I'll bet you have been thinking that there couldn't possibly be any more amazing special effects I could learn that might make this blog a little flashier. Well, haHA! I've just learned how to grab images from the internet! Yes, indeed! I'm rapidly pulling up along side the average 4-year-old in my computer skills set. And what a special skill, this is, given that I have to right click and, well, "save". OK. So, my learning curve could be a little steeper.
So, here's a practice picture: it' relates to yesterday's entry, where I strongly encouraged all four of you to check out the paper art of this one guy named Peter Callesen, a Norwegian artist. In case you rudely ignored the suggestion, here's a photo that might pique your interest. It's cut from one piece of paper (A4, which is the European equivalent to our 8 1/2 x 11). There are lots more of these, plus other interesting paper work.
Meanwhile, in other news, it's been snowing most of the day. I didn't post any pictures because they would look remarkably like yesterday's. I went to the market and also a kitchen store where I bought a new teakettle. An orange one. One with a whistle that works. So I won't have to buy another one any time soon. I also voted. We are in an area where we have to mail in our ballots. It's a bit anticlimactic, but convenient, for sure. Tom hasn't filled his out, yet.
Could you care less about what some of the big local issues are for us, currently? I didn't think so. Too bad. Here is a sample: a. Do we want a big Canadian mining company to reopen one of the larger, most productive gold mines in town? b. Do we want local promotional efforts to encourage more tourism or more
Police Blotter from the last few days:
"11:28 a.m.--A woman called from the 10000 block of Lime Kiln Road to report her dog locked himself inside her vehicle with the keys inside. The caller was advised to call a tow company for assistance." ["HaHA! At last! Alone with this delicious-looking dashboard!]
"12:11 p.m.--A caller from the 400 block of Jordan street reported hearing a creaking sound, possible a cupboard opening, or a chair. Police contacted the caller and all was fine." [I don't think "fine" is exactly the right word...]
It snowed all day, yesterday, giving us the biggest accumulation so far this winter--nearly 8 inches! Quite a bit for these parts. It's tough to get anything done, when I'm constantly running around to all the windows exclaiming how beautiful it is and making a running photo essay, as if it's the cover article for the National Geographic.
But, there are consequences.
It's just after noon, today, and our power/phone/internet has just been restored...again. It lasted less than 24 hours, this time, and we rated a line in the paper about 320 PG&E customers without service. Only 320? And we were one of them? I'd like to encourage PG&E to distribute those blackouts a little more equally throughout the region. Share the candle-lit adventure. Please. 
(We were briefly without mail, too, until Tom could pick up the Post Office-Recommended non-oil-based, non-graphite-based lubricant on his way back from the internet cafe, this afternoon. The lock was stuck for a couple of days.)
So, here we are, with all the modern conveniences, once again! And here are the inevitable snow shots, including the Sube, Tom cleaning the Sube off to go to the internet cafe, Sube tracks, more Sube tracks, and a snow bomb ready to fall by the front door.
Yesterday, I mentioned a cool link forwarded to me by my friend, Lisa Ferris. I tracked down the artist's name as Peter Callesen. Really. You have to see these. They were all cut from a single sheet of paper. He does interesting large stuff, too (click on "home" to see the options), but I was blown away by these. Check them out NOW!
http://www.petercallesen.com/index/index2.html
Yesterday was my birthday. Here's me, pondering my life, so far (or wondering if Cherry Garcia really is better than Love Potion #31 at B&R).
At about midnight the night before, after more crazy winds, we'd had another power failure. After disconnecting the screeching smoke alarms (worse than waterboarding, I'm pretty sure !) we drifted off to sleep wondering how long it might be, this time. And no snow for water (aargh). The good news was, that it was back on by 9am--today, I love PG&E (Tom was already at the internet cafe)! Plus, Mom had bought Tom an early birthday present--a crank-up combination radio/siren/flashlight/red blinking beacon/cell phone-charging/panini-making marvel of an emergency resource! Well, it doesn't really make panini, but with a few modification, perhaps...It worked great, anyway, for the few hours we needed it. It would have been SO useful a few weeks ago, but from now on, no NPR withdrawal during a power fizz! Thanks, Mom!!
