it to the cow. While she got started on her breakfast, he fetched a three-legged milking stool and a clean bucket from the tack room. His hands were freezing, but he couldnât milk with gloves.
âSorry about the cold hands, old girl,â he apologized to the cow before he started.
When heâd finished that job he headed toward the house. Steam rose up from the top of the warm milk, but it didnât do much to melt the snow coming down even harder than it had been.
âAnd itâs not letting up for three days!â he mumbled.
When he opened the back door into the kitchen, a scraggly mutt raced in ahead of him. Ada hadnât mentioned a dog and he hadnât seen the animal before, but there he was, ugly as sin, shaking snow all over the kitchen floor.
***
Sage was an early riser so sleeping until eight oâclock had given her a stinging headache. She grabbed her forehead and snuggled back into the covers, but the pain didnât go away. She needed a handful of aspirin and a cup of strong black coffee. She seldom won a fight with Grand when they were playing on an even field. A blasted headache would give her grandmother a real advantage. She jerked on a Christmas sweatshirt printed with Tweety Bird all tangled up in a strand of lights on the front and pulled on a pair of gray sweat bottoms. She finished off the outfit with fluffy red socks from her dresser drawer.
Grand hadnât even stopped long enough to get a fire going. That could wait. Coffee came before warmth. Sage passed the fireplace and went straight to the kitchen. She filled the electric coffee maker, added a filter and two scoops of coffee, and flipped the switch.
âWell, shit!â she exclaimed.
Old habits sure died hard. If the lights wouldnât work, neither would the electric coffeepot. And that left out the washing machine, the clothes dryer, and the electric churn to make butter, too.
The fact that the electricity was out wasnât anything new in Palo Duro Canyon. If the wind blew too hard, and it did real often in the winter, the electricity went out. Grand said that if someone sneezed too loud up in Silverton or in Claude it went out, so no electricity in a blizzard was no big surprise. Thatâs why they heated the house as much as possible with the fireplace and cooked with propane.
Sage opened a cabinet door and removed the old Pyrex percolator, filled it with water, put a filter in the basket, added coffee, and set it on the back burner of the stove. She wasnât as good as Grand about knowing just how long it needed to perk, but it would be coffee in a few minutes even if it might taste like mud from the cow lot.
She found the aspirin bottle to the left of the sink and swallowed four with half a glass of orange juice. While the coffee perked, she chose several good-sized logs from beside the fireplace and got a big fire going.
âBless Grandâs heart for bringing in wood to dry,â she said.
She sat down in one of the two rocking chairs pulled up to the fireplace and warmed her hands by the heat. And a sudden pang of guilt twisted its way around her heart. Grand was out doing chores in this godforsaken weather and she was lollygagging around getting warm. She dug her cell phone out of her coat pocket and punched in the speed dial for her grandmother to see what she could do to help and a message popped up immediately saying there was no service available.
Of course there was no service. Damn storm!
At least Grand would come inside to a good fire to warm her cold feet by and a pot of coffee all perked and ready. Poor old girl would be miserable cold and she hadnât even had one cup of coffee yet. It was going to be a long morning for sure.
At seventy she had no business out in weather like this without any help. If Sage knew exactly where she was in the process, she would suit up and go help. But those pesky hogs wouldnât tell her theyâd already been fed and
âSorry about the cold hands, old girl,â he apologized to the cow before he started.
When heâd finished that job he headed toward the house. Steam rose up from the top of the warm milk, but it didnât do much to melt the snow coming down even harder than it had been.
âAnd itâs not letting up for three days!â he mumbled.
When he opened the back door into the kitchen, a scraggly mutt raced in ahead of him. Ada hadnât mentioned a dog and he hadnât seen the animal before, but there he was, ugly as sin, shaking snow all over the kitchen floor.
***
Sage was an early riser so sleeping until eight oâclock had given her a stinging headache. She grabbed her forehead and snuggled back into the covers, but the pain didnât go away. She needed a handful of aspirin and a cup of strong black coffee. She seldom won a fight with Grand when they were playing on an even field. A blasted headache would give her grandmother a real advantage. She jerked on a Christmas sweatshirt printed with Tweety Bird all tangled up in a strand of lights on the front and pulled on a pair of gray sweat bottoms. She finished off the outfit with fluffy red socks from her dresser drawer.
Grand hadnât even stopped long enough to get a fire going. That could wait. Coffee came before warmth. Sage passed the fireplace and went straight to the kitchen. She filled the electric coffee maker, added a filter and two scoops of coffee, and flipped the switch.
âWell, shit!â she exclaimed.
Old habits sure died hard. If the lights wouldnât work, neither would the electric coffeepot. And that left out the washing machine, the clothes dryer, and the electric churn to make butter, too.
The fact that the electricity was out wasnât anything new in Palo Duro Canyon. If the wind blew too hard, and it did real often in the winter, the electricity went out. Grand said that if someone sneezed too loud up in Silverton or in Claude it went out, so no electricity in a blizzard was no big surprise. Thatâs why they heated the house as much as possible with the fireplace and cooked with propane.
Sage opened a cabinet door and removed the old Pyrex percolator, filled it with water, put a filter in the basket, added coffee, and set it on the back burner of the stove. She wasnât as good as Grand about knowing just how long it needed to perk, but it would be coffee in a few minutes even if it might taste like mud from the cow lot.
She found the aspirin bottle to the left of the sink and swallowed four with half a glass of orange juice. While the coffee perked, she chose several good-sized logs from beside the fireplace and got a big fire going.
âBless Grandâs heart for bringing in wood to dry,â she said.
She sat down in one of the two rocking chairs pulled up to the fireplace and warmed her hands by the heat. And a sudden pang of guilt twisted its way around her heart. Grand was out doing chores in this godforsaken weather and she was lollygagging around getting warm. She dug her cell phone out of her coat pocket and punched in the speed dial for her grandmother to see what she could do to help and a message popped up immediately saying there was no service available.
Of course there was no service. Damn storm!
At least Grand would come inside to a good fire to warm her cold feet by and a pot of coffee all perked and ready. Poor old girl would be miserable cold and she hadnât even had one cup of coffee yet. It was going to be a long morning for sure.
At seventy she had no business out in weather like this without any help. If Sage knew exactly where she was in the process, she would suit up and go help. But those pesky hogs wouldnât tell her theyâd already been fed and
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