On Friday, the forecasters and political leaders in the area were getting the word out to prepare for the worst. First it was to be ready for 1-2 days out power outages, then it was prepare for a week. I finished Isabella's dress for the Christening of the USS Minnesota for her outing with Karl for Friday and Saturday on Thursday night. While sewing I was getting the streaming build up of the storm. On Friday, after Bella's Horse Riding Lessons, Karl and her took off for Norfolk, yes the wrong direction to avoid Sandy's threats. Anton was planning for a few friends to come over to play those board games only boys his age enjoy, I only had to provide pizza and stay out of the way. This allowed me the time to think about what needed to be done and what it would be nice to have done before the storm would arrive.
When I was at the store to pick up the pizza from Safeway people were already going crazy with worry. Yes, I bought pre-made bakery pizza, their Family size pizza for $9 on Fridays is just to easy! Since I knew I was pretty safe on the food side as I had been shopping earlier in the week and as a Navy wife, I am typically always prepared for a week or two of not getting to the grocery and able to feed unexpected guests on short notice, I really seemed out of place as I calmly walked through the store to pick up a grocery bag of "extras". The store had several empty pallets that had once held cases of water. The milk, bread, and eggs were fighting a loosing battle to try to stock the shelves as couple were using that "trying to remain calm" but strained tension in their voices as they relayed what still needed to be collected over the bustle of others attempting the same feat. Again, with our chickens, we are good on eggs as long as I stopped baking for awhile. I said a prayer for the peace of those around me as I checked out and returned home.
One of my concerns for the storm was having enough gasoline for the generator. Karl, for some reason though my concern for the gas was over kill as he was preparing to leave town for a couple days. He gave me instructions to not fill up the generator as he thought the gas sitting in the tank would be old. A bit confused at his comments, I did offer up that moment and proceeded to prepare the big gas container to be filled by emptying it's contents, about a gallon in a seven gallon container into other places (the smaller mower gas container, the mower, etc.) Then I sat the now empty large container next the shed door to be filled on my next trip to town. Well, something happened over the next 24 hours, because Karl returned home and asked me were we were on the preparations, what needed to be done, and what I really wanted to be done. We had about 36 hours till the weather would get bad. I expressed my concern over the generator. Karl, ran the generator for a short while to make sure there were no problems as he went to town to fill the large tank. When he returned he filled the generator to full and then went back out to get the back up tank full.
We also needed to re-stake our orchard trees as the chickens in their love of digging for bugs and taking dust baths had accidentally dug up the stakes from last year. Anton and Karl were busy taking care of this while Bella and I took care of some inside details. The bathrooms had to be scrubbed and tubs filled with water. This was to flush toilets if we were out of power for an extended time frame, without power to the water pump we have no water. All laundry needed to be washed and put away. this also meant washing towels and sheets usually done midweek, need to be done early in case of power outages. I also was baking breads, muffins, chicken in a crock pot, etc. The most burdensome task was making sure we had some open safe space in the basement in case we needed to seek refuge there. I was in the middle of a huge craft sort in preparation of a new organizational plan which had taken over most of the free space in the basement. With all of the other things on our minds, keeping it all in check had been far from the immediate thoughts. So, with some help from Karl, we had the space cleared up and vacuumed.
Now we could relax and just wait the storm out. Alright I will confess that I did plead with God to spare out area citing a time when Abraham pleaded with God to not destroy a town if he could find 5 righteous people among the town. I told God I was aware of more than five people who would fall into the category and please adjust the path from the head on collision that was being predicted. I do believe I was not the only one to plead this cause because Sandy adjust her course about 75 miles north of us where she made her land debut.
In the end, we had a few moments of blinking light and one loss of power for about three minutes, just long enough to grope for the flashlights in the darkness. We had some well needed family time to just be together without racing from one event or project to the next. On Tuesday, we hesitantly made our way to town to attend Mass. We wanted to thank God for keeping us and our neighbors safe and get a peek to how the town fared. A few trees down and a lot of dropped leaves with over flowing creeks, but not anything compared to the pictures from just a mere 100 miles northeast of us. I saw pictures of places we had driven through on trips when we lived in CT or MA. I remembered what it had looked like and see the aftermath. I pray that all our friends and neighbors are safe and their spirits remained focused as the work to recover begins.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
A Grand Start for Fall!
With the arrival of October, we have to just hit the road running! With this the big birthday month for Karl, Anton, My Dad's Birthday, and Karl's Dad's Birthday. However, this year Anton turns 13! Yes, we are now the parents of a teenage boy! God Help Us!
OK, so we have a big "Big Boys Only" party planned for next weekend. In the past we have invited families to come, but this year, Anton was specific, only the boys because it's going to be an all out war, Nerf that is! The boys will be divided into two teams with tasks, missions, to complete against each other. They will have 4 acres of untamed wildness for these escapades. Parents have been advised to send changes of clothes since it has been rainy, the fields are probably muddy. We are all gearing up for this one, it should be memorable.
So why not this past weekend? For starters, Anton's birthday fell on Columbus Day this year, and for the past two years, the schools have held classes, thus severely limiting the available boys to attend. Secondly, I went on retreat this year. It was something I debated on and after Karl and I weighed out the pro's and con's, he told me to go. It was wonderful to unplug from my normal everyday life to spend it with God; a time to center and refocus on what is important. It was good to break from and see the bad habits I had been accumulating, like spending too much time following politics and not enough time trusting that God has the master plan. The retreat focus was different aspects to the Charism of Mother Theresa; God first/Mission Work Second/World third, poverty, obedience, etc. The Retreat Master gave the talks and shed new light on those topics along with deeply theological quotes from Mother not immediately noticed before. For example, a secular reporter once told Mother he could not go into the streets of Calcutta and bathe the dying for a million dollars. Mother's response was very serious, "I wouldn't do it for a million dollars either." The meaning was totally lost to the reporter as he did not see that she was purely motivated by love and the ability to see Jesus within each of the people she ever encountered. To her, the chance to serve God disguised as a humble dying man, to show this individual they are loved and wanted, to give them back their dignity as a child of God is not something one could buy with secular currency but priceless in the eyes of God.
