And Then There Was Ice

So on January 25, the weatherman said we had some ice coming our way- big deal, right? John was in the middle of a huge tile project in our kitchen (remember the broken tiles smack dab in the middle of the kitchen floor?) and because these tiles were in the main thru-way from the upstairs leading to the downstairs, we had been going through the yard to the back door whenever we needed to go downstairs. That was all fine and good (in a going-to-the-outhouse kind of way) until the sleet began late Monday afternoon and it became unsafe to walk down the front steps and around to the back door. Then we all had to make flying leaps across the kitchen floor- lots of fun- but little did we know that was the least of the problems to come.
On Tuesday morning, we had a bit of ice which still seemed to be no big deal, but the trees, they did not agree. Our subdivision lost power at 11:22 Tuesday morning, and the ice continued. The tree limbs grew so heavy that they began falling, and many trees split right in half. All night long and throughout the next day, we listened to the loud cracks, pops, and crashes of trees falling all around us. The kids watched out the windows, oohing and aahing over the spectacle, and also mourning their favorite climbing branches.
Turns out we were one of the lucky ones: we had heat from two large kerosene heaters, ample food, a gas grill, vans full of gas, a gas hot water heater, and a neighbor willing to share a line from his generator to run our refrigerators and some lights for a few hours each day. Others weren't so lucky. For several days, gas stations had no electricity to pump gas; stores had no electricity to serve customers; banks had no electricity to dispense cash; driveways, streets, and even main roads were blocked by huge limbs, trapping people in their homes and subdivisions; and to complicate matters for everyone, AT&T was completely down, which made communication next to impossible. There was a run on gas and kerosene, causing shortages across the region for several days; John eventually had to drive an hour east for kerosene. People stood in lines for hours to buy food, heating supplies, and generators because stores were allowing only 15-25 customers in at a time. The National Guard was called in, and emergency workers from across the country began arriving.
Literally thousands of utility poles were snapped by the ice, dragging main power transmission lines into roads, ravines, rivers and lakes. Some of the emergency workers that worked Hurricane Katrina said that although home loss was much worse with Katrina due to the flooding, the damage to the power grid here was unlike anything they'd ever seen. A number of people in our region have died from carbon monoxide poisoning or hypothermia. There have been over 125 house fires, and several families have stood by helplessly and watched their houses burn because rescue workers could not reach them in time.

Our family was very fortunate to regain power after only six days; hundreds in our region- and many of our friends- are still without, two weeks later. Our city looks like a hurricane has swept through! Virtually every tree in the city sustained major damage. John and the boys have been out with the chainsaw every day for the past week, and the job is still not done. Every yard has a huge pile of limbs and logs waiting to eventually be picked up, and some streets are still barely passable. What. A. Mess. But even so, we are very thankful: thankful for friends and strangers who have helped in so many different ways, thankful for workers who come from all over to serve our community, thankful that throughout this ordeal, God is in control and his mercies never fail.

This is my favorite tree: November 2007

This is my tree now:
The kids managed to have fun in spite of it all- it's been quite an adventure!

Spring

I've had to be careful naming my posts because it seems that there are an awful lot of p0*n stars named "Sandy." So I've had to delete post titles with names like "sweet" and "summer," and there may even be others that I haven't caught yet. Sigh. I'm taking a chance with "Spring" because I'm totally not clever and can't think of anything better. If I could, I'd be winning big bucks in Pioneer Woman's photo-captioning contests, and her prizes are worth taxing the brain cells! But, here we are: no clever captions, but some wonderful signs of spring:

Two nests of brand new baby birds in the ferns hanging on our front porch.

They are House Finches and the adult males have pretty red heads and breasts:

The first peony of the season:

John's hard work in training the Clematis on the mailbox has finally paid off. The mailbox area is a work in progress. I'm going to have to move the lilies or daffodils or whatever is going on at the bottom because they can never decide whether they want to bloom, and although those pink flowering things are perennial and impossible to kill, they are only pretty like this for about two months out of the year. The rest of the time it looks like scrub grass. But you know, there's a lot to be said for perennial and impossible to kill! Our street address sign finally fell off, even though this is a new-ish mailbox, but I suppose it was for the best. It was a prime bird-pooping perch, and it frustrated the daylights out of John to have bird poop all over his pretty new mailbox. It's a lot cleaner now, and I'm sure our mail lady is thanking us.

Safety Tip #73

A Public Service Announcement, courtesy of Nathanael:

Keep that in mind as you head to the beach this summer.