So, then, the plan was to go up to Tahoe, where Dylan and Rachel were hanging out with a few of their friends. Because Tom has the Job That Eats Birthdays for Lunch, we weren't able to leave until later than we'd hoped, and the road conditions were such that it took almost three hours to get there (usual=1.5). Subarus rule, though! No chains required for us, even though most other cars and trucks were ordered to pull over and put them on! We laughed in our sleeves as we chugged past...Gorgeous drive though Truckee and south on 89 to Tahoe City, whooshing along at about 20 mph. I snapped a few pics on 89.
The snow in Tahoe was two-feet thick on the roofs! Icicles were 3 feet long! You'll have to take my word for it, since it was too dark to take any photos, when we got there. Some of the snowplow piles were 10-15 feet high! The resorts are Happy Camps, with this much great snow! And our kids are some of the Happy Campers! We had a great time with Dylan, Rachel, Charlie, Megan and Emily, the last two being brand-new fun acquaintances. Megan is a friend of Rachel's from Boston who's visiting, this week, and with whom Rachel will live this summer--in Tahoe--it appears. Charlie is one of Dylan's housemates, and Emily is Megan's friend (I think). We munched wonderful fish tacos with cheesecake AND ice cream (Cherry Garcia--my fave). Of course, you'll have to take my word for all this, because I was too stupid to take any photos when we were there (aargh). [So, here's a picture I took of Dylan and Rachel just before Dylan took off for SF a month ago.] We laughed because there were almost more laptops than people in the room.
Tom and I drove back home, making much better time (less traffic) but who's going to solve the problem of big trucks spewing a blinding mixture of muddy snow on us as they careen recklessly past us??! And where were the towels I ALWAYS (used to) keep in the back? The snow was all but gone at our altitude upon our arrival shortly before midnight. This morning, however, it's been piling up at the rate of about an inch an hour. We have 4-5, so far, or so says our very reliable snow-gauge-patio table.
Tomorrow, a Very Cool Thing My Friend Lisa Forwarded to Me.
I had a nice ride down to Fresno and back, yesterday, to spend the afternoon with Mom. My birthday is roaring up (they practically knock me down when I'm not paying attention, these days!) and we wanted to hang out a bit to commemorate.
I'm getting to know that stretch of 99, now. As opposed to I-5, there's much more "activity" along the way--towns, trees, and trains and, during the holidays, amazing (and very distracting) Christmas light displays. They're obviously oriented toward the road and I bet there's some secret competition to see which Griswald extravaganza causes the most traffic accidents in a given season.
The night before last, I inadvertently (it's always inadvertent) stumbled across yet another Huell Howser California Road Trip Conducted In The Most Embarrassing Manner Possible (I think that's the whole title of the production series--something like it, or should be) that happened to focus on finding the geographical center of California (how many H.H. programs has he produced? Must number in the thousands, by now). There's some dispute, apparently, but it's somewhere north of Fresno and south of Madera off of I-99. I won't get me started on Huell Howser, for the time being. But, while we (yes, "we") wince and cringe all the through every single show of his we've ever seen (don't ask how many), I usually learn something kind of interesting or even more than kind of interesting. Somehow. It's a high price to pay, though...
Anyway, somewhere on the I-99 median, north of Fresno, he and his crew stopped to look at a pair of trees. A palm tree planted adjacent to and just south of a pine tree. Turns out, it's supposed to represent the official dividing point between NorCal and SoCal. So, I looked for the trees. And spotted them! How could I get so happy about that? They are about 10-15 minutes north of the Fresno/Madera County line. Only, the pine tree looked newer and smaller than the one Huell saw (a few years earlier, according to his hair). The pine tree there, now, is supported by a lot of guy lines and is only about as tall as the palm. But it's the same place. Check it out, when you're in the neighborhood!
Other things that keep me occupied during the 3 1/2 hour, 230-mile one-way trip are NPR (three different station along the way), chatting on the phone, figuring out the EXACT half-way point (not sure, yet, but it's in southern Stockton, somewhere), and wondering about any number of things I see, such as what all those huge yellow machines (about 40?) were doing to the railroad tracks near Fresno. It appeared they were replacing the old ties, or some such. Must know.
