I am blessed that a man has never beaten me and neither would I allow it. I worked at the domestic violence shelter last night and one of the women is still swollen from a beating over a week ago. I can not imagine being with a guy on purpose who is capable of that. ------------- I was reading The Long Winter to the boys last night and after I sent them to bed I had to keep reading. It is one of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books. I have read it before, but it still had me enthralled. I couldn't imagine what it must have been like that winter. I remember how cold it was in here a year ago when the heater would quit working and it would be 53 when I would wake up. It was 40 below 0 in an uninsulated house with just a coal stove for heat for them. You would never feel warm. They were running out of food and fuel with no prospect of getting more. They spoke of being so dependent on things that they didn't used to need, like kerosene, coal, railroads. Pa said the world is changing so fast. I thought that was only the beginning of the fast change. I'm not sure we could get by if something drastic happened like that winter. I hope we don't have to find out.