Last post of 2025

 

Happy New Year, everyone.

 

Happy New Year

 The wind was pretty awful yesterday, whipping the fine snow so wildly that it was like a fog. Some places had zero visibility. Multicar pile ups. A tree came down across our lease road. 

We stayed home. We had no reason to go out. 

Amazingly, we did not lose power. We were snug inside. Tim wandered out to work on his tractor a few times because he can't sit still. I cleaned house, did laundry, talked to my youngest on the phone. 

Last night, something unexpected happened. We lost gas. That was a surprise because that has not happened since we put the new regulator on and so Tim really fretted about that. We do not have the back up woodstove in yet. It was 70° in the house, and there really wasn't anything we could do about it. The regulator is supposed to start itself. It was about 10, so we just went to bed. 

Tim woke up at 3ish, and came out. The gas had reset itself just as it was supposed to. He went down and turned the stove and the water tank back on. The house had dropped 8 degrees, but 62 is a livable temperature. By the time we got up, we had our cozy warm house and plenty of hot water.

I woke up to the very strangest sight. I had a jar of canned beans that had lost its seal, so they were poured out for the crows. I watched a bald eagle circle lower and lower, finally landing and having a snack with the murder of crows. 

Today was breezy and snowy but not horrible. We took my sister and her husband out for lunch for their birthdays. 

My sister messaged me that she wanted to drive separately so that she could go to the Goodwill, and would we mind bringing her husband back home with us.

"I want to go to the Goodwill!" I said. She cautioned me that she was going to be in there a while. I am not sure why she thought this was a bad thing. So today we shopped 'til we dropped. 

I found a ceramic coated cast iron Dutch oven for $14.99. I was more than a little excited about that. I found a very cool paper weight that I knew someone would love, and it will be put away for next Christmas. I got a music box from the Thomas Kinkade collection. It is not to my tastes, but I knew where it needed to go. Two very fancy dresses for the grands, both of them 50% off. They love 'fancy' and when you can give the gift of 'fancy' for $3.50 each, well...a grandma's got to do what a grandma's got to do. I bought myself a nice gray pullover, a sweatshirt, a tee shirt, a pair of jeans and a glittery scarf for my night sky project. A fancy bayberry hand soap and hand lotion from a big box store that we don't even have here in podunk Pennsylvania. New in box with the antitheft sticker on it. I also found a picture that tickled me: "I smile because you're my sister. I laugh because there is nothing you can do about it." That went home with my sister. 

Walked out of there feeling as if every single penny of that $75 had been well spent. Every single minute well spent. 

Tomorrow the weather is going to turn bad again. Anywhere from 6-10 inches. We have some errands that have to be done. We will need to get an early start, and get ourselves home before the storm hits. 

Happy New Year, everyone. It will be spent close to home here.

Not again.....

Our ice storm was bad, but not catastrophic. We did not lose power, although it flickered enough to make it seem likely. 

The following morning, the sleet had stopped, but it was quite icy. The main roads were clear, salted and gritted. We had to go into town. One of the rentals had a kitchen faucet problem.

We also were due at Tim's daughter's to celebrate with his kids and the grandsons and we were worried about being late, but luckily, the repair was small and required just one trip to Lowe's. Nobody fell on the ice, which almost seemed worse in town. We got where we needed to be at the time we were supposed to be there. His son was late. His truck was iced over. 

It was a nice afternoon. The visiting was easy. The meal was nice. Everyone seemed to enjoy their gifts. But we didn't dare to stay long. The temperature was starting to drop once again. 

We did one last quick stop and took advantage of the post Christmas sales. I bought a half dozen rolls of wrapping. I bought 3 boxes of Christmss cards for next year. I bought replacement gift boxes, 25 of them, for the ones that invariably wind up going out the door or getting damaged during the great unwrap. I picked up the mega pack of scotch tape. I spent about $40, but I was picking up about half of that wrap for my sister. What did not occur to me is that she is retired now and was able to do her own post Christmas shopping. I have just bought myself nearly 700 feet of wrapping paper. I told Tim that I probably will not need to buy wrapping paper for 2 or 3 years.

We got home safely and skated the things into the house. It was 31 degrees, but overnight, the temps were supposed to rise. It was supposed to begin raining, 3 inches during the day, the temperatures reaching a startling 55 degrees. 

So far they've been right. The rain has been torrential. Tim's church was canceled due to the ice under all that standing water. 

I am about to head for bed. While we are sleeping. the wind is supposed to pick up considerably, with 65 mph gusts. The winds will last through untul Tuesday night. Coming with that is a 15° temperature drop and a for day snow event event is predicted on top of everything else.