Anyway, Mom is doing fine, and we had a lovely afternoon,munching lunch at Cheesecake Factory. The plan I follow, there, is to get an appetizer, instead of a meal, so there'll be room for cheesecake. I chose White Chocolate/Caramel Macadamia--not on the printed menu, yet. The Godiva Chocolate or the Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple were runners up. Bit of a weakness, cheesecake.
So, here's a quick snap of us at lunch by Amber, our server. I had forgotten to pop up the flash for her, so it's a bit blurry. Blurry is our friend, though, at our advanced ages...
It's another snow day! I had planned to drive to Fresno for the day, but thought better of it as I looked at the traffic report. Here's me, on the paper walk, this morning, plus a few more shots I took along the way (the last one is from a kitchen window...
Meanwhile, some folks up here (is it the same two or three?) continue to engage the police in creative ways...
"1:35 a.m.--A woman called 911 from the 13000 block of Hidden Valley Road. She said she was having a nightmare. She said there was no emergency and she would call back if she needed medical attention." [for a hangnail or paper cut, say]
"7:28 p.m.--A caller from a building on West Main Street reported an older man with a gray beard and wearing a red 49ers' jacket was yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs. Police contacted the man. He said he was an opera singer." [apparently practicing "La Hail Maria"]
"10:41 p.m.--A woman from the 100 block of Cypress Hill Drive reported someone drove by her residence and threw a pizza slice. It was stuck to her window. Police checked the area and were unable to locate the pizza-thrower." [yet another victim of the elusive Papa Murphy's Gang...]
"2:09 p.m.--A caller from a business on the 100 block of Mill Street reported a brassiere was stolen. Police checked the area for possible suspects and they were unable to locate any." [How would THAT work? Looking for that "Miracle Bra" profile?]
"10:43 a.m.--A man called from the 16000 block of Ophir Silver Road to report a soap dish and a cast iron stove were vandalized. The caller believed his neighbor had done it." [If I can't have that soap dish, NO one can have it!]
[from Jan 1] "12:40 a.m.--A man called from North Church Street to report hearing a lot of gunfire in the area. A dispatcher reminded the man it was midnight, and he said he forgot it was New Year's." [Earth to Guy on N. Church St.]
5:42 p.m.--A caller who lives on Big Blue Road by a gun club reported hearing 20 shots so far. The caller did not want to be disturbed. A deputy was advised." ["Our agent told us it was one of those silencer gun clubs"]
"2:16 p.m.--A caller from Covey Court reported two men in a white truck with a bucket were taking down a cable. The truck was not marked. A deputy confirmed the men were installing cable Internet in the area." [yeah, officers, and also some guys steal my trash every Tuesday!]
"4:16 p.m.--A caller from a business on the 100 block of Neal Street reported a woman stole a dryer and a desk." [She was, you know, really, really strong and ran really fast, we couldn't catch her!]
"11:43 a.m.--A caller from the 12000 block of Lakeshore North said he received six unwanted phone calls from his ex-girlfriend in one day." [five is the absolute limit!]
"10:18 a.m.--A caller from Reward Street reported hearing several gunshots in the area, then people were running out of a church. A deputy determined all was fine. The noise was balloons popping." [that the "people" were laughing and wearing party hats, wasn't enough of a clue...]
"9:42 p.m.--A woman called from the 100 block of Orchard Street to report her husband took her vehicle. She did not want to report the vehicle stolen. She did not know what she wanted to report." [I want to report that my husband has gone off to buy milk, officer]
"10:09 a.m.--A caller from Jones Bar Road reported a man shooting across the road in an unsafe manner. The man denied it to responding deputies." [an apparent disagreement on the definition of the term "unsafe"]
"12:52 p.m.--A woman from the 0-100 block of Primrose reported a neighbor might be stalking her. Responding officers said there was no stalking, but the neighbor was documenting day-to-day occurrences at the caller's home." [an apparent disagreement on the definition of the term "stalking"]
"3:18 p.m.--A woman called from the 100 block of Ocean Avenue to report a man was trespassing at a residence for sale. The woman said she received calls from neighbors about it. There was no damage done. In fact, the man washed the windows and cleaned the bathroom. The caller requested extra patrol." [He does windows?! Put out an APB on that guy!]
"8:19 pm.--A driver who had been previously stopped by an officer returned to the officer and had "more words" for him. The driver left, again." [another citizen unclear on the concept of "don't push your luck"]
I guess Nevada County isn't in any danger of being called the "genius capital of California".
