Here we go Again

It's almost common, the preparation for threatening weather. Today, I find myself thinking about "where are the batteries" knowing that we could lose power during the storm. Darn, my freezers are full to capacity, of course. If outages are prolonged, we will have yet another mess.

Time to put it into prospective, glad it is not winter when we, if we lost power, could freeze. Texas is experiencing 100 degree temperatures. What an unpleasant situation that would present if our air conditioners were not functioning with all our humidity on a hot August day.

My woods are cool and never seem to be completely dry, even during hot, dry spells. Lots of beautiful ferns are growing there. Weather preceding the impending storm, Irene, will provide even more rain to saturated conditions.

This is a state of ample water systems, both natural and "man made". Some have been developed as a result of the last flood here in 1955. As a result of hurricane Diane, bridges were also constructed. The stability of even older bridges are questionable.

Mostly, there is a dam that holds water systems back from flooding the town. The surrounding land provides an escape for the water flow from the towns of Brimfield, and Sturbridge, which swell the Quinnebaug River, as well as from Charlton and other many brooks. I've seen it at times, overflowing into the roadway--full up.

That dam has been maintained and hopefully, will be strong enough to endure yet another hit. My folks told me stories of the '38 hurricane, in which many chicken coops flew threw the air with the chickens inside them. Can't even imagine that happening and what it would look like today as we no longer have coops around? My concern will be the uplifting of trees, as I live on a hill. We are located in a valley. I remember well what a flood can do. Get out of it's way if you can. The tornado missed us in June, but the 'Nor'easter' blew the tiles off of our roof this winter. I did not feel the earthquake of late, but Irene has me feeling a little uncomfortable. She could become a category four hurricane.

Time to prepare by doing laundry, and other household chores. And, to check to see if small items can be stored inside, along with the car. That means cleaning up the garage. Ugh! Just what will I do with the trash receptacle that the town has provided and, fits nowhere? The one that I had to chase down the street last time, (during a freezing Nor'easter), picking up the trash that it dumped everywhere! There obviously is allot on my mind.......

The Unexpected

"O, O, how He loves me", was what I was thinking about after having been so richly entertained at a Coffee House, sponsored by the Church of St. Michael , in Southbridge, last night. The young artist, Shawn, father of four, and band were "spectacular." I wish they could have played all night, but, I'm sure they were spent and, had a long trip back to the Boston area. They are expected to have their first CD soon, as they are in the process of its production.

The Church of St. Michael, is leading the way in providing community education, outreach and Christian entertainment, and services, and the Community Meal. Other October events include: our yard, food and bake sale, and the up-coming turkey party and spaghetti feed. We have two services a day, Vespers on Saturday and Liturgy on Sunday.

Once again, we found ourselves in a "harvest atmosphere" of pumpkins, corn stalks, and the like, being served, "free of charge," pizza and refreshments. The wind was superfluous in its effort to bring in a harvest frost on a very cold evening, but failed to leave the frosty stash behind. The coffee was a hit as usual. All this, followed our Saturday Vesperal Prayer Service, at five o'clock.

Every night, I have a routine, beginning with checking my face book page and e-mails to see what is going on with my family and friends. We sure missed Vic and Linda, and we're happy to see that they had arrived at their destination, a wedding, in Pennsylvania. It looks like they were having a good time, and after all their hard work, chairing the yard-sale wonderfully, they deserved it.

Next, it was time to remove make-up and wash, take vitamins and get ready for the appropriate night wear, which I usually place on the bed. So, there I was in the bathroom, without a stitch on and boom! I didn't know what it was, all I knew was, I was in the dark, as well as everyone else in the neighborhood. When God made starlight, it was good, that is, if you were not inside. If you can picture it, I felt my way to the bedroom from the bathroom, down the blackened hallway, and made it to the bed, in one piece. That is why I have a rule about not leaving anything on the floor in the way, in order not to trip over anything. That would have been cute, falling down in that condition, not able to get up, or even see where a phone was.

John had to come upstairs in the dark, a real challenge at best. At least, he had his clothes on, and was watching television. What was the explosion all about that left me (us) in the dark? Remembering the sixties, and the blackout, we could have easily panicked. Keeping a sound mind, while thoughts raced through like --where is my nightgown, is extremely important at a time like that. It was said that there were many pregnancies in the last outage, boredom was blamed for one of the reasons. I also thought about people stuck on trains, escalators, and moving stairs and well as elevators, having lived the city life. How frightening that had to be. My first thought then, was how extensive is this? We looked down the street, once I adorned my nightwear, which was where I thought it would be, slipping it on. We opened the front door and saw street lights down below, as we sit on a hill. Then, I thought about candles for light, but couldn't remember where the matches were. Thoughts of 9-11 caused me to remember my cell phone, and within a moment, there was light.

These events cause you to learn about emergencies and preparedness, if nothing else. Looking outside at my neighbors house, who initially, I thought had lights, did not. There were interestingly enough, lights outdoors which are illuminated by the help daily of the sun. What a great idea to have if you need to vacate your home suddenly and unexpectedly, as they light up your stairwell and part of your property.

