10/21

It was very blustery overnight, and the electricity was off until about 8 AM.  They have frequent power outages here, especially in the winter, with the heavy snows.  So it was cereal and milk for breakfast, and not Brita's good chocolate malt-o-meal!  I rode along with her and the boys to school, then the 2 of us attended a yoga class at a studio in Squaw Valley.  It was a nice easy-going class, which was good because I don't know much about yoga!

Before going home, we stopped off at Mountain Hardware in Truckee to look for a curtain rod.  The selection was very select, i.e., not much to choose from, but we brought one home and Bob installed it above the door to the patio.  All the other windows in the house have shades, so the door was the only thing left to cover.  Brita picked out a pair of drapes online, so we are hoping that they will look good once they arrive.  Shopping for Brita has changed drastically when they moved to Truckee.  There is no Target, no Walmart, no Costco, no Kohl's and very limited fast food.  I imagine there are zoning restrictions intended to keep that small-town feeling in Truckee.  If you drive about an hour east to Reno, you can find all of that and more.  It seems similar to the combo of Whitefish and Kalispell, MT.  Whitefish is the spot for the small-town feel and 25 miles away in Kalispell, you can get all the big box stores.  

The boys were dropped off after school (Brita carpools with another mom) and we got to hang out with the kids for awhile again.  We made a good supper of chicken, green beans and french fries.  Then, about bedtime, the power went out again!  Jack and Leo came out to the trailer to spend the night with us, but not before there were several fun stories.  Bob is real good at making up stories, and the kids beg for them!  The stories are created around some fantasy creatures named for the kids, and many escapades.  They laugh and giggle and offer many suggestions for the storyline as they go.  I tell a few of the stories, but really, I just like to listen to Bob create these fun times with the boys.  When I get involved, Leo likes to hijack the story and make it his own, so that's funny.  

When the power goes out, we still stay warm by running the furnace on propane fuel and we have the trailer batteries to give us enough power for some lights and the furnace fan, as long as we aren't wasteful with the electricity!  Most importantly, we have power to use our electric blanket!  This thing is a lifesaver!  Our mattress has a foam topper, and that gets really firm when it gets cold.  So we get the bed powered up and turn it off after we get tucked in.  Sweet dreams!