--- a/weatherlog/http_writer.py	Thu Oct 17 22:28:12 2019 -0400
+++ b/weatherlog/http_writer.py	Thu Jan 16 23:52:30 2020 -0500
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 
 from . import logger
 
+TIMEOUT_SECS = 60
+
 
 class HTTPWriter(logger.RemoteWriter):
 
@@ -18,7 +20,14 @@
     def write(self, readings: t.Iterable[t.Dict[str, object]]) -> None:
         try:
             data = b''.join(map(logger.bson_encode, readings))
-            response = self._session.post(self._url, data=self._preamble + data)
+            response = self._session.post(
+                self._url, data=self._preamble + data, timeout=TIMEOUT_SECS)
             response.raise_for_status()
+            contents = response.json()
+            if contents.get('status') != 'OK':
+                raise logger.RemoteWriteError(
+                    f'Invalid server response: {contents!r}')
         except requests.exceptions.RequestException as rex:
             raise logger.RemoteWriteError("Coulndn't write values") from rex
+        except ValueError as ve:
+            raise logger.RemoteWriteError('Invalid JSON response') from ve