Snow

So the Winter Storm Warning proved true.  We got lots of snow.  Lots of heavy snow.  Heavy enough that trees fell over and power lines were affected.  The power lines were affected enough that we lost hydro.  (That's what we call electricity up in these parts.)  We were without hydro for 27 hours.

That's a long time when it's cold.

Thankfully, we have a wood stove.  It's small, but it kept the house from getting too cold.  It also gave us a place to heat up soup and water for too many cups of hot chocolate.

The power went out Thursday afternoon, which made for an exciting last hour of school.  Kendall was at the hospital until 9:00, so the kids and I entertained ourselves downstairs by the woodstove.  I am assuming there was no school on Friday, since I couldn't actually check my email or listen to the radio.  At any rate, the boys didn't go.  On Friday a friend came over to commiserate and warm herself by our fire.  We had no water, so we had piles of dishes on the counter and some smelly toilets.  Yucky.

Thursday evening downstairs.

Preparing for a snowball fight.

All of Red Lake and the surrounding communities were without hydro.  I was sad that my husband's job didn't shut down like so many others.  But, it sounds like he was very needed at the hospital.  They, of course, kept going by generators.  People on home oxygen stayed at the hospital to continue with the oxygen.  There were already lots of patients and more weather-related accidents came in.
I can't say I was happy about the snow.  But Eli said, "I think I know why we lost power on Thanksgiving. (Thanksgiving was Monday.)  It was to see if we'd be thankful for the old way of doing things."  So that helped me to keep my complaining in check.

Winter Storm Warning

It's cold and it's snowing.  And there is a lot of snow in the forecast for the next few days.  Check this out. 

4 days ago we spent the day on the lake.  It was lovely.  And we knew that it was most likely our last chance like that.  Over the weekend there were still quite a few yellow leaves on the poplar trees in our back yard.  They're gone now.  One windy day was all it took.

So here I sit in the basement by a cozy fire while my new cloth diapers finish drying by the woodstove.  (What was I thinking?!  Cloth diapers are soggy and stinky!)  I sit here and watch the snow falling outside the window while listening to the crackling of a hot fire in the woodstove.  Sounds so cozy and peaceful, doesn't it?

Actually, I'm trying to not be mad at Kendall for this whole weather situation.  After all, the rational part of me knows he didn't make it snow on purpose. :)  Poor guy.  He has to take my wrath when Red Lake's weather is less than ideal.  For his sake, I'll try to work that wrath out by working on the annual closet switch.  Time to sort and purge and exchange the tank tops for sweaters...

P.S.  It is now 2 1/2 hours later.  Now that I have met friends for lunch and have my cup of Tim Horton's coffee, I am better equipped to enjoy the thought of a crackling fire and tolerate the thought of snow.

Superhero Baby-Proofing

This morning I am babysitting an 18-month old.  (I love having little people close to Kai's age in my life!  It gives me a reference point for my long-distance nephew, though I'm pretty sure Kai's awesomeness is unrivaled.)  Anyway, the boys were up a bit before she came and they had their game out on the living room floor.  (So not baby-proofed.)  I told them they better clean it up because how are they gonna keep Elise out of it?  Evan had the answer: "A force field?"  Yes, my sons, please work your superhero powers and create a force field around your stuff to protect it.  I'm pretty sure that will work with your little sister in a few months.

Yesterday I spent some time reading back over my earliest blog posts.  Eli and Evan were 2 and 4 when we moved up here.  They were hilarious!  Grandparents, if you need a little smile in your day, I recommend going back and finding some silly stories about them.  So glad we're not done with toddlerhood.  Well, then again, I was clearly frazzled in some of the things I recorded.  We'll see if I'm up for the challenge again...

Bad Hair Day

Little Miss Cockatoo when I saw how the sun was catching her hair this morning:

She was oblivious.

Kendall Gets Worked Up

Most people that know Kendall and me know that our personalities are pretty different.  When I get worked up, it's a bit difficult to hide from those closest to me.  Oh, and I get worked up about a large variety of things, from other people's political views to what we're having for supper, from angry theology to my hair driving me crazy, from landscaping decisions to dart guns in the house.

Anyway, I've been learning about Kendall's "worked up style" for years now.  It's just so different from mine.  And it's triggered so differently. 