So, on Columbus Day, and Anton's actual birthday, we did a family celebration for both of the men in the house. Karl declared they had to get some work done first though as he was home and felt the need with the temperature dropping to start winterizing. The vegetable garden was cleared and the chickens herded into to do bug and weed control. Anton sawed off a long stick from a tree to make into a walking stick for Scouts. Bella did some laundry and bouncy from each of us to help while I proceeded to a day of baking muffins and sweet breads from a gluten free/ dairy free Amish Starter I had been nursing along for the days prior. But before I placed a single bread or muffin tray in the oven, I had to bake the boys' birthday brownies. Cake is not Anton's favorite, but brownies are a weakness especially served with ice cream. At lunchtime, we had guests as Aileen who rode with me to the retreat needed to pick up her phone she had left in my truck. It was not very long, but enough time with friends to make it festive for the non-party day. A little later I started on the steak dinners so loved by my men. We also watched The Avengers while the meal was being prepared and the boys received phone calls from relatives with well wishes.
It was a good week! The only downsides was Karl receiving a phone call from his parents that they would not be able to attend the Christening of the USS Minnesota in a few weeks as Karl's dad's health is very weak. It is hard to watch Karl try to not show his thoughts and emotions through our family dinner. I knew not to push, I have known this man for some time and there are little signs I can read that say this is not the time. Then I woke this morning to Bella vomiting in her bathroom. She is resting now, and she did calm her system enough to take some Tylenol. My unofficial diagnosis, a virus from her escapades while I was on retreat with her fiends. She has riding lessons, a long play date, a sleepover, soccer game, serve at mass, CCD, and lots of running during one of her high pollen allergy seasons. She will probably be fine after 24 hours.
OK, so we have a big "Big Boys Only" party planned for next weekend. In the past we have invited families to come, but this year, Anton was specific, only the boys because it's going to be an all out war, Nerf that is! The boys will be divided into two teams with tasks, missions, to complete against each other. They will have 4 acres of untamed wildness for these escapades. Parents have been advised to send changes of clothes since it has been rainy, the fields are probably muddy. We are all gearing up for this one, it should be memorable.
So why not this past weekend? For starters, Anton's birthday fell on Columbus Day this year, and for the past two years, the schools have held classes, thus severely limiting the available boys to attend. Secondly, I went on retreat this year. It was something I debated on and after Karl and I weighed out the pro's and con's, he told me to go. It was wonderful to unplug from my normal everyday life to spend it with God; a time to center and refocus on what is important. It was good to break from and see the bad habits I had been accumulating, like spending too much time following politics and not enough time trusting that God has the master plan. The retreat focus was different aspects to the Charism of Mother Theresa; God first/Mission Work Second/World third, poverty, obedience, etc. The Retreat Master gave the talks and shed new light on those topics along with deeply theological quotes from Mother not immediately noticed before. For example, a secular reporter once told Mother he could not go into the streets of Calcutta and bathe the dying for a million dollars. Mother's response was very serious, "I wouldn't do it for a million dollars either." The meaning was totally lost to the reporter as he did not see that she was purely motivated by love and the ability to see Jesus within each of the people she ever encountered. To her, the chance to serve God disguised as a humble dying man, to show this individual they are loved and wanted, to give them back their dignity as a child of God is not something one could buy with secular currency but priceless in the eyes of God.
So, on Columbus Day, and Anton's actual birthday, we did a family celebration for both of the men in the house. Karl declared they had to get some work done first though as he was home and felt the need with the temperature dropping to start winterizing. The vegetable garden was cleared and the chickens herded into to do bug and weed control. Anton sawed off a long stick from a tree to make into a walking stick for Scouts. Bella did some laundry and bouncy from each of us to help while I proceeded to a day of baking muffins and sweet breads from a gluten free/ dairy free Amish Starter I had been nursing along for the days prior. But before I placed a single bread or muffin tray in the oven, I had to bake the boys' birthday brownies. Cake is not Anton's favorite, but brownies are a weakness especially served with ice cream. At lunchtime, we had guests as Aileen who rode with me to the retreat needed to pick up her phone she had left in my truck. It was not very long, but enough time with friends to make it festive for the non-party day. A little later I started on the steak dinners so loved by my men. We also watched The Avengers while the meal was being prepared and the boys received phone calls from relatives with well wishes.
It was a good week! The only downsides was Karl receiving a phone call from his parents that they would not be able to attend the Christening of the USS Minnesota in a few weeks as Karl's dad's health is very weak. It is hard to watch Karl try to not show his thoughts and emotions through our family dinner. I knew not to push, I have known this man for some time and there are little signs I can read that say this is not the time. Then I woke this morning to Bella vomiting in her bathroom. She is resting now, and she did calm her system enough to take some Tylenol. My unofficial diagnosis, a virus from her escapades while I was on retreat with her fiends. She has riding lessons, a long play date, a sleepover, soccer game, serve at mass, CCD, and lots of running during one of her high pollen allergy seasons. She will probably be fine after 24 hours.
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