Limbs Be Gone

I was SO glad to see these guys (whoops...one was a woman) show up to take my tree debris away! I was a bit mesmerized by this crane type thing too. I've never seen one that could move quite like that. It really moves like an actual hand. I felt like a little kid watching them. I like watching heavy machinery...is that weird? :)

Say Good-bye Bones

You can TRY to run, Bones.....



You can TRY to climb back out of your box......



But you KNOW I'll win in the end, right Dude??


Good night, bony friend. Never fear....you'll be back next year. And we'll have so much fun with all new poses; costumes and antics....I promise! :)

Reprieve for the Turkey

When I was growing up Thanksgiving was a major event filled with immediate family; relatives you only saw once a year (and that was sometimes something to be thankful for); friends; and family pets wandering around getting under foot all day. As we got older and had our own kids, Thanksgiving became more complicated. Who do we visit for Thanksgiving and who do we see for Christmas was a common question that sometimes ended in squabbles between couples. But no matter if you came for dinner or came later for dessert...it was always an event.

I've always heard it's a traditional thing to have the man of the family slice the turkey. Dad never did. He didn't cook at all and I suppose in both my parents minds all things relating to food were Mom's territory. Mom sliced the bird every year. And now that I really think about it...how weird would it have been to see my Dad slice the bird?!

Mom loved to cook and we loved to eat. Unfortunately the meal always ended with clearing the table and doing the dishes. Such an exhausting day! And because my parents were pretty much sexist (back when nobody used the term or even cared what it meant) all the cleaning up was done by the girls while the 'men folk' headed for the couch; the recliner; a beer and the tv set. It wasn't long before they would fall asleep wherever they were lounging. At first I envied them, eventually I grew to resent it and now I just refuse to do it.

My Thanksgiving now is nothing like those days. I currently don't have the use of my dining room because of the dog pens being in that room. So since I got the girls I haven't had the big meal at my house. I've had it at other houses....I've even prepared it at my house and brought it elsewhere...but it hasn't been at my house.

And although I miss the old traditions from my childhood I'm content right now to order Chinese food and relax instead of going crazy to make a big meal and then taking hours to clean it all up. Frankly, I'm thankful for the break from the responsibility of it all and this time I went shopping instead of passing out in front of the tv. There were no crowds (like there will be on black Friday tomorrow); no traffic and I didn't have to elbow anyone at all to get the items I wanted. A good day for me and an even better day for the turkey that never came to my table! :)

Memory of Dad - 3

All of us kids spent every summer in and out of that brook that ran along one side of my parents property. The whole neighborhood had open access to that brook and on any given day there could be 8 or more kids in there splashing around and playing on the old tractor trailer tire tubes that we got from Sweeny's garage at the top of our street. I think back then they would hand them out for free...or at least I don't recall anyone paying for them. They just seemed to magically appear and we loved them. We never had more than two but it was possible to fit up to 4 kids on one tube so that was plenty. One very hot summer day we were all surprised when my father suddenly appeared standing on the bank...and he was wearing a BATHING SUIT! This was something we had never seen before...Dad in a bathing suit! He dropped his towel on the ground and executed a perfect dive straight into the deepest part of the brook.We were thrilled and shocked to see Dad do this..he'd never come swimming with us before and we didn't even know Dad could swim. As it turns out he was a damn good swimmer and even did a little showing off for us by standing on top of a metal bar to dive; the bar having been put in there long ago to help hold the embankment against floods. That was the one and only time I ever saw Dad swim and I never forgot it.

Check Yea Weapons At The Door

Long long ago in a land far away and sparsely populated by their kind.....a horde of amazon women descended upon an unsuspecting merchant's establishment. Much food was ordered and consumed and many laughs were enjoyed. The hapless waiter was unceremoniously dumped into the fray and ordered to attend them. Defenseless and completely at the mercy of these amazons he soon joined in with the merriment, having seen no way to escape it.

Some local inhabitants were less than amused by the raucous laughter and general merriment of the group but they were cowed by the amazons and dared not voice a complaint. Other locals joined in with the laughter and enjoyed the unusual spectacle in their realm....often laughing while banging their own tankards on tabletops demanding more ale as well.