I am grateful for our snug little house and the fact that the regulator Tim installed on the gas seems to have done the trick. We haven't lost heat for nearly 2 weeks. (Andrew, our heating stove works like a radiator. The gas warms ceramic plates which hold the heat and radiate it. It has a thermostat so that the temperature can be adjusted. Once the ambient air reaches the desired temperature, the flames that heats the plates switch off. The pilot will automatically telight them when the house cools down. No electricity is needed, so even if the power goes out, the house stays warm. The stove is in the basement, so the heat radiates through the floor and up the basement stairwell.)

Now, we are just settled in to see what mother nature serves up. It looks like another baddy. I am grateful that our freezer and pantry are well stocked and that we have no place we need to be.

 

Ready

 It has been quite a day. Freezing rain, on and off all day, at times pretty heavy. We noticed that the huge white pine's branches were hanging low with the weight of the ice. Inevitably a large branch snapped off and is laying across an out building, 

I spent the day wrapping for the last Christmas celebration tomorrow. I packed away the extra wrapping paper, boxes, gift bags and tissue paper for next year. I sat down and polished the silver.

The power did not go off during the day. The soup was good and filling. Poor Tim was bored out of his mind.

The long day has finally ended. This is when the power began flickering. I got out my collection of jarred candles out and lit them to be prepared. The power hasn't blinked since.

Merry Christmas.

 It was a nice Christmas. Quiet. Tim and I had the morning to ourselves. We opened our gifts to each other and the gifts from our son and daughter in law. 

My oldest granddaughter was a great secret agent. She got the wrapped gifts from their hiding place in the guest room downstairs and under their tree with no reminders needed. 

It was a good Christmas morning. We spoke briefly but the girls were far too wound up to talk long. 

My daughter and son in law came with William. They brought a beautiful greenery arrangement and gifts, and opened their gifts from us. William was pleased. He had mentioned something he really wanted, probably back in mid-October. He doesn't appear to have given it a second thought. He was a happy kiddo when he opened it.

Our daughter across the pond gave us a five day vacation to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. She swears she had travel points and coupons. I hope so. It was an extravagant gift. Tim and I haven't taken a real vacation in years. We are talking about perhaps adding a week to the trip and touring the upper peninsula of Michigan.  So that was a happy conversation.

We had our quiet ham supper. 

Tomorrow they are calling for a catastrophic ice storm predicted to last 17 hours. Tim had pretty big plans for the day, but I think I convinced him that we need to stay close to home. Downed trees and widespread power outages on top of the dangerous roads. 

I chopped up some ham and made a small pot of bean soup in the crock pot. It the power does go out, we have plenty of candles for light. The heat is gas, and we haven't had any problem with that since Tim replaced the regulator. I think the best place to weather this storm is right from our own warm house. If we lose power, I can just take the crock of soup and sit it on top of the heating stove in the basement.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas at your house. It was a memorable one here.

People

 People are funny animals, aren't they?

We have got an uncomfortable situation going on in one of  our buildings. 

We became aware of it when the guy made a very pointed remark about another tenant. 

Startled me a bit. I said, 'is there a problem?'

He snapped, 'I ain't saying anything. I need a place to live.'

I was shocked. I said, 'We have no reason to evict you. You have been a good tenant, but she has too.'

He snapped in a disgusted voice, 'I see that he couldn't even be honest about who he was...'

Ah. That is the problem, I thought to myself. It surprised me. I met him at his nephew's wedding. His nephew is gay. 

I leaned my arms on the side of his truck and said it plainly, "listen, we are aware that she is transgendered. I saw no need to check what is in her pants. Didn't look in yours, either."

He laughed disgustedly and shook his head.

About the same time, the other tenant came down. 

I thought the situation had been made clear, but it has not. It may have even escalated a little bit. During the last snowstorm, she offered to help shovel. That set him off.

The thing is, he has a temper. We know this. But they live in the same building, and we can't have him terrorizing another tenant either. 

I made a point of talking to his brother. I said, 'I am just going to ask the question. Is your brother dangerous?"

The answer was careful. "Why?"

I gave the briefest of answers, but almost immediately, he figured it out. His brother had vented evidently.

He said that his brother did have a temper, but did not feel it would cross over to violence. He suggested that our tenant just avoid making eye contact. Mind her own business. Don't try to speak to him.

I said, 'That is fair enough. Our advice will be the same to him as well." 

His brother agreed but hesitated. "It is the history, mostly."

"Your brother alluded to that. I know you all grew up together..."

He said, "yeah..." and related a prank that had gone awry with tragic consequences. From the thumbnail sketch, it happened in junior high school. 12 or 13 years old.

I said, "you know, I kind of think that she has paid a heavy price for this. It sounds like she has had a lot of counseling. She has always been good and helpful to us

 I think of all the dumb things I did as a kid that could have had consequences just as devastating.

He agreed. 

Strange isn't it? A fifty-something year old man feels justified to mete out punishment 45 years later for something that was not considered criminal.

Hopefully he will settle down, but he called this morning. One of his complaints was about the Christmas cards we left for each of our tenants. We had a gift card in each one. He would rather we just apply the money to his rent from now on. 