It's a slow news day.
Another storm blew in, yesterday, bringing rain, then snow, then more rain, some hail-ish snow or snow-ish hail (I'm sure the Inuit have a specific word for it), then big, giant-flake snow (again...). The temp hovered in the mid 30s, so it stuck. Rachel and her friend, Jen, came by to pick up some stuff before continuing on to Tahoe, and had quite the time getting down the driveway, even with four-wheel drive. A little later, our neighbor plowed the roads (bless him).
This morning's walk was gorgeous, of course, but tricky. With the temp hovering around 30s, the roads were almost solid ice. I tried to walk in the snow at the sides, for the most part, but it's difficult to do, sometimes, given the trees, etc. As I reached the newspaper tubes, I skidded right past them into the mailboxes beyond. I had to shuffle gingerly back up to get to the paper. Such a hero.
Then, 5 hours later, I walked the route, again, to mail a letter. It's 38, or so, and, though there was no snow or rain falling, it sounded as though I was in a downpour! And I got just about as wet, though the footing was much more secure! All the snow/ice was melting off all the trees and making much more noise through the forest than I would have imagined. And the ice on the higher part of our roof has been falling onto a lower part, each time sounding a bit like we're under mortar attack (like I know what that sounds like).
(Now it's lunch time, and soon, I'll go down and finish installing the lighting in the studio. I'm very happy about how bright it can be, now. It's turned a cave space into a much lighter cave space. I'll take some pics when I get it cleaned up, this afternoon.--this part doesn't really fit, so I'm putting in parentheses).
I love the winter. I like the low angle of the sun. I like the brisk temperatures, the snow, rain, hail, clouds, you name it. I love the way the trees look with no leaves. Tom, too. Having spent so much of our lives in Southern California, where one need hardly think about it (unless it's blowing fire on to the roof), every bit of it is interesting. And I get to wear the cute hats, scarves and gloves. Every day. So, what seems so mundane, like the roar of snow melting off the trees, I find new, surprising and fascinating. Lucky you.
So, Dylan, being Dylan, and also, not having had a computer handy (until just this week, actually), hasn't been able to keep his travel adventures updated in a similar way as Rachel has. His journeys lasted about 5 months. His own blog account remains stuck in Sweden, where he studied furniture-making, in August. The good thing, is that, from our time together in Germany/Austria on, I have all of his photos (1700+!), his having downloaded them onto my computer to show them to us at Christmas. So, I'll post a few, here. I'm hoping he'll put up a larger collection of his remarkable experience in Africa, himself, as he has the time.
To recap, he actually landed, first, in London (from California), where he spent a few days with a buddy from college, who, though he lived there, seemed to have very little interest in the city/country, so Dylan didn't get around too much. It's OK. He'll get back there to explore it more thoroughly, another time. Then, it was off to Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia (he loved the former Soviet-bloc countries!), and then to Finland, where he met up with Rachel, but not with any other Finnish relatives. From there, they cruised Sweden and Copenhagen, before hooking up with us in Germany, for a couple of weeks. After that, well, the scene for Dylan changed in a major way.
I've relayed a bit of sketchy info from his sojourn in Tanzania, already, and there's no way I can represent it as narrative, so I'll just mention a few impressions I took from his descriptions. He was several years older than the others in the program (all from England), though they achieved a very good living/working relationship for the 10 weeks (he was able, with some degree of finesse, modify some of the more objectionable restrictions). Living conditions were quite primitive, with limited water (other than for drinking), limited food (he lost about 30 pounds), and only very basic shelter. He greatly enjoyed getting to know and work with the people of the local Maasai tribe, and established good relationships with a number of individuals. He learned to speak Maa well enough to communicate quite easily with anyone. As you would expect, he also took advantage of all the opportunities offered to enrich his experience, from attending a tribal elder's council to drinking the blood from a freshly-killed goat (yup, we have pictures).
The group also spent significant time farther out in the bush, counting and observing large animals, like elephants and lions. Of course, he saw all manner of wildlife, from wildebeest to giraffe to ostrich, to flamingos, to hyena, to hippo, and on and on. Nearby Ngorongoro Crater was perfectly dense with all these and more.