When finally the meal was done and the tankards were drained it was time for the amazons to move on to their respective villages, to sleep the sleep of the seasoned warrior. They had lived another day and lived it well, enjoyed the company of their fellow warriors, strengthened the bonds of friendship and dominated all lands and people they encountered. Now the embers glow red beneath the dying fire as the innkeeper stifles a yawn and the waiter scrambles for coins tossed at his head before tucking them safely away. The friends bid farewell and move off into the night. The soft metal clinking of armor and weapons fades slowly with them.

Instead of Halloween...

I never for one minute thought Halloween would be snowed out. I never for even a second thought this snow was going to be anything more than just too early for my liking. Consequently I didn't fill my car with gas the night before. I didn't stock up on batteries; milk; bread; candles and all the various sundries that are standard stocking items for all predicted storms these days. I didn't do anything other than put my car in the garage for the night and take in most of the lawn items that need to come in before winter. I really had no clue that Mother Nature was about to wallop us like she did. What a meanie she turned out to be!

The next 5 days and nights turned out to be a scramble for candles; flashlights; batteries; and above all heat! First the snow had to be cleared away from steps; walk ways and driveway. But the mass of destroyed trees and downed power lines turned that ordinary winter chore into a nightmare. My yard was full of tree limbs and branches...mostly belonging to my neighbors. I shouldn't have been surprised by this because we'd spent the night of the storm listening to the constantly cracking of the trees outside and hoping nothing fell on my house. In that respect I was lucky. My one large tree in the front yard took a beating but it was still standing. The one tree in the back only lost one dead limb.


The girls (my dogs) were overly excited about the new snow..even though they were shivering with the cold. They turned into very large puppies and were bounding from one snow pile to the next. I had to almost drag them back into the house.

I had put my car into the garage the night before mainly because it's old and rain will sometimes get into the back causing that unpleasant musty smell. I baby that car to keep it going as long as possible. I didn't have any immediate need to leave the house because there was no work to go to and the roads were for the most part impassible. So it was over a day later that I had the sudden realization that my garage door is electric and how the hell was I going to get my car out? Luckily my boss told me there had to be a release mechanism there somewhere to bypass the lock. I found it eventually and was much relieved but that opened up new problems because as I stated earlier, I didn't fill my tank with gas before the storm. Gas was hard to come by due to the gas stations not having power. All the gas in the world won't be any help if you have no power to pump it. I lucked out and had gas delivered to me by a friend that was able to get out of state with one of my gas cans in tow. That problem was solved.

Next I had to get food stuffs that didn't need refrigeration and at least in theory could be cooked on the one little charcoal grill we had to use. Stop and Shop was opened under generator power and was selling nonperishable items. When I got there the place was swarming with people, there were no carriages and everything was in partial darkness. (there is something very creepy about being in a large store that is not fully lit...felt like something was going to jump out at you around every corner). I commandeered a carriage from a bewildered store employee after realizing I couldn't possibly get everything using a small basket. I think the survival mode was kicking in at this point. I needed that carriage; I took it. Sorry dude.
I ended up buying a lot of foods that I don't normally eat...mainly because I consider them crap. Oh well...desperate times call for desperate measures. Better to have a belly full of granola bars and soup than to have an empty belly.

Having obtained some of the basics I needed, I started to build a routine each day of starting the charcoal grill; waiting a lifetime for it to be hot enough to use; spending incredible amounts of time trying to make a cup of tea (only to have it lukewarm anyway or taste like charcoal); deciding what foods needed to be eaten first from the fridge and freezer; layering perishable items in a cooler with snow; handing out foods to friends and family that had generators so it wouldn't be wasted; rationing batteries and candles; clearing more tree debris each day; heating water to clean oneself as quickly and efficiently as possible (in a very cold room) and listening to endless automated phone messages from the town of Enfield. I quickly learned it is utterly exhausting to live this way. Not having the bare essentials of heat; hot water and electricity is demoralizing as well. The daily struggle at first was a challenge but quickly became a huge burden and eventually led to some level of depression and apathy. I began to wonder how the pioneers could have done it and realized although I could provide the basics for survival on my own it's the luxuries (like hot water and being warm) that make the difference in living well and just living. I am no pioneer woman!