Sometimes, people just say 'thanks' when they get a gift. 

People story number 2:

Tim goes to a new church now that we have moved. He is comfortable there. His father preached there years back.. One of the elders recognized the name. "You are practically royalty!' Made Tim laugh. But I think it makes him feel the church is familiar and comfortable. He is a shy person, quiet by nature.

He brought home a few Christmas cards he had been given. "Could you make out some cards for me?" 

As I was doing it, one of the names caught my eye immediately. I made a little noise and he looked at me. "What?"

The man had graduated from high school with my parents. 2 months later, he was best man at their wedding. It was a surprise to see the name pop up all over again. 

I made out the card. "Invite him and his wife to dinner sometime.."

So Sunday, he went back to church with his handful of cards. As he was talking to the old gentleman and his wife, another woman was surprised to learn that Tim had a wife, and had a few questions about why I did not attend. 

It would have been interesting to hear how Tim answered the questions. Like I said, he is pretty quiet and not given to lengthy explanations.

The woman said, "well, just tell her you've got a girlfriend at church! That will get her here."

Tim said, "No. She is not like that."

I am not like that either, mostly because he isn't like that. We laughed when he told me about it. "Quite a church you have found there, Mister. Married men going there to find girlfriends..." 

People are strange.

The Celebration

 Last night was our Christmas with Levi and Mattie. To that end, I spent the day making food. The sloppy joes took 4 pounds of ground meat. 

Apache Doug asked for the recipe. I quadrupled my regular recipe, but here is what I use for Tim and me.

1 lb ground beef (you can use mix ground turkey and beef if you are cutting costs).

1/2 cup diced onion

1/2 cup chopped pepper

3 cloves of garlic 

1 cup ketchup

1 tbls brown sugar

1 tsp yellow mustard 

Brown the meat, drain grease. Sautee the onion, garlic, and peppers. Add the meat, mix. Add the ketchup  mustard and brown sugar and let it simmer (I dump it in a crock pot and let it simmer for an afternoon.) Salt and pepper to taste. 

Let me know what you think, Doug.

I made a loaf of Bovey Belle's date bread to take, finally finishing off a two pound box of dates that has been troubling me. 

I also made an ice cream cake. 

As I worked inside, the wind picked up outside and it was snowing hard. After a day of rain, it made the roads pretty slushy. As the temperatures continued to drop, things began to freeze. The winds got quite strong. 

It was quite a job getting the car loaded in the wind. It was icy and slippery. Once we set off, we had a bit of an issue with the wind. Roads were drifting and there were whiteouts. It took us 20 minutes longer than usual before we were pulling into their drive way.

The kids were beginning to believe we were not coming. I knew they would be worried. Reuben had run down to the neighbor's house to use their phone to call. Unfortunately, I had walked out of the house without my phone, which made them even more worried.

Levi said "The weather is bad..."

I said, "We would hate to disappoint these kids."

Once inside, dinner was served up very quickly. Mattie had made potatoes with sausage, and had set out some of their 'traveler's sausage' to try. (It was very good). 

We did not gather around the big table like usual. It was cold, and so we filled our plates and we all ate in the toasty livingroom around the brand new woodstove. 

There was hunting news to share. The three oldest boys had all taken nice bucks. Levi got a big doe. Tales were swapped on that topic. It had gotten so cold that the ice was thick enough to cut and fill their ice house before Christmas. Not unheard of, but an uncommon thing all the same. 

The kids ate very quickly and sat staring at the presents. The adults were still eating. I suggested that they look through the tote of books while they waited. I love how excited they get about books. The boys were pleased with the Patrick McManus books. They do love a laugh. They had never heard of the Island of the Blue Dolphins, and were amazed to hear that it was based on an actual event. Mattie said "I want to read that, myself!" Levi asked a question I thought was quite interesting: "after 18 years, did she even remember how to talk?" I had to admit that it had been 55 years since I read the book. So I did not know. The topic of books went on for a while. Little David stood in the middle of the floor 'reading' a book to himself. He got quite excited when he found a book about bears. 

Eventually presents were opened. It was a lively event as always. They loved 'Uncle Wiggily'. I told them that I had played it as a child more than sixty years ago, and that the game had originally been my mother's. Levi remembered playing it from his own childhood. There was a wagon full of blocks and they played and played with the tin carousel. The doll house was a hit. So was Noah's ark. Popping Pirate. Puzzles. Reuben worked the hanayama metal puzzle determinedly. I finally took pity on him and showed him the solution video. Someone in the house needed to know how to do it.

 That set them off. They have lots of tricks. An outhouse that explodes. Wooden puzzles which defy solution. Druscilla took great delight in using her hands to hide what she was doing when she solved one of them.

It was a fun night. Rudy fell asleep with a book in his hand. Lissy fell asleep by her father's chair. It was clearly time to go. 

We made our way back down the hill, quiet and happy. It really is just the nicest way to celebrate Christmas.