His photos of the people, land and wildlife, not to mention his program mates and activities, are fantastic! One evening, under his leadership, the group threw a Thanksgiving feast for some of their closest Maasai friends. He organized the meal, bought the food, killed the chickens (who, apparently do really run around after, well, you know), and directed the food preparation.
He wrapped it all up, having signed up for two post-program excursions. He spent a wonderful week in Zanzibar, the Spice Islands (from which I now have quite the array of spice packets), where amazing shells are scattered over idyllic white beaches and where he picked up more than just a smattering of Swahili. Then, he joined up with a group to climb the 19,600-something foot Mt. Kilimanjaro, which takes nearly a week and makes one a bit goofy at the top from lack of oxygen (I wonder if anyone would notice any difference if I were to climb that high?). The trail goes from steamy jungle to stark volcanic crater and giant glacier formations (enlarge the cloud/glacier photo, to see it better).
All in all, he was quite glad to put down his 90+pound pack. When I make Tom a pot of Tanzanian coffee in the morning, or put Kilimanjaro honey in my tea, not to mention the huge array of other gifts and souvenirs for us and others that I saw he carried, my brain reels to think of it! Among the array, were traditional Maasai blankets (the ones they wear) for all of us. As you can see, they are versatile enough to wear with jeans and mukluks.
I'm sure we'll continue to hear stories and look at the photos for quite some time. And, he'll be going back. I'm already almost out of honey...
2007 was all about movement, for us. We moved to Grass Valley and did a bit of traveling, and our kids did, well, a lot more traveling, as has been indicated, previously.
Rachel has posted her own accounts and photos, recently wrapping up the commentary about her 3 months on the wing, in her very entertaining blog, the link to which is in the left column at the top of the page. Check it out, if you haven't, for awhile. She was, technically, traveling on her own, but, as you will plainly see, if you read her entries , she was rarely ever alone. Rachel has more friends in more places scattered across the globe than seems possible, for a 31-year-old, and makes more as she goes. They're almost like stepping stones, circling the earth.
So, read about Finnish food, Swedish ferry-cruising, the Danish Ice Club (as in "made of"), German Oktoberfest, Italian ceramics school, Spanish wine country, Gibraltar Barbary Apes, Swiss Thanksgiving, Slovenian hockey hunks, and Irish beer (hm. Lots of food/drink references). And more, of course (lots of, uh, indoor shots in Dublin, but the weather was poor, she said). She has an amusing spin on her journeys.
Enjoy!
As we passed our first New Year's Retrospective Season, here, in Nevada County, I realized that I am, it seems, not the only one around who gets a bit of a kick out of reading the Police Blotter, every day. In fact, during the last week of the December, the Union ran a front page article, entitled "Best of the Police Blotter", with a listing of at least 100 entries from 2007 that they thought to be more than a little quirky. One editor likened reading the blotter entries to watching "the Jerry Springer Show", making one's own life seem relatively calm and serene. And, now, they've begun to highlight, at random intervals, the "Best of the Blotter" for that particular day. I would reiterate that so many of the routine entries reflect sadness and chaos in the lives of local people, but, sometimes, well, there's more than a touch of silly or clueless. I've got too many for one day, but here are a few from the last month, or so...
"4:02pm--A caller from the 100 block of Richardson Street reported someone fired a potato gun the day before and asked for extra patrol in the area." [in case someone fires off a butternut squash gun]
"6:55pm--A woman called from the 14000 block of Anchor Lane to report a person had a paycheck that belonged to her and the person was refusing to give it [to] her or her mother-in-law unless the woman returned the person's pajama pants." [no comment necessary, here]
"6:10pm--A woman from the 300 block of Broad Street reported she was drunk in public and wearing high heels. Officers provided assistance." [file under "misdemeanor poor taste"--everyone knows that heels are out, flats are SO in, now]
"6:10--A woman called from the 22000 block of Wild Canary Road to report an emu had been loose in her driveway for the last three hours. An Animal Control officer was advised." [I'll bet that got everybody counting their emus]
"6:05pm--A caller from a gas station on Penn Valley Drive reported a boy was carrying a vacuum cleaner and small bag. The caller said the juvenile looked very suspicious." [make that EXTREMELY suspicious--my kids wouldn't have been caught dead near a vacuum]
"5:39pm--A caller from Greenhorn Road reported that a scruffy, drunk man with gray hair, in Charger pajama pants, asked the caller to "Call the cops because he was ready to party." The man was driving a blue Silverado truck." [great idea!--the cops are always looking for a party like you]
"1:28pm--A man from the 100 block of Stanford Court reported that Waste Management was stealing his garbage." [what's the world coming to when you can't even leave your trash unattended?]
