Friday, November 18, 2011
Immature Bald Eagle
On our walk the other day, I shot this picture of an immature bald eagle.
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Tuesday, November 01, 2011
The Big Snow
It doesn’t have a name like “Irene”, but the Big Snow of October, 2011 deserves one and I can’t put it on this blog and keep it family-friendly. The Big Snow actually happened while we were away on a couple of days of vacation in New Mexico. We came home the day after the Big Snow, and had no problems with flights or getting to the house.
But, we came home to a massive power failure. By the time we got home the electricity had been off for almost 24 hours. There was 15 or so inches of snow on the ground. Trees were down everywhere.
The first action Lynne took once we got home, to her credit, was to locate the fire extinguishers. I guess she knew that we’d be turning our kitchen into the equivalent of a bomb factory within minutes. I found the two butane camp burners we have, and I managed to create a small butane explosion within a few minutes, singeing the hair on my hands. And, I carefully filled the oil lamps which could be turned over with the swish of a dog tail.
Still, we managed to successfully cook some spaghetti for dinner and lived through it.
We picked up the dogs on Monday morning and did some minimal shopping. Most shops were without electricity and closed. I learned that there are three things that sell out immediately: D-cell batteries (for flashlights and lamps, I assume), matches, and jugs of water. There may be others, but those are the ones we needed and had trouble finding.
Luckily, from our preparations for Irene, we still had about 15 gallons of fresh water stored and had located lamps, lanterns and flashlights as well as candles. The only thing we had used up was the Gentleman Jack.
Water is an issue. We need water to occasionally flush the toilets, and for drinking, cooking and cleanup. We did manage to buy about 8 gallons of fresh water and we are melting snow into buckets, so we should be good for a few days.
It is cold in the house, but we have a nice fire going continuously in the wood stove and we have a kettle of water on top of it for hot water. Sleeping under a double layer of covers and next to a dog and cat helps us keep warm at night.
Of course, living without electricity is a pain. We have to manually open the garage doors, there is no heat, no light, etc. And, we had to buy a percolator for coffee as well as ground coffee (we usually grind beans).
Thanks to those of you who have inquired about us. We are surviving. It took a while this morning, but I did make it to work where it is warm, I can recharge the mobile appliances, and I even was able to take a nice hot shower (poor Lynne.)
We are expected to have electricity between Wednesday and Friday. We can see the down line on the street below the house (but, that might not be the only one.)
Lynne has photos on her site.
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Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Hanging Out in the Drug Store
The other day I needed to fill a prescription. On my way home I drove by our local RiteAid and got that process started. I don’t often hang out in drug stores, and as I waited I was fascinated by all the products they sell to help people deal with ailments (real or imagined). The array of diet products was amazing. They had things to kill pain and other things that looked like they would inflict pain. They had stuff to help you pee and help you not pee. Fascinating!
But, the display that I studied the most was a rack of about six shelves, near the pharmacy checkout.
The top couple of shelves contained personal lubricant products. There were products for guys and products for women. Some were meant to stimulate, others to kill stimulation. Strawberry, edible, jars, bottles and squeeze tubes. They came in colors ranging from gray to purple. There were “jellys” and there were “oils”.
Just under that display were the condoms. I have not spent time studying the condom selection in a drug store since I was in college and things have not changed too much. Still, way too much choice in my opinion. They come in every color you can imagine. Flavored, ribbed, even large and x-large (none were advertised as “small”.) Boxes with three and boxes with three dozen. I’m hoping they don’t expire.
And, just under that were two shelves of birth control test kits.
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Sunday, October 02, 2011
Heading Home
On Saturday morning we were up at 6:00 and had everything and everyone packed and in the truck by 7:30. The final checklist was done: flues, heat, water, propane, rat traps 
We stayed at our regular “trip home” place in Council Bluffs, Iowa on Friday night. There is a Hardy’s there where we can eat 2000 calories in one sitting.
Up at 6:00 on Sunday and on the road by 7:15 or so. We had gassed up the night before, so a coffee and breakfast sandwich at MacDonalds got us launched.
Tonight we are just inside Ohio and also gassed up and ready to take off in the morning. We are waiting on a delivery pizza from Tano’s. It is always comforting to stay in the same places and even eat the same things as we travel. Takes away some of the stress. We even stop at the same rest stops for dog pees.
We’ll be out of here around 7:00 tomorrow and home around 4:30.
No real news from here, just wanted to finish these series of posts with a final summary.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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Friday, September 30, 2011
Days 15 & 16, 2011 Cabin Trip
Day 15 was actually yesterday, and today is our last day at the cabin, so I’ll combine a couple of blog posts.
Yesterday, Thursday, we took the dogs for a walk “around” first thing. As soon as we got home we had a visit from Larry and Donna. We had a nice long chat after which we had a bite of lunch. Then, we saw Ed on the road and chatted with him for a while.
I did a couple of chores including adding water to the batteries as well as blocking the places in the crawlspace where mice could get in.
In the mid-afternoon we took a long drive around Sand Creek Park to see the Aspen trees as well as the rest of the countryside which is full of variety and beauty. This took a couple of hours and by the time we got back we needed to feed the dogs and start on dinner—Chicken Pot Pie (which was delicious!)
Here is a photo from our drive:
“Just turn left at the cowboy boot.”
We had a pretty lazy evening and went to bed early after watching some TV.
The heater ran a couple of times overnight, so we know it is turning the corner to fall and winter.
On Friday, after some breakfast of pastries that Donna brought us, we took the dogs for a long walk to Egger’s Pond where Bella swam for a while. It is far enough that we are all exhausted when we get back. But, we did stop along the way and fill a big bag with pine cones as a gift for Donna. She uses them for fire starters, and also waxes nice ones.
When we got home, Sam had trapped a mouse (could probably not find a way out any more) and he played with it for a while. Finally, I got it from him and took it outside. He is still stalking around looking for another one—keeps him occupied.
Lunch was corn dogs and a Snickers bar
Now, we start the process of getting ready to head home early tomorrow morning. Lynne has already sorted the refrigerator into things to give away, throw away or take home. She is now doing the same with clothing.
We will start the process of loading the truck with the stuff we won’t need before leaving. It is a process: store anything that will fit under the back seats that we won’t need until we get home. That allows us to put down the seats and load the crates. Once the crates are in, I’ll put shades over them. We’ll pack stuff in the pod that we won’t need like dirty clothes, etc. Tomorrow morning we’ll load the stuff we will need along the way (clothes, toiletries, a cooler) and the dogs and cats, of course. It won’t take long.
Our goal will be to leave here around 7:30 a.m. (or earlier) and head to Laramie where we will dump trash and recyclables, get gas, breakfast at MacDonalds and then try to be on I80 by 8:30 to 8:45. Our overnight goal is the Days Inn at Council Bluffs, Iowa which we should see around 6:30 p.m.
Okay, enough for now. I need to go help Lynne. And, later we’ll have Buffalo Chicken Sliders for dinner.
I’ll leave you with a couple of animal photos:
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