Work continues on the cleanup from the end-of-October show storm. The latest effort was borrowing the neighbor’s log splitter (and the neighbor, who claimed he was having fun!). This truckload is far less than half of what was split from the fallen oak and the giant trunk is still standing. By my estimates, the remaining trunk is over 15 feet tall and I cannot reach around it. By hubby’s estimates there’s over a ton of wood left in the standing trunk. Perhaps you cannot tell from the photo, but this was a huge, once beautiful red oak. I counted rings on one of the upper “branches” (that being a relative term since I couldn’t reach around it either) and found the branch over 60 years old. Neighbor thinks the tree was probably 100 years old. When the trunk is cut, I’ll count the rings there too. And my guess is the arborist will also be interested in dating the tree.
Got firewood? Yes, but for next year, and the year after, and . . . . . . . .
Oh my. I’ve been busy and haven’t posted anything in this blog since the day that power was restored from Hurricane Irene after 5 days out.
And GUESS WHAT? It’s Day 5 of our power outage from the freak snowstorm that happened on October 29th — almost exactly two months since Hurricane Irene. And WHY does everything have to have a cute name?
Nor’easter Alfred — okay, well the meteorologists feel they have to name major storms. But, Snowtober? Really? Trust me, it’s not funny and there is nothing cute about what I see outside my windows and as I drive around my town.
Feeling that a picture is worth a thousand (or more) words and having nothing to do until my volunteer shift starts at the Ridgefield Emergency Shelter (might as well volunteer there — they have power, light and heat), I’m posting a few. Borrowing power and a table (for the price of a slice of quiche and a glass of iced tea) from Tazza Cafe.
The west side of our house is like a botanical garden in the spring with mature, 30-year old ornamental trees that still all had their leaves on when 20 inches of heavy wet snow (yes I said 20 inches) fell on Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning
Kousa dogwood bows down
So we are not sure that the kousa dogwood will recover. The snow is off it now, but it is still quite bowed and may not straighten up. The Jenny Wrens have a house in there and raise a family there every year! Crying a lot of tears over this bird habitat.
The kwanza cherry needed a little pruning, but this wasn’t what we had in mind. One big branch (not shown here) off to the right broke off completely. This branch is now free of snow and much higher, but the tree’s eventual fate is unknown at this time. Spring will be the telling factor if it lives through the winter.
Kwanza cherry blocks the front door
And the following photo — well it really says it all. This WAS a weeping cherry right outside the front door. All its branches are in a pile in the driveway by the garage. It was waaaay to sad to take that picture.
Former weeping cherry -- now we are the ones weeping
So, the power is off here and the latest “robo-call” from town hall says that CL&P (our power company) is committing to 99% of the town being restored by Sunday at 11 pm. The bad news here is that this morning, the prediction was for the same level by Saturday night. The good news is that weather is quite good – perhaps a little cool for November, but there is all that snow on the ground making things quite chilly at night. It is slowly melting. Good thing – we have a lot of weekend work to do. The giant oak tree that fell straight down the driveway was cut up (by Hubby and a helper) with a couple of chainsaws (ours and the neighbors) and a lot of manual labor. The neighbor and I lined the driveway with the branches that Hubby cut off and the trunk sections were rolled just to the edge. Lots of wood splitting to do. And lots of firewood for next year.
So, I’m babysitting the generator and we’re enjoying quiet evenings (well, if you can tune out the roar of that generator motor) reading and watching candles flicker. This big blown glass item is from Newport, RI. We have two matching ones with small oil lamps in them. Nice and restful.
I call this photo – might as well enjoy the candlelight
Might as well enjoy the candlelight
(Note that the funny black line on the candle globe is not really there. Some artifact appeared when I edited the picture and I’m too lazy to go fix it at this time).
And this morning, Hubby took the 6 am wake-up call and fired up the generator. Wonderful guy let me sleep for a while before he woke me back up to come downstairs and begin my day of generator supervision. It happened to be before sunrise and I happened to look out and see a beautiful pre-dawn sight to the east. The camera didn’t quite capture the vividness of the red color, and I was in a sleepy, grumpy mood as I began day 5 without power, phone, or cell phone, so I named this one “Sunrise over devastation”
Sunrise over devastation
As I was taking the photos and watching the sunrise and watching Hubby drive down the driveway to the land of light and power and heat (also known as his office), I was reminded that God is always with us and when we aren’t paying attention he is sending us messages.
So the beautiful pre-dawn light is reminding me that —
– I should be thankful for each and every day.
– That if we are lucky, there is always tomorrow.
– There is very little that can’t be fixed or overcome if we look at it the right way.
– And that everything that we have actually belongs to God — and he just really made a mess of his yard! But we’ll ask for his help while we clean it up and wait for spring to see what things look like, and replant, and start over, and be thankful for all that we have!
And, I’m reminded of the words I heard after Hurricane Irene —
Of course I have POWER – the power of compassion, community, love, — and I could go on and on.
It’s electricity I don’t have (and phone and cell), but you get the point!
Was out in the yard and garden tending to the birds (filling their feeders), flowers and veggies (giving them water and a dose of fertilizer) and talking to myself (out loud – don’t tell anyone) and occasionally singing a few snatches of some song. While on the front walk at my concrete planters, talking to those flowers that are doing well and scolding the blue ones that are not looking so good, I heard a frog croak in response from the pond.