[more later...]
Today, I drove to Tahoe, where Dylan and Rachel, both, happen to be, this week. It was a cool opportunity to see them, take some of Rachel's stuff to her (since it will be her home base for a couple of months), and do some skiing. And it's a beautiful drive! So much snow, up there, whereas ours is about gone, now (sniff).
Of course, I forgot the camera. Fortunately, Rachel has a little one she could carry with her, so we have pics of us on the chair lift, and of me just off the lift, ready to burn it up down the slopes. A note about my outfit. I'm told that it's so retro (80's) that it's almost cool, again. I said "almost". The kids were very kind, but I caught a definite "time-to-update-Mom" vibe. It's a familiar-enough vibe, that I'd have to be made of wood not to catch it. 
And, when I say "burn it up", what I really mean, is, that I can usually get down in one piece. I hadn't realized how long it had been until I saw the most recent lift ticket on my pants--from Feb 05, when I went with Rachel in Massachusetts (yes, Massachusetts. Not exactly Aspen, but I'm not exactly Picabo Street). If I can leave the resort under my own power, it's been a good day. Dylan and Rachel, on the other hand, have become quite good snowboarders, and are way fun to watch! Speedy, strong and graceful!
We went to Homewood, a resort new to me, and with some of the most breathtaking views of Lake Tahoe imaginable. Jaw-dropping gorgeous. I'd have to stop skiing just to look, or I'd be in the trees, for sure. The Lake, the snow, the trees, the mountains in the background, the blue sky--perfect! Plus, this being a Tuesday, we practically had the whole place to ourselves. Unbelievable.
It's only an hour and a half from our house to the Tahoe house that they and a number of their friends are renting for the ski season, so I might have to "drop in for a visit" a few more times, this year. Lots of skiing between here and there, also, and it will be fun to find out about the others.
That's it. Just a fun day.
I'm pretty sure many of you are asking yourselves, what Diabolical Catastrophe could have caused the Golds such Monumental Inconvenience (not sure about the correct punctuation, here). Read on.
Last Friday morning, as I was outside scooping scarce snow to keep food cold, I heard the sweet sound of a chain saw! Glorious music to my ears! Popped on a jacket, and went to look for the source. Just beyond the east boundary of our property, there were four guys in orange helmets working on The Problem. 
A 60-or-so-foot Ponderosa Pine had been blown over on to a power/phone pole a week earlier (but hadn't actually knocked the pole down).
When I arrived, they had thrown a very long rope/saw over the trunk some 40' in the air, six feet, or so, above the top of the pole, and were topping the upper 20 feet of the tree. No time to go back for the camera, as I watched the upper third of the tree fall to the ground. 
I ran to the house, and returned with the camera to take these pictures (you might have to double-click on them to see what's going on). They installed three sets of pulleys in other trees, threw a long rope around the top of the offending tree and through the pulleys, tightened it, and then began to cut the base of the pine with chainsaws. It took about two hours, but, finally, the tree, bounced onto the power and phone lines (somehow, not breaking them!), and then, the remaining 30 feet of tree fell heavily to the ground. I'm a tree-hugger from way back, but it was a rare one I was willing to see fall--my hair was dirty, after all. The neighbors watching from the other side (the ones with the real noisy generator) and I cheered as it went down. 
The tree guys (from Redding) told me that the damage to the transformer appeared to be minor, and that PG&E shouldn't have any trouble getting it working, again. Whenever they got around to it. Coming back from dinner, around 7, (a bit earlier, we'd seen the power trucks from Santa Maria--they had already been working in San Raphael for a week before responding to the call to come help in the foothills), the porch lights were on to greet us!
