As i posted in Twitter
before we lost our connection to the Internet
This Halloween Nor'easter = poor man's pruning service.
Big limbs came down all around us--except, gratefully,
on the house or car.
The woods echod with cracking limbs.
we received much more snow than those gleeful meteorologists predicted.
It was over the tops of my wellies.
The snow sparkeled beautifully in our head lamps
as we tromped about, shaking the heavy snow off shrubs and
sweeping it off the tree limbs we could reach.
The top of our beloved birch was forced to bend beyond
its limits. Am now pondering if our ladder is tall enough for me
to reach it with our pruning stick.
Our neighbor's gorgeous, ancient magnolia
seen here in its spring magnificence
lost most of its major limbs
but i'm crossing my fingers that half of it can survive.
And
i'm kicking myself for not making sure
i collected nicer images of it.
One just doesn't think of blizzardy nor'easters
in October, before the leaves fall.
We just learned from the sheriff
who is monitoring the half dozen convicts who are
clearing the last of the snow and ice from
the driveway we share with a neighbor who is on disability
that our neighborhood is just a small pocket that never lost power.
Homes just behind us and miles all around are still without
and the last two nights went down into the 20s.
(the men are dressed in orange jumpsuits that
in the sun and against the vast field of snow still on the garden
hurt the eyes)
i am humbly counting my blessings!
And,
considering the purchase of the heater recommended
for this type of emergency
to put in the basement where the water pipes run
close to the outside wall.
The last thing i want to deal with again
in this lifetime
is frozen water pipes.
And,
you know as well as i do
that if i go ahead and buy it
i'll never have to use it.
Cheap insurance, i suppose.
And,
i could always lend it to a neighbor.
