It’s cold and frosty here in Colorado. We are in the middle of a blizzard – the largest in nine years.

I’ve been without any internet access all day due to our power lines being weighted down by wet heavy snow. We live in a very old area with only a few homes and our power lines will probably never get buried, so our internet and phone goes out on a regular basis.

When we first moved here we were on a party line. Four of our neighbors shared one phone line with us and when we wanted to call our family we had to yell at the drunk alcoholic who lived down the road and stayed on the phone for hours listening in on other peoples’ calls.

We didn’t have cable, in fact we had one TV station that came in via rabbit ears, the internet was still years away and I kept our books on ledger sheets.

This wasn’t all that long ago, it was the eighties – the decade of Regan, Madonna and Michael Douglas in Wall Street. He was a confirmed bachelor and children were not in either of our radars yet.

Today it feels like going back to those simpler times. Our satellite TV is out, internet is down, and I’m writing this by hand as we are on and off without electricity and when I’m able to type and post this on the blog, I will.

Luckily we’ve got a wood burner stove.

None of this bothers me much for a day or two. We’ve got enough food for emergencies, and a shelter and are staying warm.

I think about the homeless families, and the life that K may have had in and out of shelters.

That is the life that my ex-foster child, Rick does have.

It makes me sad – even if he is with his mom – it’s a life they shouldn’t have to live.

I wonder about those who live without shelter, water, electric, food on a daily basis.

Tonight or tomorrow we’ll have all the conveniences of internet and phone and TV and electricity. Life will go on for us as a normal family in 2006 USA.

I'll get on track with the Weight off later today...