laneway and I had to drive to town and back in whiteout conditions.

The biggest mistake I made yesterday was to repark the truck in the garage instead of on Main Street. When I went outside today, all the dry powder from the the surrounding lots had blown in my driveway and I had almost two feet of hard packed snow where yesterday there was bare ground. A solid hour of moving snow got rid of that and I got my truck into an alley where it promptly floundered in snow. It took two hours to get it out (note to self: extra weight over the rear axles + carpets for traction + prayers to the driving gods + tranny in second).

So all that to say that I parked my truck on Main Street this afternoon so I can go out tomorrow to get more propane and run other errands without wasting time getting myself dug out.

Which brings me to the subject of this post (I apologize to all the Facebookers who had to endure the recap *g*).

Caroline emailed me late afternoon to ask if I was okay since my truck was parked on Main Street. I replied with a short version of my story and said that I now needed a sled to haul my propane tanks. She said I could borrow theirs. I replied that I would be right over to get it so that I could go to town tomorrow without stopping at their place first. So I went over there around 4:30 thinking I was just going to get a sled.

I agreed to take off my boots, coat, and hat so I could have a cup of coffee. Laura arrived shortly thereafter and it was so warm by the wood stove that I took off my snow pants and extra sweater. I also accepted another cup of coffee.

Then Charles brought out the wine. Or maybe Caroline invited us for supper before that. I’m not sure. But wine and an invitation to stay for dinner happened.

Much wine drinking ensued. Then Caroline made sure we were well fed with a homemade pizza topped with pineapple, ham, and red onion, which just happens to be my favourite way to have pizza. She even remembered not to put mushrooms on my slices.

More wine drinking ensued. Then Caroline brought out the chocolate, which required the consumption of more wine (I should pause here to say I was having small glasses, so I probably had two glasses total over four hours, fine for a work night!).

And then Laura looked at her watched and went, “Crap! It’s 10 to 9!” So we bundled up to trundle home.

As I headed out the door, I said to Caroline, “I’m sure I had a reason to come here besides getting warm, stuffed, and drunk.”

We had to think for a minute about what that reason was.

I love these people.