I might be a Mainer if....

You wake up at three o'clock in the morning to take a hairdryer to the water pipes in the basement.

Not only did I take the time to slowly heat the water in the pipes, I took sentry duty on the kitchen sink. From three twenty to five ten I sat at the kitchen table and read I chapter from Howard Zinn's 'A People's History of the United States of America.'

With a head phone bud in one ear running through the 16 songs I have programmed on it, and the four songs that came on it (An annoying detail that I missed as I skimmed the user guide.) The other ear was finely tuned to the constant thin stream of water that was pouring from the sink behind me.

Along with the distractions my mind was a ball of putty because it only had three hours of sleep, and was much accustomed to being asleep at this very time of day. Needless to say the reading of the pages went slowly and from time to time I had to fight of I dream that played in my mind while my eyes where wide open.

At nine o'clock the night before I was sure that this would happen. I was made aware of the fact that the plastic around the house had fallen slightly. I am not sure what divine action took place to make sure that the six feet of the plastic, to fall under snow, had to be the the exact area that needs the most protection when it comes to making sure that the pipes will not freeze. Not only is it that corner that the water comes in, there is a crack in the foundation that carries wind strait to the pipes and a window next to the pipe as it runs across the wall.

Even though I find this the worst task of my winter duties (happening at least once a year.), it is a story that will propel me to make sure my children will never have to do it, and a story that I will tell them when they complain about shoveling the walkway in the middle of the day under a warming sun. A story that I will tell my grand children as I pay them to do the very same job that had been a chore for my children.

I am the Official Pipe Defroster,

-NK