First Week of February, No Spring in Sight

Last week saw another run of storms. Not a good way to welcome in a new month. The poor John Deere keeps on trucking but it’s taken a beating this winter. If this keeps up we’re going to need a bigger blower.

In all the time we’ve lived here we’ve never seen the banks so high. Our little barn is sporting a new look on top.

Before the last storm we were able to fill the feeder in front. At this rate the squirrels will be able to set right on it. Unfortunately for them we have stopped filling this one because we can’t get to it anymore.

The end of our driveway, like most in the area have become difficult to get out of. It’s an inch as you go venture. Our mailbox is nestled snuggly in place. Luckily the mailman has continued to deliver our mail.

Greg is posing for scale.

On the home front Derek has joined another orchestra. This one is the Boston Civic Orchestra and meets Monday evenings. Unfortunately this past Monday he didn’t make it because the address was inadvertently programed in the GPS with the wrong town. It was supposed to be Brookline instead of Boston. We received a panicked call from Derek that he was in the bowels of Boston. He was able to select the go back to school setting and made it safely. I got another panicked call that he lost his wallet during the adventure. He had put it in his lap in case he hit a toll and had gotten out of the car at one point. I ordered him a duplicate license and when I called to let him know he was still searching the car and found it. Unfortunately I could not cancel the license. Perhaps it’s not a bad idea having a backup for him.

I can’t remember if I told this Derek story (there are so many of them). A few weeks ago when he went to the Sunday Boston rehearsal the next day I got the call… he had to bring some of his own equipment to the rehearsal and when it was over and he was loading the car he set his stick bag (new for Christmas) full of years of accumulated sticks and mallets by the side of the car and drove off. The bag was worth close to $1000. Of course the next day another storm hit, so that next week was spend ordering and replacing key pieces of equipment. But the story doesn’t end with this. A few days ago we got a call from someone who had the bag. His buddy is a crane operator and saw it laying in the road in Boston. He picked it up and gave it to his friend because he used to play the drums. Chris, the friend, looked through it and found Derek’s name and got our number. He told me he thought it looked pretty valuable. On Monday I send him a prepaid label to mail it back and included a reward for doing what he did. We haven’t gotten the bag back yet so I’ll keep you posted. He said it looked like it had gotten run over but all the sticks were intact. His practice drum pad and metronome looked broken. Hopefully there will be a happy ending to this Derek story. I think I’ll write a book. I’m sure it would become a Lifetime Movie.