Help arrived in a second, a flash. We didn't know who made the call. The electric company provided their largest truck, at least that's what it looked like to me. What entertainment, as we both peered out of the door, and how all our neighbors, (except for one that came down the street carring a flashlight), slept through that, I'll never know. Lights, encircled the street from the onset of the police cars arrival. Apparently, no foul play, but the serviceman had his hands full, determining the cause. Decked in a white hard hat and flashlight, he examined the telephone poll, which was directly across the street from our residence.

With all the excitement, I couldn't remember if I had placed the eye drops in my eyes or not, as I usually did before bedtime. I brushed my teeth in the dark, and was thankful that I had already taken my pills, was out of the shower, and could see what I was in fact, taking.

What did I learn from this experience? We are never alone when Jesus is with us. He is the only light that we need. We may stumble in the darkness if we do not ready ourselves for the unexpected.

You cannot put eye drops in your eyes in the dark. Life is full of challenges. I must have fallen asleep the instant I went to bed. Pitch black is the best way to find rest, when you have a sense of being "secure". The only thing better, would have been to hear the sound of the rain, which we had recently experienced. Two-and a half hours later, the furnace was working like crazy trying to catch up, but I was completely oblivious to it. Maybe, when I take a shower from now on, I should light up one of those nice scented candles, just in case....

There is some wisdom to be gained here called preparedness.

What a difference a day makes

We've had a full moon, and our first frost, although not the hard one to come, in which all plants are affected. I felt the cold on my cheeks the other day, and saw my breath in the air. It's time for jackets, sweatshirts, and sneakers instead of opened shoes. The trees are fast becoming stick-like once again, the same ones that were vivid and full at the beginning of the week. Preparedness is the key this time of the year, and as in past years, the gardens must be cleaned up and readied for the spring. This is not an easy task. No sooner have you cleaned up the leaves, it seems that you've got to do it all over again. Every year we remark about where do they all come from, as we do not have any trees in the front.

Fortunately this year we do not have the neighbors child sending over prized pears to land on our newly sided house and deck. Last year, I wasn't aware of this happening until, one day when I was home from work, I heard a thud which shook my back door. So, I went out to investigate and found the lot of them, bees and all "everywhere." I wasted no time calling the problem to the attention of his parents, who cleaned it up. The father, wisely got rid of the pear tree during the summer. Boys will be boys. Most of them are naughty, its in there genes. (Busy is good!) Being new neighbors, it was a bit uncomfortable, especially because his dad does not speak English and needed to have the conversation translated. They say, "all is well that ends well".

Everyone has small problems with their neighbors animals or children, from time to time. I recall the situation of dog poo or dog dodo which ever you would like to call it, was constantly being deposited on our lawn, not theirs. They had several dogs, now four. I got tired of removing it, from the shoes of people who entered our home. I also got tired of having to pick it up when it wasn't even our dogs. My former neighbor Val, said that when she had the problem, giving me advise, she'd pick-up the phone and call the owner, telling them that their dogs left a present on her lawn. Sure enough, one of the neighbors son's would resolve the problem quickly. I asked my husband, John, to mention it to the people involved, when he didn't I sent him out to pick-it up. Eventually, I told the wife and that's when I got result. She came over and picked up the deposits, herself. When she discovered how much fun it was to retrieve the stuff, the dogs were fitted for what is called an electric fence. "Resolved".

Now cats have started to serenade me at night, while they conjugate on top my parked car under my bedroom window. They love my gardens and have made themselves at home. Sometimes they climb the brick walkway and stairs to park their butts in front of the door in order to gain my attention. I don't have a cat, and I don't know where they belong. For some reason, they want to befriend me. Sometimes, they go out and sit on my swing which is located in the backyard. They act like they own the place. Perhaps, they like the many birds that perch on my dwarfed, red, Japanese maple which adorns my front lawn. Those birds are gone now, and the wrens and yellow finch, who sing beautifully, will return in the spring. Then, we have a family of chipmunks who live under my front stairwell. They've been there for as many years as we have. We consider them "family". We even have names for them like Chippy. They only require an entrance and occasionally make holes in our lawn. We're keeping our finger's crossed that the raccoons do not return to our attic. Now that's another story for another day. We have been fighting carpenter bees. If anyone has any information on how to get rid of those huge intruders who are territorial, I'd love to hear from you. We have them professionally sprayed every year.

Outside of that, I have little snakes, just like Fr. Peter's which are typical around here in most gardens, their harmless. They usually come out to get some sun, and move quickly away when startled. I rake carefully!

My husband purchased a fire pit in which we used to eliminate small twigs. Our town has strict laws about burning out of season, and they enforce them, with a stiff fine. We are not allowed to burn leaves (which needs to be bagged or if you have a lawn mower capable of mulching), that is the most beneficial method. The nutrition obtained from the fallen leaves provides nourishment for your soil, resulting in a beautiful green lawn.

The air is crisp and the cold will be gradually coming to NE, it gets dark early now, my electric blanket is warming the bed, and I am ready for it. Every day will make a difference now, we will need to do a little bit at a time, keeping in mind that the days are growing short, and we are transitioning into a new season.