Deck the Halls!

So, BooMama is having a Christmas Tour of homes, and I think Gee, what a great idea! Yes, the tour was last Friday, December 15, but hey- I was busy. So go take the tour at BooMama's. Look through all the beautifully decorated homes, and if your home looks anything like those, go take some pictures! But if your home is anything like mine, which is occupied by 5 very messy children and would make the decorators on HGTV cry, come back here, and I'll show you around. You'll feel right at home.

My modest home is not fancy enough to have a foyer, but it does have a short hallway as you come through the front door, which I love. I've always wanted a front entrance area to greet guests. I love my tree, on which I splurged $20 at Old Time Pottery. See the little village in the middle? It has fiber-optic lights that change from pink to blue to green to white... my 10-year-old son thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and he spent every bit of his money to buy it for me a few years ago. It receives a place of honor every year.

On the right, my skates hang from the wooden coat peg shelf. I bought these at a yard sale for $1 and painted them (they won Champion at the fair last year!) But I never know where to put them, so they just hang on a coat peg. Maybe one day.

This crocheted Santa wall-hanging was my grandmother's. When I was a teenager, I thought the stuff in her house was so old-fashioned. Now I love it.

Taking a quick peek into the kitchen, we find the ginger bread houses. Yes, there are supposed to be 5 houses, but my perfectionist 13-year-old could not get his house "right", so he ate it instead. I was proud of myself for finding such a great place for them, well out of the reach of nibblers. You can also see out the window that there is no white Christmas in sight. Sigh.

On to the living room... on Boo Mama's tour, you'll see many gorgeous nativity scenes. Here's ours, which would be better described as "The Looting of Bethlehem".

Here we have the loveseat, above which is the mirror, which all the decorating books say "adds space" to your room. Don't I wish. And draped across the top of the mirror is the garland which is routinely "adjusted" by the kitty cat. I made these stockings for me and John the first year we were married. (Lest you mistakenly think I am some super-crafter, rest assured that you have now seen all of the Christmas decorations which I have personally created.)

On the table next to the loveseat is Rudolph. I bought him the second year John and I were married. He cost $5, which was quite a splurge for us at that time.

These are some of my favorite things. The cabinet belonged to my grandmother and is filled with quilts from both of my grandmothers, books, and normally, pictures. But this month, it has Santas instead of pictures. My mom made the ceramic Christmas tree and the carolers when I was a toddler and my dad was in Vietnam. For years, the carolers were the centerpeice on the coffee table in my Gran's living room.

Here's the obligatory Christmas tree picture. The tree looked a lot better when it first went up, but it's been "rearranged" several times by the children and the kitty cat.

So there you are... the down-home tour of my house. You're welcome to visit any time!

November Yard

Upside

Downside

Upside

October Beauty

There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots
may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on
the feelings, as now in October.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne

This afternoon, John and the two older kids are squirrel hunting (they shouldn't have to look very far...) and Nathanael is at his buddy Joseph's birthday party, so Philip, Ben and I went for a walk searching for beauty. In October, it's not hard to find! Thanks for the idea, Randi!

These photos are from the road that runs to the side of our neighborhood; the kids love to go under their "tree bridge"

Don't Mess With Country Kids...

These are photos from the 4-H State Shooting Competition:

This is the big 'ole catfish John Mark caught when he and John went fishing after Boy Scout camp was over. They tell me it was delicious!

John had some wood left over from the campout, so last night we built a fire in the backyard and cooked hotdogs and s'mores and enjoyed the cool September night air. We love livin' in the country.

September Beauty

Summer is coming to an end. It has cooled down enough that the kids are no longer interested in the backyard pool. The landscaping around the house, which was so beautiful in the spring and summer, has a worn-out look about it. The trees are beginning to hint that their leaves will soon be all over the backyard, waiting for the children to rake. The backyard birds, full from the harvest excess, are currently uninterested in our feeders, but I know they'll be back. Enjoy it while you have it, birds!

Although autumn is not yet here, even the end of summer has a beauty all its own. In a recent blog, Randi noted, "I have found that if you really look you can find beauty anywhere--you just have to pay attention to your surroundings. In the busyness of everyday I can become blind to the wonderful things God has surrounded me with..."

She decided that on the first day of each month, she would post pictures that she had taken within a block of her house. What a great idea! I decided to do it too (ok, so I missed the deadline... nothing new about that). Ben, Nathanael and I took off on a walk this afternoon looking for beauty. To no one's surprise, we found it.