Sunday, November 30, 2014

Electrified

We finally have power, as of about noon yesterday. It was out for 68 hours, and, in concert with the big snowstorm that caused the outage, it spoiled our travel plans for the holidays.

We made the best of it. We stayed home the first night, in the hope that the power would come back on during the night. When it didn’t we went into town in search of breakfast and found it at Dunkin’ Donuts, the only place in town serving food on the holiday. After breakfast and a look at the electric company’s Web site, we decided to take advantage of our timeshare in Wolfeboro (they had power; they usually have power when we don’t) and spend Thanksgiving someplace with heat, light, running water, and a working kitchen.

Karen prepared a lovely, if not traditional, meal of bacon-wrapped steak, wild rice, broccoli, and asparagus, and we splurged on a mousse cake for dessert. DVDs and video games kept us entertained until bedtime, and we were all able to get a good night’s sleep, more or less.

In the morning, I checked the electric company’s Web site. Seeing that our neighboring town had only 5% of their customers still out, I reasoned that they should have us up and running by late the same day, so we checked out of the room and headed to the library, then home.

The power didn’t come back up. Sigh. After another cold night at home, we went off the some local craft fairs, sitting down to lunch at one of them, and then back to the library, where we could charge phones and tablets and take advantage of their Internet connection. Finally, around noon, the power was back up and we went home. We had our little turkey breast and the baked stuffed clams we were supposed to take to New Jersey. We’ve been going through the food in the freezer and the refrigerator. Most of it seems to have survived.

In other adventures, Tom’s car broke down last week, with a charge light and no heat from the vents. We limped it almost halfway to the mechanic when it stopped running. He had to have it towed in. Fortunately, the problem turned out to be two broken belts, and not terribly expensive, so Tom is back on the road and not completely broke.

On the other hand, our washer/dryer stack is down for the count, and we’re replacing it as soon as the one we’re buying from Lowes can be delivered. This Thanksgiving we’re thankful for sales and employee discounts. Meanwhile, harkening back to my bachelor days, we’re haunting the local laundromat. At least I get to catch up on some of my reading.

And, finally, the snow did a number on the temporary garage where Karen’s trailer is kept. The trailer is okay, but I’m going to have to add some wooden support to the now bent metal frame of the shed, and keep a close eye on future storms. By next year the trailer will be done and we’ll have a deck overhead to protect it, so we just have to get through this Winter.

Which is normal for us, as it is for many here in northern New England: Winter is just what we do while waiting for Spring.

Friday, November 14, 2014

Winterizing

The first snow arrived last night, though it wasn’t much even as first snows go (or is it goes?), and wasn’t worth all the scrambling we did to prepare for it. But real snow storms are coming soon enough, so the effort wasn’t entirely wasted.

I thought the boys might have a delayed opening today, but the roads were so warm that the snow didn’t stick to them at all, and the bus arrived right on time. As it turns out, it would have been just a bit easier for me if there had been a delay, because I pulled the boys out of school early for dental exams in Rochester, and had there been a delay it would have saved me a trip into town to get them.

Hardly anything happens in New Hampshire, especially here in the Lakes Region, that involves less driving.

I know it’s been a long time since I updated this blog, and I have no excuses, other than I’ve been doing a lot of other writing lately, and this seems to just get pushed down the list. I’m currently working on four songs, two of which started as assignments for my online songwriting class. The third song was going to be for the class until I came up with the idea for the fourth one, which is going to be easier to write, and important feature since the deadline for the song is five days away.

I’m also working on a short story and—it’s about time—a book. So the keyboards on my computer, the library’s computer (when I’m there), and my iPhone are all keeping pretty busy.

And of course there’s this little matter of keeping up with construction on the house. I just finished the front porch. Now with cold weather setting in, I’ll move to indoor projects, of which there is a never-ending (it seems) supply. And Danny is playing basketball this season, going to Scouts, and attending the Book Talk Club.

William doesn’t have any after-school activities this year, but that’s partly because school keeps him physically active; again this year, he’s in the Vista program, which includes daily walks and weekly long hikes, even in the dead of winter. It’s tiring, but William enjoys it, and he’s doing very well in school this year. We’ve been getting refreshing calls from his teachers telling us how much he’s improved since last year, and how responsible and helpful he is in class. It’s so good to hear.

I'm writing this rather late at night while I’m waiting for a loaf of bread to finish baking. It’s just about done (I can smell it), so I need to wrap this up and get myself to bed. With Karen’s schedule this week, we don’t even get to sleep in on the weekends. Sigh.

I’ll try to make the next post longer. And sooner.