So the other day, the electrical inspector came to inspect the wiring in the garage.  Kendall was on top of everything.  The inspector was here for a short time, then left.  Kendall, of course, passed the inspection.  But apparently, he was rattled by the whole thing.  I went out and talked to him after the inspection.  In the course of the conversation, I asked if he was going to take a nap, as he had a night shift coming up that evening. 

"No," he said, "I'm too worked up." 

Then, to demonstrate for me, he said, "This is me worked up:"  And he calmly picked up his tool belt and resumed his work.

 

The Trouble With the Truck

This here's a little story about a series of events that took place last night.  To better understand the story, you may need to know that Kendall has a love-hate relationship with his truck.  Well, maybe it's more of a necessity-hate relationship.  He needs the truck, but doesn't like it.  (It is aqua with a purple stripe, after all.)  I think his reasons for not liking it run more along the lines of the 4-wheel drive not working and it not being big enough for the whole family and things like that.  Oh yeah, and last week he made a difficult decision to put a bit more than $1000 into it to get the dying clutch repaired.  He would have much preferred a new truck, but financially, this made more sense for this point in our lives. 

I actually got Kendall to do a guest post by offering to type while he talked.  So here is our co-authored post ( And I took the liberty of adding my comments in italics- It is my blog, after all.):

Someone wanted to borrow the pontoon boat.  Since the pontoons have slow leaks, we wanted to pull it out and drain them, which requires putting it on the trailer and pulling it out of the water.  Now you'll have to understand that my truck isn't the springiest chicken.  It tends to roll even when it's parked in gear.  I backed the trailer into the water to load the pontoon boat up, knowing my fickle truck.  I pushed in my parking brake as far as I could, all the while knowing it doesn't work.  It seems like the right thing to do when you have a truck that rolls.  I tentatively let off the brake and it held it's ground deceptively. 

I then proceeded to load the boat on the trailer as Karen and Lydia looked on from their perch on the boat.  I didn't just LOOK ON.  I was very helpful in getting the trailer correctly aligned under the boat. 

Suddenly the truck lurched.  All of the following happened in the matter of a few seconds, but I will put it into slow motion for you:  I sprung from the boat to the dock in one flying leap.  It was 20 feet away.  No it wasn't.  I frantically reached for the passenger door as the truck slowly rolled past me standing there on the dock.  It was locked.  My question is "Why was it locked?"  We're in Red Lake. At the boat launch.  I ran around the front of the truck and into the water on the other side, not even stopping to take the phone out of my pocket. That fact alone is pretty amazing.  

Fortunately, the driver's side was unlocked.  I flung the door open and jumped into the truck along with a wave of water.  I shoved my foot deep into the brake pedal, stopping the truck.  Wishing for my snorkel, I decided to try starting the truck.  My truck was nearly lost, but I realized that I had an obligation to my wife and daughter who were naive to the peril they were in. Thank you for your loving sense of obligation.  And I wasn't so naive- I just didn't think about getting off the boat at the time. The boat was attached to the truck, which was quickly becoming an oversized anchor.  They were sitting on the boat, idly watching the show. Idly?!  I anxiously motioned them off the boat and on to the dock.  I nervously turned the key and listened as my truck sputtered.  Things weren't looking good.  I tried again.  This time it coughed and started blowing bubbles from the muffler, which was well under water.  Encouraged by this new sign of life, I quickly let off the brake and gave it the gas.  The truck slowly crept out of the water, dragging the trailer and the boat with it.  Somehow the boat ended up on the trailer, even though it had been drifting off to the side during the whole fiasco.  I soggily proceeded to drain the pontoons with mixed emotions of gratitude and hatred disappointment.  The truck had survived.

Trail Cam

Kendall got a trail cam for his birthday. You put it on a tree and when an animal comes by, the video is triggered.  Here are some videos from our backyard:

These are 2 fawns that have been coming around with their Mama, "Beatrice."

In case you're wondering, the trail cam was close to where Kendall and the boys were burning brush and scraps.

 

By the way, today the trail cam wasn't turned on and lo and behold, a bear came through the yard!  Maybe being able to see everything that walks through our yard isn't such a good idea after all...