HIgh Winds and High Times

The power went out last night about 10:00, and no surprise there. The wind was blowing so fiercely that Karen and I, while sitting in a parking lot at Alton Bay talking (after a rare night out to dinner), watched as a sign was ripped right off of its post. Our own "For Sale" sign had been knocked down by the time we got home, and the wind was rattling windows all night. Danny, never a fan of darkness, came into our room to sleep when the lights went out. WIlliam preferred his own bed, but panicked a bit when he couldn't locate his flashlight in the night. I woke up several times to check the time, since I wanted to make sure that Thomas didn't sleep in and end up late to work.

As it turned out, the lights came back on at around 7:00, just when Karen would have been coming home from taking Thomas to Dunkin Donuts. I fell back to sleep, but Danny woke me up with a loud, "I saved some donuts for you!" Thanks, Danny.

The rest of the day was busy. During the day I worked on my resume, updated my Web site (the professional one), and researched the companies that are going to be at a job fair I'm attending on Tuesday. I'm trying my best to leave NPC for something with more pay and more potential. I'll also be at WOKQ FM, the most popular local country station, to record a promotional spot for Forum.

After Tom finished work, we went out to give WIlliam a late birthday treat. We had originally planned to go to a local theme park named Storyland, but they are closed until Spring. So we treated Will to a movie (Open Season, which he watched with Tom and Danny while Karen and I hung out at the local bookstore), ate at McDonalds (which had Hot Wheels cars in the Happy Meals, much to the delight of both boys), shopped at Toys R Us where Will spent birthday money and both boys spent some money we found from last Christmas (having you house for sale is a sure way to lose track of just about everything), and finished the evening with some play at Chuck E. Cheese's.

Both boys are, as you can imagine, sound asleep, and I would be too, except that I had to finish a few things on the Web site before I forgot what they were.

But now it's off to bed; I've got a lot more preparation to do for Tuesday, plus all of the usual chores, including taking the trash to the dump (something you city dwellers wouldn't know anything about), and hauling, cutting, and splitting more wood.

Change of Season

Fall foliage season has come, and almost gone. The flame-red maple leaves have left, with many other colors covering the ground (though still holding on to the trees in large numbers), and the nights are beginning to bring temperatures near or below freezing. We have already fired up the wood stove, and are harvesting wood from the property we keep intending to build a house on. And I am, for the first time in my life, wielding a chain saw and splitting hardwood.

It is satisfying to finish with a pile of firewood, though less so when I discover that it will only last a few days, and even less so when, by the end of the day, my wrists, knees, and back are crying for a good dose of ibuprofen, and I sleep until around nine in the morning because I'm so exhausted. I can't get away with that tomorrow, though; up at 5:15 a.m. to get ready for work.

Winter is on the way, and here we still are, in our drafty lakeside home, trying to figure out how we're going to stay warm. Potential buyers, like the foliage season, have come and almost gone, with none offering, and many worrying about the condition of the house, the size of the land, the size of the pond, and the tax bill.

The real estate people say that it is going to be better in the spring. For us that may be too little too late. I don't know. I am more encouraged by advice from by brother-in-law, Alan, who tells me that the best time to split wood is when the temperature stays below freezing. The wood gets dry and brittle, and splits easily, making you feel just like a lumber jack.

Right now I just feel like getting another pain pill.