Greg is modeling my birthday present IOU. On Thursday we took the plunge and got the ipad. It really is a technological marvel. Very fast, beautiful display and plenty of fun things to do with. It won’t replace my laptop but if you want to surf, check email, play games etc. It can’t be beat. I’m also collecting recipes and in time hope to replace cookbooks with this. If only it could dust and vacuum…
As many of you know we had an extraordinary, record setting, amount of rain in the month of March. Above is a panorama of our backyard. There is a pipe that runs under the pine trees to where Greg is standing on the right. None of the water in the back normally is there. 
The area to the left of the gazebo is all flooded.
We were lucky compared to many people. We got about an inch of water on Mark’s side of the basement. Enough to create a mess and lots of cleanup especially after we had just gotten everything dried up from a storm 2 weeks prior.
Below is an interesting photo. I posted a similar one about a year ago from a storm we had in 2005. That was suppose to be a 100 year storm. Hmm, it didn’t seem like 100 years had gone by. Typically the water is the width of the bridge not overflowing.
We took a drive around town and got these photos. It was a few days after the fact and the water was already receding. Click for a larger view.
Today marks the end of an era for us. We had to send our beloved Abbey to heaven this morning. She would have been 14 on June 1st. Her health had been declining this past year and when we got up this morning she could no longer get up and it was clear to us that it was time. We took her to a nearby animal hospital at 6 a.m. May she rest in peace. She will be surely missed by us all. Below is a very small sampling of the wonderful companion to all of us that she was. Her spirit will live on in our hearts…
I’ve been thinking about migration a lot lately. It’s one of the rhythms of life in nature. Many of you know that my dad was recently very sick with a bowel obstruction. He was hospitalized for 9 days while his medical team treated him conservatively avoiding surgery. He is doing very well and has made a full recovery.
I received the call from my mom and Greg and I drove to NY right away. It was on Tuesday, the 9th. Greg drove back to MA on Saturday and I stayed to help out. He came back the following Friday and we both drove back on Saturday.
During my almost two week stay I did a lot of thinking and observing. One of the things that stood out in my mind as I was driving my mom back and forth to the hospital was all the migrating birds that we would see with so many different flight formations. I don’t see that where I live now. It brought me back to my childhood. I used to watch the birds head south every fall. I knew that winter was not far away. In the spring, back they would come. It was reassuring that the life cycle would continue.
We also are in a life cycle. We were kids under the care of our parents then we grew up and went off on our own. We all got older including our parents who at times now need our care. I think I would like to think that everything and everyone can go on without the inevitable growing older, but growing older is part of our migratory pattern. So enjoy everything you can for as long as you can each migratory pattern has a beauty all its own.
I am convinced that Mark is homesteading on our property. He had his buddy and distant relative, John take down 3 trees. You can see the before and after above. John has been working with a professional tree removal service for years and has started to venture out on his own. He is fearless, very knowledgeable and extremely safety conscious. It amazes me how he does it. For me standing on the deck is high enough. Yes, that is John near the top of the tree.
As you can see the 4-wheelers are out and pulling their weight around the yard. Attached to Mark’s is the cart we got him for Christmas. It has been very handy for cleaning up the yard this weekend. We burned today and yesterday. It felt good getting out after being couch potatoes all winter. Fresh air and Advil, can’t be beat.
I found the ruins of this nest while raking on the side of the house yesterday. I don’t know how I missed that one last summer.
We always know when spring is coming before it shows up on the calendar. My birthday is at the beginning of the month and Mark gives me the same present every year. Once September comes he stops shaving and cutting his hair so when my birthday rolls around he knows exactly what to get me. The before and after pics speak for themselves.
Mark is also responsible for the extra calories in the house. He went overboard with the chocolate this year, but somehow we all struggled through it. Greg brought me the beautiful flowers which continue to smell fragrant. Both he and Mark gave me scratch tickets which garnered me $55 in winnings. The other thing the two of them did was give me an IOU for the IPad when it comes out in April. I’ll keep you posted about that one.
Who says you can’t go camping in the winter. On Thursday an extremely powerful Nor’easter hit the eastern part of the country. Many places received heavy, wet snow, others heavy rains and high winds. We were in the rain/wind category. It poured all day which triggered the sump in the workshop to come on. We’ve had a lot of rain this winter. The sump has run on and off at various times. It never used to come on during the winter months, global warming perhaps. The rains were so heavy with an already high water table that the sump in the playroom came on, that’s never a good sign. Anyway by evening the winds were fierce. We lost power around 8 p.m. for about an hour. Then it went out at 10:40 p.m. and didn’t return until about 6 a.m. yesterday morning.
We have 2 generators. The smaller is to the left of the larger. Thank goodness for them, especially the larger. We were able to keep both sumps running or we surely would have had a flooded basement. Our town is rural and we all have our own well and septic systems. When we lose power that means no water and maybe 2-3 flushes before the tank is drained.
Greg went to work on Friday. Mark is great during these events. He loves to get the equipment going and has no qualms about getting dirty. He went to Home Deport first thing and bought a bunch of heavy duty extension cords and 3-way plugs so that we could keep the sumps going, power the fridge, rotating to the freezer, the toaster oven and a little t.v. We also had a space heater to keep the chill out of the family room. In the evening we were able to plug in one light and we moved about with flash lights. The house got down to 59 degrees which feels so much colder when there is no humidity. We were fortunate that it was in the high 30’s versus single digits.
For me the biggest inconvenience was having to go to work yesterday without having showered in 2 days. Greg helped me wash my hair in the sink with icy cold bottled water. Once I warmed up it did help me feel better. As I drove to work I saw all kinds of tree damage. It looked like a war zone. There were also plenty of electric company trucks and tree workers out. The news reported that the winds had reached 70 mph. I know what they mean when they say it sounds like a train.
We consider ourselves very lucky. The news showed all kinds of destruction, trees through peoples houses, on their cars etc. There are still people in our town that won’t have their power back until tomorrow.
Landmarks were also damaged such as the Crane Estate in Ipswich. The strip of stores and businesses in Hampton beach had a huge fire fueled by the winds. Five to six business were lost in no time.
As human’s we like to control things or at least think that we are in control but mother nature always has the final say.