Yes, Phinneas wanted to chat a bit and thought that perhaps I should stop talking to inanimate objects. So, I took myself to the rock wall on the back side of the pond about 3 feet from where Phinneas sat hidden in the reeds. How did I know it was Phinneas? Well, I hate to admit it, but, I recognized his deep, manly (frogly?) voice. And the fact that he actively exchanged words with me in our conversation. I would speak and he loudly croaked in his Leopard Frog dialect. Then I’d speak, and he’d have more to say. And he had a lot to say. Our back-and-forth conversation actually lasted about 10 minutes. Then, it got too hot where I was sitting and Phinneas had told me all that had been going on pond side, so I went in.
Can’t believe that I actually was called to the pond for a visit by a frog.
So — work progresses here on the final stages of the big kitchen remodel of 2010/2011. The tile back splash was put up today and will be grouted tomorrow. The painter was back doing the outside work on the new bay windows and the new detached garage front that hubby installed a week ago. And some spring flowers are blooming — irises in the pond, wild daisies next to it. It was a beautiful, absolutely beautiful day here today. One could not help rejoicing in the beauty of a perfect spring day.
The day in photos:
tile back splash the view from my kitchen window -- painter's legswild daisyLadyHoover
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home — — —
Back at the end of April, I set an arbitrary deadline to be home for Memorial Day weekend, and I made it.
I said good-bye to Des Moines, Iowa, but just for a short time — — —
"goodbye Des Moines, for now"
Sunday, the first day I was here, was not great weather wise, but neither hubby nor I cared. We spent the day relaxing, watching the rain, and went out for dinner at Southwest Cafe, one of our favorite hangouts. I also picked some wildflowers from my garden — — —
And on Memorial Day, hubby and I went to the parade here in Ridgefield. Lots of armed service veterans at the front of the parade followed by the town firetrucks. Some wisdom from the back of the truck — — —
Never Forget
Lots of flags too — waving everywhere — every parade unit — half the people on the street — almost all of the kids — — —
And, the last thing packed into my bag before I left was a crocheted gift from my sister’s friend — some kitchen towel wisdom — and probably the only reason that I have been able to hold it together the past 9 1/2 weeks — faith.
kitchen towel wisdom
“All things are possible for those who believe”. Without the faith and prayers of my hubby, friends, church friends, and the church prayer team, I don’t know how I would have come through the last few weeks. And the prayers continue . . . . . . .
Why would you dedicate an entire day to a groundhog? Supposedly, Puxatawny Phil comes out sees his shadow (or not) and goes back in for the rest of winter. No matter what, Spring is still 6 weeks away. I saw the groundhog on TV this morning and he didn’t look too happy to be out of his burrow. Cannot blame him. It is icy, and cold around here and we’re supposed to get at least 3 more inches of snow tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to spring — except for one thing. At that point the ground hogs really will come out of their burrows and start eating my garden and the battle for the plants and veggies will begin all over again.
The leaves are quite pretty here, but a gentle breeze started baring the trees today. The Japanese maple is still hanging onto some beautiful red leaves.
Gardening, particularly working in flower gardens is one of my favorite things. For some reason I am a bit behind in getting everything planted and am now putting annual flowering plants here and there where the property needs a bit of color. Last Sunday, Hubby and I took the garden tractor and wagon down to the bottom of the drive and worked on the very steep flower bed there. I planted some impatiens and hubby did some bush trimming around the mail1313box. All-in-all a much improved driveway entrance. We don’t really own the property down there, just have an easement for the drive, but no one else does anything, so we try to keep it looking nice. We came back up to the top of the drive and started each working on his/her own projects. I decided that the old wheel barrow at the bend in the driveway needed to have some plants put in it and started digging up the soil. Apparently a yellow jacket had made his home there and was none too happy to have me rooting around in it. He buzzed around and I swatted at him and this battle went on for a bit and he eventually flew away. But, apparently, not too far, as suddenly he swooped in from somewhere, landed on my right hand, and stung me through a very tough gardening glove. Ouch! — or some such utterance! I took some benadryl immediately and went back to work with hubby instructed to watch for any weird symptoms showing on me and to listen for further calls of help. Well, it’s Wednesday and my hand is still swollen and when I use it, gets even more so. It’s a constant battle with Mother Nature around here.
Hubby and I worked hard in our pond, yard and garden on Saturday and were enjoying a relaxing Sunday afternoon being “trapped” inside by thunder and lightning storms in the area. I was sitting in my favorite chair by the east windows in our living room, reading and watching TV, when something moving outside those windows caught my attention. One of this year’s fawns was approaching a flower bed by my patio where I grow the plants and flowers that “deer don’t eat”. What I have discovered is that the fawns don’t know what deer don’t eat and must taste and try everything at least once. This spring I have found tops eaten off of plants that deer have never touched before. I had found the outside edges of this plant munched on earlier this week and asked hubby to spray the area with Bobex (a horrible smelling liquid that deters deer from eating the plants you spray it on). It was amusing to watch this fawn start to nibble on this plant and then sort of spit and stick out his tongue. You could almost read his thoughts —- “this plant tasted much better on Thursday!”.
I ran and got my camera — and this photo’s poor quality is due to the fact that I was photographing the fawn through a not-so-clean window. And no, I did not zoom this photo — that’s how close he was to the house. His nose has just been pulled back from the funny smelling plant and he seems to be staring at it accusingly. So, perhaps now he knows this is one of the plants that deer don’t eat.
And on the other side of the house the fish in our pond were in what I called before “crazy fish” mode. Swimming in circles, darting around the plants and through the falls, and swimming about as fast as I think they probably can swim. We do have a hatch of very tiny, almost invisible, fish in the pond from an earlier spawning and if hubby is correct in that this circular swimming and chasing of one fish in particular is spawning behavior — well, there are more to come.
