FIRE!! and the reluctant house guest

I was awakened in the night by a desperate plea for help......................

Two fires had roared in both our wood stoves last night as the bitter cold brought the thermometer to his knees displaying an astounding 20 below zero. Safe and snug in my bed, I was sleeping peacefully in the strong, capable arms of my beloved. Suddenly, a shrill ring interrrupted the serenity of the night. I rolled over again for the 3rd time. "Why won't that phone quit ringing?!" I wondered. I had already turned down a day shift for today - yesterday and I imagined that maybe the message didn't get passed down. After what seemed like an eternity of ringing, my husband drug his carcass out of the bed and stumbled out to get the phone. Two different lines were simultaneously ringing in. I knew this couldn't be good. A bad feeling settled in the pit of my stomach and I braced myself saying "hello" all the while wondering what kind of Emergency I might be plunging into on this bitter cold night.
"Do you have a pumper truck?" asked a desperate voice on the line. It was the new bride and her house was on fire. Her husband had awakened to seeing sparks on the ceiling, miraculously. After seeing her to safety, he, soon along with the help of their extended family began fighting the flames themselves. They don't have running water there, so it had to be painstakingly hauled in buckets from the house near by. In the relentless cold, the fire radios had some how gone down. No one had responded to the 911 call. I promised her that I would make sure the fire department would respond and gave her my word that I would personally start making phone calls. My husband and son threw on their yellow Nomex and headed out the door. Before long, I had located a few people who had mostly already been called and even jostled out of bed by neighbors. It was a 45 minute drive to the fire department alone, and then to the house. Hope for any structure with those kinds of distances and times is slim. Thankfully, the family had gotten the fire out before they arrived. Mostly, they hosed inches of water onto the roof and tore down chunks of sheet rock. The bitter cold froze water in its hoses as the men tried to draft and prevented several from even starting their trucks to get to the fire. After the men finished, the family began the difficult task of sorting through waterlogged belongings.

A rather unusual house guest has come to visit. My husband agreed to...er... baby sit a pug so his parents could go on a cruise. At first I didn't know what to think of the idea of sharing my home with the odd looking creature. But his mother came bearing chocolate, so my heart softened a little to the creatures odd looking features.... My husband and children are quite taken with the beast and are surrounding it watching as it makes odd snorting sounds. Earlier today, Art Dog was told to put "a coat, mittens and ear muffs on him" before taking him out to pee. After putting the coat on, he looked around for the mutts accessories (it was just the coat). Then my daughter showed him a drawer full of steak that the parents had sent along telling him that it was the dog's meals. Really, the steak was a gift for us, but by then Art Dog didn't know what to think. Though the pug appeared rather reluctant at the idea of staying, he seems to be enjoying his place in the center of every ones attention.