A cracking sound

We had a bad storm last night. Gary had a meeting, so he wasn't here.

I could tell a storm was coming, by the wind picking up and the trees swaying.

After the kids were in bed, I sat down at the table minding my own business, when it started to rain. And either the drops were enormous and loud, or there was a bit of hail mixed in. I moved my delicate plants away from the edge of the porch.

Sitting back at the table I decided to light the oil lamp, in case the power went off. Within several minutes, the power went off. At this point it's thundering and lightening, blowing and raining. And thankfully the kids are sleeping through it.

Then I heard a cracking out back. I grabbed the flashlight and saw that the tree closest to the cabin had cracked halfway up and started falling. It was caught in a neighboring tree. I started freaking out. Crying and freaking out, I called my dad. Remember Gary isn't home and isn't phone accessible. I also heard cracking across the road, to the left and the right of the cabin.

Dad didn't quite know what to say to help me. He couldn't really do much 2 hours away, but just talking with him calmed me down.

I didn't know what the wind would do with the top of the tree, leave it alone or send it straight into the cabin. And it was hard to see whether it was actually a danger, since it was night, the power was going on and off, it was pouring down rain, and I was freaking out.

Gary did call me to let me know he was trying to get home, but downed trees were making it hard. It ended up taking him an hour and a half to get home, when it should have taken about 15 minutes. He told me to get out of the house. I asked him where I should go?

I woke the kids, and we ended up sitting in the basement waiting for him to get home. After he assessed the situation and realized my description of the tree was worse than it actually was, we went back into the house.







But we did all sleep in the living room that night.

The next morning we called a tree place to come chop it down. When they finally made it here, tree triage put it at the bottom of the list. Apparently trees actually on houses are more of an emergency. It is currently still stuck in the other tree and will be taken care of on Tuesday.




In the calm of daylight and storm free weather, one can see that the tree is not really a danger. It isn't actually cracked all the way through.

Eleven Years

Usually Gary and I go away for our anniversary weekend. Usually we stay at a bed and breakfast. Usually we have family to watch the kids. Usually. But not this year.

Usually has changed in the last two years. For lack of money we've stayed at the cabin. This year we still don't have any extra money, and now we don't have any family near by to take the kids for the weekend.

This year friends of ours agreed to take the kids overnight. This year, we had dinner out (thanks to Myrtle,) the beginning of a movie (we got too tired to finish it) and a morning to ourselves.

Then we had to go pick up the kids and we were mommy and daddy again.

New job for Gary

Gary got a second job. He is now a stringer for the The News Eagle, a Hawley newspaper, covering township meetings. Here is his first article. And his second (he took the photo, too.)

And in case you are wondering about the term stringer, click here.

Knoebles

We took the kids camping last weekend. Gary's mom came along. It rained.

I love roller coasters and was very excited to take Ellie on the roller coasters. She was excited to ride the grown up ones for the first time.

Ellie and I got in line for Twister. Josh was too short to ride and was very upset. We waited in line for over twenty minutes. Never did Ellie have a second thought about riding. She picked the first seat in the first car. Off we went.

She grabbed my arm for dear life. The first hill wasn't even the biggest one. I'm not sure if it was scared, fear, or terror on her face. She slid down under the bar. I told her to sit up; she said she couldn't. It isn't easy to hoist a child, while spinning crazy fast.

We got off and she declared the ride scary. Then she answered me that yes, she wanted to go again. The second time we sat in the last car. She liked the second ride even less.

But even so, later on that evening she rode the other wooden coaster, The Phoenix, with me. Meanwhile Gary took Josh on the kid roller coaster, something Gary wasn't doing again. I had taken him on that one earlier, and I thought he wasn't going to make it without freaking out. But I held onto him and he grabbed onto me and we made it through.

After the ride, Ellie decided she was ready for the kid roller coaster and we went in that direction. I rode it with her, than passed the kids onto Gary and ran off to ride The Phoenix two more time and Twister once more, by myself.

The kids rode a bunch of kiddie rides as well. Gary's mom, also not a rides kind of person, rode The Whipper with us. And we all rode the the train ride, at Josh's request.

It had rained in the mornings, and a hour or so in the afternoons. The camper has been sitting all week in my parents' driveway to dry out. Except it's been raining all week, so it hasn't actually dried out yet.

Going herping

I didn't know there was a name for looking in vernal pools for tadpoles, frogs and such. But there is . . . herping.

