Yeah, yeah, I know I’ve been remiss in postings lately. There’s been a lot going on. The first few weeks of December are always consumed with our local Christmas Basket program, but more about that in another blog. As if that wasn’t enough to throw off my regular routine, we had a major dog wreck that required me to play ICU nurse to the canine patient, but more about that in another blog.
What really threw a wrench into my routine, and daily plans, and hopes of doing anything productive on the computer, was a snowstorm that struck on Pearl Harbor Day, 7 December, 2009. We only got about 4” of snow, but it was a very wet, very heavy snow. I should point out that it is illegal for it to snow here (I’m the law where this is concerned). Our oak trees do not tolerate snow very well, especially the live oaks, which keep their leaves all year round and are, thus, especially burdened by the added weight of white, wet stuff.
One or more of the dogs woke me at about 3 AM, insisting they needed a potty run. Mayday hit the end of the covered deck to find an inch or so of icy snow and huge flakes fluttering down. She looked up in shock as she saw snow for the first time in her life. Then it happened – a branch or tree broke somewhere down near the creek, and she was certain “they” were shooting at us. She did an about face and planted herself by the door, refusing to go out into the winter wonderland.
“Not happening,” I told her, as I threw a leash on her and insisted that she go out to relieve herself. I made sure we stayed out from under trees so we didn’t get brained by falling limbs. Although there was only an inch of snow at the time, it already sounded like we were living on a firing range.
It got worse. As I walked back into the house, the lights dimmed. I groaned, then called the power company to inform them that we were having a partial power outage. The brownouts lasted for about 10 hours, and then turned into a complete power blackout. My thanks went out to all the downed limbs and trees. What clown sent this snow?
The next morning I headed out with 4 of the dogs (Mayday wasn’t at all interested in going out in the cold stuff) to see what I could see.
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pasture and pond below our house
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Yes, that's a shaved patch on Hellan - she had a lump removed.
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Butterfly's arbor with frozen hyacinth beans.
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Butterfly's little garden goose.
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Butterfly's mandarin tree.
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Mower, with spiral staircase in background.
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"The Swinger" looks cold!
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Barney had great fun snowplowing his way through the snow. Don't ask me why!
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The dogs trot ahead of me down the driveway.
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They're enjoying this outing.
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Butterfly's grapefruit tree.
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As if the snow hadn’t been destructive enough, we were in for 2 nights of temperatures in the 20’s (something that is also illegal here). Butterfly decided that she had better harvest her citrus.
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Butterfly with her grapefruit harvest.
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She scored 18 grapefruit and 111 mandarin oranges. YUM!
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Hmmm. Guess our clothes won't dry outside today!
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The path from Butterfly's house down to our house.
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Look closely and you can see the ladder and mailbox to the left of our roof. Yes, I had to climb that ladder several times to try to get our internet working - to no avail.
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The roses weren't crazy about the snow.
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Stuck with no electricity and no internet, and having finished the requisite “for safety’s sake” shoveling, Butterfly and I decided (too late in the day) to try to have a little fun in the snow. We knew that a lot had melted away, but what the heck?!
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Butterfly gets ready to fly down the hill.
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Our snow toys have long since been given away, so I found a big saucer under a plant for Butterfly to use. She put a pillow in it to soften the ride.
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She's off ... but slowly ...
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She declares the ride a dud.
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As we feared, the snow was too wet for any good saucering.
“How about building a snowman?” I asked her.
“Sure,” she said and we both started rolling snow to create Frosty at the end of her driveway.
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Lucky kept an eye on our efforts.
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Frosty's formal portrait.
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Those “used” grapefruit eyeballs were all Butterfly’s idea. I was only the executioner.
There followed 2 lawless, ultra-frigid nights (for our neck of the woods). Once our power came back on, I started water running all night long so our well and taps wouldn’t freeze.
Gradually it warmed and Frosty started to take on a worn look. The next storm brought rain, which led to his demise.
His eyes fell out and Butterfly inserted them backwards.
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Frosty's looking pretty rough.
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Poor Frosty. I stopped taking photographs after this. I thought he deserved to go out with some dignity.
It was many more days before our internet and phone access was restored. There are pluses and minuses to being without the “conveniences” of modern life. Give me electricity and I’m pretty happy. I don’t know about you, but I find hot running water a necessity of life.