Luckily for me a friend got power before me and I had a warm bed for two nights. I was even able to bring my dogs with me and they were grateful to be warm too. The first couple of days of playing in the snow dimmed considerably when they never got the chance to be warm. The poor dogs were shivering each morning despite my having loaded them up with bedding to sleep in and covering their pens with blankets as well. They just don't have the warm coats that a lot of other dogs have and I never considered buying them any 'doggy coats' for winter before. I was as ill equipped to keep them warm as I was to keep myself warm. So despite the fact they had to share an apartment with another dog they were as grateful as I was to have a warm place to sleep. As soon as they arrived they took over the available doggy bed; fashioned their bedding into a cozy sleeping spot and passed out..only waking for short bursts of play; potty calls and to enjoy the homemade treats I'd brought with me. They were as exhausted as I was.

The first night I stayed at my friends house I saw that power had been restored to part of my road. Unfortunately that power stopped literally two houses from mine. Nothing made me want to cry more than to see the line of street lights stop two houses from my house. I felt a mixture of hope and desperation seeing all the lights and I have to admit also anger. It's true you do start to form an attitude of 'me first' when desperation rears it's ugly head. I'd been hearing reports on the radio of people having violent and angry outbursts at gas stations; stores and on the roads. I understand that feeling now.

It was still another couple of days before power was restored to my house. I was heading back home to sleep in the cold again when I saw all the lights on in my house. Normally the waste of electricity would irritate me into scolding the culprit that had left the lights on. This time it was a welcome beacon in the desolate winter night. I was hooting and hollering and bouncing about in my car before I even pulled into the driveway. The dogs didn't understand what was going on but they started barking and bouncing around in the back as well. We had lights, we had heat and all would be well now. The house was still cold so the power hadn't been on long but it didn't matter anymore. I knew the nightmare was over.

It took days to clean up the mess created by living like that. Everything needed washing...and with HOT water instead of cold. Candles were stored away along with flashlights and extra blankets. And I've yet to get all the plastic bags of snow out of my freezer.( Hearing that little tip on the radio saved me from losing a lot of frozen meats.) It's amazing how well it worked to pack bags of snow in between and around the meats and veggies in my chest freezer. And that's just one thing I learned from this experience. From now on I'm going to have an emergency box to go to when the power is out. I'm stocking it with candles; flashlights (and a few batteries); blankets; plastic bags; camping equipment and such. I also will remember that I had less problems than some of my family members because I keep a little cash on hand for emergencies. My Dad taught me that. Everyone else around me had issues buying gas and food because the ATM machines didn't have power and they didn't have cash. I'm going to keep large bottles of water in my freezer going forward. It will help insulate the freezer and provide necessary water if we lose power. I was lucky in some respects. I was able to flush my toilets and I had running water because I'm on town water. People with wells weren't so lucky. I also had a working telephone because I never got rid of my land line and corded phones. Cordless phones and a lot of cell phones were useless. It pays not to be too dependent on technology and I came out ahead of the game because of my non-dependence. I've always made it a policy to not be too dependent on any technology or to at least have a back up plan in your head. I don't own a cell phone and you don't miss what you've never had.

Now that I was 're-electrified' I felt it was only right to take in others that didn't have power. Two of my son's friends moved in a couple of hours after I got power. An inflatable air mattress was employed along with blankets and hot food. Everyone was warm and happy and soon were sound asleep. My water heater decided to act up by spewing water all over the basement so I was up most of the night waiting for a repair guy and then trying to placate the nasty tempered fellow once he was here. In the end he made the repairs; told me a few stories about customers that have yelled at him; wrote me up my bill and departed. The house was warming up again and I was finally able to go to bed.

And during all this turmoil and recovery and all the days of creeping to work driving around and sometimes under scary trees laying on power lines and huge mounds of brush and tree limbs my thoughts kept sliding back to Halloween. This all started a couple of days before Halloween and so there was no Halloween. I still haven't packed away my costume boxes or deflated good old 'bones' the inflatable skeleton. He's sitting crumpled up with the loss of air, in a corner of the room still wearing the pirate costume I dressed him in and looking much the way I feel inside about missing Halloween this year. I didn't get a chance to wear my new costume or hand out candy but I'll be primed for all the Halloween fun next year. We're sliding quickly into Thanksgiving now and I'm still feeling the loss of all that fun. I'm also feeling a little bit afraid of what we may have coming our way this winter.

So when I finally get around to getting the rest of the bags of snow out of my freezer and packing all my Halloween paraphernalia away I'll be sure to get that emergency box ready too. And I'll be keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that we have a very little bit of snow this winter.

Bones

Bones arrived a little before Halloween and made himself completely at home!
















But when the party's over...it's really over.