More thoughts in the time of COVID-19 …
The snow this week awakened memories.
Earlier in the week it was snowing lightly as I went out to close in the chickens one evening and I found myself just standing there watching the flakes drift down against the backdrop of evergreens. I almost felt like crying, remembering all the times I’d walked this land during snow.
I remember the year our road closed the day after Christmas and didn’t open again until the second week in March (we were the only ones living this far out). I remember the times the snow was so deep that you weren’t able to see out the windows on the north side of the house. I remember the year friends came out on snowmobiles to get Mark and Michael to take them into town so they could go to school. We didn’t see the boys for over two weeks. I remember watching George on the big crawler tractor working to open the ten foot deep drift in the road just outside our driveway entrance. I remember snowshoeing across Eddy Creek over to the neighbor’s place to check their water lines because they had forgotten to shut them off when they left for the winter. I remember having to go looking for the milk cow because the snow buried the fence and she just wandered out. I remember the glory of evergreen branches dressed in snow looking like Christmas cards. I remember the stillness of falling snow. I remember fields of diamonds when the sun came out on new snow. I remember the taste of flakes on my tongue. I remember another time neighbors from across Old Stage Road came out on snowmobiles to deliver religious pamphlets and to see if we needed anything. I remember snow swirling outside the windows while we snugged next to the woodstove where a pot of soup was simmering. I remember one time setting out with the boys (me leading followed by Mark with Michael in the rear) to see if the summer house down the road was okay and getting only about a hundred feet down the road before the snow was hip deep and I couldn’t push through any further so we managed to turn around and get back to the house. We got the snowshoes soon after that. I remember laughing while watching the boys and the dog(s) doing all the things boys and dogs do in snow. I remember the year the top broke off the birch tree with a load of heavy, wet snow. I remember the year a cousin came to visit, went cross country skiing without sunglasses, and wound up sun blind in the emergency department. I remember George digging and packing steps up from the level of the front walk (after digging the three feet of snow off the walk) to the top of the snow so we could pound down a path to the barn and then doing the same thing out back in order to get out to the television dish to clear it of snow so we could watch PBS. Those were the days of those really big tv dishes and he had to bend down to shovel the snow since his feet were on a level with the horn in the middle about six feet off the ground. I remember snow sticking to the icicles on the north side of the house so they were fuzzy rather than crystal. I remember …
That evening I caught only a couple of flakes on my tongue. The snowfall was too light. I thought they might well be the last flakes I ever catch what with climate change (it’s been years since we’ve had real snows) and with my pending new life now that I’m a widow.
Then saturday morning, in spite of the small amount of snow on the ground, my grandson was out with Siku. I watched from my window as they romped, arms swinging and tail wagging. Paul is growing so fast … and I am adding memories.
However, A blizzard hit mid-morning yesterday. It is turning into the kind of snows we used to have. By tuesday evening it was about a foot deep and the wind was fierce so drifts were forming. Kamille made it all the way home until she encountered the drift that forms where our driveway meets the road. Mark had to take the pick-up out to pull her free. This morning both she and Paul are schooling from home … he with his regular routine, she doing her TA support for the autistic boy with whom she’s been working for two and a half years.
Hwy I-5 is closed from Redding north and parts in Oregon are closed as well. This is a storm like we were used to having regularly back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. I still don’t seem to be able to post pictures here … yet … but I will post some on Facebook. My account is “Wilma Dibelka”.
This morning it is still snowing, but the wind has died down.
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Along with who knows how many millions of others, I watched the swearing in ceremonies last week. It was nice to see three of the 5 past presidents there paying honor to the position. I can understand the reasons neither of the others were there … one too old to risk weather and the virus and the other one …
I had to leave right after the swearing in because wednesday is my day for chores. But was able to catch up later. Rather inspiring …
This wednesday I ain’t goin’ nowhere.
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As usual, my reading has been of mysteries, my form of comfort/easy reading. The latest one was another Maisie Dobbs post-WWI with the usual engrossing descriptions of 1930s London and counties (shires) south and east.
It made me think of the pack of maps I have from when George’s Dad was in the last 100 days of that war. I may have mentioned the maps before. They are old (more than 100 years) and fragile. I offered them to the World War I museum in Missouri, but they won’t take them without receiving pictures first. And I’m leery of trying to spread them out to take pictures. I’m not a restorer and don’t know how to handle them properly.
Mark and I had been able to look at one, but put it back right away (that was before I got the request for pictures). Have I already told you this? If so … sorry.
The one we looked at was a map, in German, of the German armament placements during that final battle.
But the reason I’m writing about these WWI relics (again?) is the book I just finished reading. It dealt with British cartographers during the war. So I’m thinking of contacting the author and asking if she knows any place which might appreciate these maps and treat them well. She does rather deep research and so might have a lead for me.
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Chicken hours are getting strange. I let them out about 0800 when it gets a bit warmer and close them in after 1700 when it is dark enough for them to be back in their house.
We are down to fourteen hens now. The one who had been broody began acting ill … staying on the floor rather than on the roost or in a nest … all fluffed up, not eating and I assume not drinking. Years ago I might have taken her into the house and tried to take care of her. But this time I wished her well, set food and water where she could reach it “if”, and made her as comfortable as I could given I had no way to tell how she was feeling (she wasn’t talking at all). She passed so I wished her well and took her out to the old garden area to return her to the ground.
I hadn’t gone out yesterday evening. I had made sure their feeder was full that morning so I wasn’t worried. Mark went out this morning. The snow is thigh deep for him. I would have had a tough time.
Now, with COVID restrictions, there aren’t places to distribute eggs and even with a diminished flock we have more than enough eggs for the family … fourteen hens are plenty.
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Last monday I finally got to see the eye doctor for my “annual” check-up. It had been two years.
My eyes are still in excellent condition for someone my age. Two years ago they were both 20/20. Today the left is still 20/20 but the right is now 20/25. I was told I am developing what is called a secondary cataract. The doctor explained what is happening and told me to just keep close watch for any changes. He also said this condition responds well to laser treatment. Everything else (retina, macula, glaucoma, etc.) is great.
Next appointment … January next year.
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Last thursday Mark and family did a BIG burn pile with household discards and the tree trimmings from the fire prevention clearing he has been doing. He sited the pile over a stump, which he plans to remove, in order to get it burned down so it will be easier to pull. That stump was still burning when the blizzard hit but was not a problem because it is in the center of the burned area.
I’d be willing to bet this snow has put it out since we haven’t seen a melt spot so far.
That made me think about how most people don’t understand that when a wildfire is 100% contained doesn’t mean the fire is out. That is why the mop-up operations after a major fire always take several days, even weeks.
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I was recently rereading a book which had been a favorite of middle son Michael (Illusions by Richard Bach) and came across this …
Learning is finding out what you already know. Doing is demonstrating that you know it. Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you.
We are all learners, doers, and teachers. –D. Shimoda
So … ‘til next week …