"In the depth of winter, I finally learned within me there lay an invincible summer." - Albert Camus

Ok, so technically it isn't winter anymore but I must protest this weather. I normally don't rail against the cold and snow (unless the roads haven't been plowed) but it I find it hard to have the same cheery attitude when my furnace isn't working. "What?" you say, shocked and amazed. That's right; on Saturday our furnace stopped working. The blower worked but it would only blow cold air. I followed the directions on the furnace to restart it but it was to no avail. I finally turned it off so that at least cold air wouldn't constantly be coming into every room. Sunday was a very cold day. I called my landlord, who then called a furnace repairman in his ward to come over. He finally showed up around 9pm on Sunday. He "fixed" it. (It's in quotations since it only remained fixed for one hour.) By the time I went to bed, it was in the low 50's. When I woke up, the thermometer read 48. It took me almost a half an hour to get out of bed on Monday morning because of the cold. I returned from FHE that night to a very, very cold house and took a luke-warm shower. (Sadly, my roommates also wanted to take showers to warm up but beat me to the punch.) I crawled into bed and almost started to let a case of the grumps overrun me when the furnace repairman showed up around 10pm (he was at his real job until then.) Luckily, and I'm knocking on wood as I type this, he worked some magic and furnace has (and will) continue to work. It is now a balmy 68 degrees in the house. I feel comfortable walking around without a coat and slippers.
I must admit that, though trying as it was to be cold, it made me appreciate that we have a furnace at all. I can't imagine what it must have been like 200 years ago when only fireplaces were used for warmth. One chill could lead to sickness and death. If you wanted a hot bath, someone had to bring water inside and boil it on a stove. I don't know that I would have survived. On one had, I had a stubborn streak a mile wide. I may have lived just to cause problems for others, but I suspect that I might have died from exposure when out walking or consumption. Anyway, this experience has taught me to appreciate the modern conveniences available to me. (Hopefully I will keep this in mind the next time I start to complain about how slow my computer is or how there wasn't enough hot water for a long shower.) I am going to keep a "summery" attitude when the "winter" moments of life come up.
On another note, I really want it to warm up so I can grow something. I still haven't finished weeding my many gardens and I'm anxious to plant something.