There are programs at Promised Land State Park, one being In Pursuit of Amphibians. I thought the kids would enjoy looking for frogs. I signed us up.

We loaded snacks and rain boots in the car. I enjoyed myself as much as the kids did. It reminded me of my college days when I took Aquatic Biology.

These photos are from the first sight. I like the wood setting.

The second sight was a meadow filled with ticks. I didn't so much care for the second sight.

In all, the group of us found a couple of salamanders, some frog eggs (I found one blob,) a wood frog, a bull frog, and a spring peeper, a leech, some whirligig beetles, mosquito nymphs, tadpoles, and probably other creatures I can't remember.

I wanted to go buy rubber boots for me the next day and take the kids out again.

Throwing rocks

Josh and I went on a picnic lunch to the beach area of the lake.

Josh getting ready to throw his next rock. He spent the entire time after we ate throwing rocks. He kept asking for the biggest rock, so he could make a big splash.

Underneath the water in the middle of the photo with Josh is the rock we are sitting on in the other photo.

As you can see the lake's water level is very high.















The two of us. I sure do like a timer on the camera.







Here is the rock that Ellie and Gary sat on to go fishing last year. It was completely out of the water then.







Josh watching a stick.

Planting

The deer are the main reason for strategic planting. Because they might think that the flowers are their new salad bar. Which they are not.

I looked up which plants help deter said deer from munching on my Mother's Day flowers. Rosemary and columbine are two such plants. I still need to purchase rosemary and plant the columbine.

To keep it simple with the tomato plants, I just put them in pots on the porch. The empty pots next to them will hopefully be morning glories. And the plan is for them to grow along the poultry netting (that's how chicken wire is labeled now at stores) around the porch and be very pretty. One variety I bought is a night bloomer with a nice scent.

We also put up our bird feeder, which you can see from the kitchen or bathroom window.

My Day

I was greeted yesterday afternoon with two little flower bundles and a balloon from my children.

Today I was presented with plants. I received a bleeding heart plant from Gary, tomato plants from Ellie and pansies from Josh. There was much excitement on the children's part. Ellie also gave me the gifts she made at school. She tried to give them to me on Friday when she got home from school, but I asked her to wait until today. And I received carnations at church.

Ellie did the artwork on my card from Gary. And Josh made a smiley face on it.

I sort of had the afternoon to myself, while the rest of the crew took naps. Ellie never actually took a nap, but tried several times to be excused from, in her opinion, such nonsense.

We then packed up dinner and went to Promised Land State Park for a cook out. The kids played on the playground while
Gary grilled. We ate and the kids went and played again. Then we took a walk, then a drive and came home.


Gary and the kids finally made me my apple crisp. I chopped some wood, discovered and disposed of the dead mouse we suspected was somewhere in the living room. Gary still thinks we have another one around.


Now I'm typing and watching the Phillies.



We also made sure to call our mothers, and I texted or called my mother friends.

Good times today.

Cleaning leaves

I decided to spend some time outside today with Josh. We did a little yard work. We planted alyssum seeds in our two hanging baskets and we cleaned the leaves out of our flower beds. He helped me for a while. But when we found a red toad in the one bed, Josh became the toad's caretaker. He had to keep it safe from creatures, he told me. He also found two worms that also needed his care. The leaf removal was not important anymore.

I use the term flower beds loosely, since there are no flowers in the beds. The deer eat them, so all we have are transplanted ferns and ornamental grass.

Here is where we feed the deer and other creatures. It is our compost pile. And pile is also used loosely. We just stand on the porch and fling the food scraps into the woods. Sometimes we take aim at the trees.

Half-Marathon

Gary suggested we participate in a half-marathon in September. The D&H Distance Run. I said to sign us up. You can walk it or run it. We talked more about it tonight, and Gary made up a training schedule. I'm getting excited. We are going to run it.

We need someone to watch the kids, but I think that will be an easy task compared to the training.

You need to understand, Gary and I don't run. He's joked that he only runs if he's being chased by an animal or unsavory characters. He just said the last time he tried to run, he thought he was going to die. I don't think he paced himself.

I feel like I could run, that I should run, that I should at least exercise in some fashion. But I usually just sit around and think about exercising.

But not anymore. We are going to do this.

And I get a new pair of sneakers, too.

Scalpinng

I tried my hand at shaving my boy's head tonight.


I don't have enough skill to try Gary's hair yet, but it's a goal.