Beyond the realization that Incidents With Wild Creatures can be made even more complex than necessary by there being no power in the house, we learned a few other things during the Great Outage of 08:
1. Snow is a good thing. A very good thing. Besides being pretty, and making life a bit more interesting, it provides a place to stash one's fridge items close by. For awhile, there was so much, we could just set the milk, cheese, and so on, out on the deck. As the snow became more scarce, toward the end of the week, it became necessary to shovel it together to provide enough cooling "power". Even more important (to me), was how I could keep big containers full of it, ready to bring in to heat on the stove to make, yes, water. While we bought water for drinking and cooking, every other use was covered by melted snow. For me, the priority was to keep the plumbing working, if you know what I mean (wink wink). Beyond that, there was cleaning up in the mornings, washing dishes, watering plants, etc. Having so much snow made it all possible.
2. Jar candles are the Power Outage Superstars of the wax world. I don't care what the warning labels say, you can put them anywhere, forget about them, and they do their thing without any mess or danger. They're not all created equal, however. Several eventually died. But two of them still have at least a couple more disasters left in them.
3. Note to selves: Get some battery lanterns. Candles, no matter how steady and reliable, don't deliver a lot of light power. Our booklight and backpacking headlamp made it possible to read, do puzzles, cook, knit, etc. But the light is still pretty wimpy. A few lanterns would have made a big difference. Candlelight was fun for one evening. After that, well, not so much. And, now, I'm cleaning up wax everywhere (I thought I was so careful!).
4. A back-up generator is in our future. We learned how not irritating generator noise can be if it's making it possible to flush the toilets and run the computers. We like a quiet forest as much as anyone, maybe more than most, but the noise from our neighbors' generators was objectionable only because it wasn't our noise, too.
5. We see more movies when there's no power at home. Two in one week, which isn't our usual pattern, by a stretch. Perhaps it's just the overwhelming urge to sit mute and mindless in front of a screen. I'm guessing the Nevada County movie houses did pretty well, for a stormy week. Handy tip: "National Treasure"--rental, at best; "Charlie Wilson's War"--worth at least the bargain rates.
6. Power makes life SO much simpler. This is self-evident, of course. Who doesn't know this? I learned, however, that, every day, it took me 'til almost noon to: get new snow melting and refill the outside bowls and buckets; use that snowmelt to clean the kitchen/wash dishes (too dark to do it at night); clean up my own little self; get the fire in the woodstove going and get enough wood in to last the day; tidy up and do any little bits of laundry by hand--all in addition to my usual paper walk/breakfast routine. OK, so I'm slow.
7. I love clean hair more than I knew. I'm a backpacker, so I know from dirty hair. But eight days between washings was beyond the pale. I wore a ski cap during all waking hours for the last three days, looking quite like a chemo patient. Washing it, besides using too much water, would have meant letting it air dry in the cold. Worth a few minutes of generator noise.
8. For Tom, of course, this last week was a total hassle. Without power/internet/phone, he can't do one thing here at home. So he spent as many hours as possible at the local bakery/cafe, where they had free internet. A blessing, for sure, that it was available. But, of course, not optimal working conditions. And the food--not that great, apparently. Frustrating. It was interesting to go back to that off-in-the-morning-back-at-night routine for a while, though. So quiet around here.
9. Power failures are not good for one's waistline. Hardly a day went by, when we didn't think ourselves needy of some little treat to compensate for our Hardships. Cookies from the bakery (gotta support them for providing the free internet service), pudding, Swedish Fish, Junior Mints at the movie, and so on. The New Year's diet got a late start.
10. More seriously, we LOVE the convenience of power coming to our very home. That becomes a stark reality when we don't have it. But we also know that we have to continue to do better to conserve it, as much as possible. We've always tried to be conscious and responsible about that. But, this experience shows us, again, how much we actually use, and how much others, who don't have it, would benefit by being able to tap into some. So, working on ways to use less, and supporting efforts to develop sustainable energy allows more folks to improve their lives without diminishing everyone's experience. Off the soapbox.
We'll definitely be more ready for any power outage, in the future. Just part of our new learning curve. Skunk-in-the-house; power-failure; dirty-hair crisis. We'll do much better, next time.
(pictures are of: the snow storm on Saturday, tree down on our street (we cut it up with saws), our snow "fridge" on the last day, melting snow on the stove, some of the candles that were scattered all over the house)
