In the midst of Iceland, we had been making surreptitious plans with Rainey (Sarah’s husband), to come down and surprise her for her birthday. The ice threw a kink into those plans. Serena volunteered to stay home to look after things, since she had to work Friday, anyway. But we weren’t comfortable leaving her when it involved kerosene heaters and generators. Enter our wonderful cousin, John Graham, who lives in Shelbyville. He agreed to come out and be with Serena during the nights, and help her oversee the mechanical devices that were powering and heating the house. His wife, Ann, took Serena to work Friday, after Serena hiked down to the end of the avenue. (By then, we’d had a few more inches of snow over the ice to make the driveway even more treacherous.) More on that in a minute. Continue reading “The surprise that almost wasn’t”
Encased in ICE
This year has been busy happening, and my posts haven’t, so I’m going to try to catch up today. The biggest recent happening (and the coldest, most destructive and pestiferous) was the now famous ice storm that swept over 6 states — KY being about in the middle. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. Oh, we’ve had sleet. It left a beautiful icing on the trees for the sun to set asparkle, and maybe resulted in a lot of small twigs falling to the ground. We had one of those late in 2004.
Raise that kind of storm several exponential powers! Continue reading “Encased in ICE”
Screeched to a halt
Upon returning from picking up Serena at work early Friday morning (she is temporarily caring for the dogs at the kennel in the morn, too), Ted noticed an unusual, brown lump in the road near our driveway. He went back to investigate, after turning into our drive, and returned to deposit the said brown lump in Serena’s lap. It was a screech owl! It had evidently flown into a car, and had the good fortune to land in the center of the lane such that car tires straddled it as they passed. It did not have the good fortune to be uninjured from the crash, however. Ted and Serena rigged up a perch for it in a critter cage we had. It sat on the perch in a dazed but quiet condition all the while it was at our house. It would look at us out of its left eye, but kept the right eye closed.
Saturday, we were going in to Louisville anyway, and were able to make contact with Raptor Rehab. of KY, which is based there. The director informed us that this is “hit-by-car screech owl season”! It happens every year, because they are more active, presumably courting. There were 6 cages lined up in the back already, containing hit screech owls. Unfortunately, the volunteers weren’t encouraging about our owl’s prospects, due to the blood in its throat, the damaged eye, and the bloody stool it had while at our house (internal injuries). At least it will be in the care of folks who know what to do for it.
Here’s the poor little fellow, in our cage, and at the rehab. center.
And here’s your tidbit for the day: In Raptor Rehab’s newsletter that they gave us, one of the articles was about barn owls. Did you know that they are nicknamed “the flying mousetrap,” and that they can catch more mice in a night than 10 cats??? Imagine!
There went the Bride
Well, it’s over. Sarah got married! She is now Mrs. Hartman. It was a grand occasion, and everything went beautifully and smoothly. My impression, looking back the next week after we got home was, “Gee, that was only a blip on the radar screen! It seems as if it should have made a bigger impression. Maybe the Jewish folks, and others who celebrate for a week have the right idea after all!”
So many people asked me if I was stressed over wedding preparations. The answer is, no, Sarah and Rainey did most of the planning and preparation down there (in GA). I ordered her wedding gown, which fit perfectly so that I didn’t have to alter it. I had to find a mother-of-the-bride dress to match some jewelry I already possessed — a deal, but not a big deal. Hey, I got to shop, didn’t I? I went down 2 weeks before the wedding to take them 2 chest-of-drawers, alter Sarah’s reception dress, and help her with a little bit of shopping. I helped set up the church and arrange a few flowers and bows the day before the wedding. The most stressful part of the whole affair was fixing 3 people’s hair the morning of the wedding. And the best part was hearing Sarah say, after I finished her hair, “That’s perfect, Mom; it’s exactly what I wanted!”
I’ll put in a picture that I took of Sarah when she was all dressed and ready. Ted will fuss over the way I do it and go back and edit the post! If anyone is interested enough to want more pictures, go to this website: http://bbandcompany.zenfolio.com/p1038900398 . The password is “thomas0816” There are over 400 pictures there, but only a fraction of those actually taken. It takes 15 or 20 minutes to view as a slide show. To order pictures as prints, please contact Brenda Brooks at BB & Company.
Indian Winter and the Brontosaurus in our yard.
“Indian winter” is a term just coined by Lydia. It refers to the fact that, in all the 20 years we have lived here, this is the first time 
I have been cold in August. (Since Indian summer is when you have summer-like warm weather in the fall, then Indian winter is when you have cold weather in the summer, right?) Our weather all this week is incredible! Good incredible! While usually this time of year we are suffering under temps. in the 90’s with high humidity, our weather this week is topping at 85 or less, and getting down to the low 60’s at night. I just wish I could take it with me to Chattanooga for the weekend, where Sarah will be getting married. Her reception is outside, and the high that day is supposed to be 89. Oh, well, anything for a daughter getting married!
In other news, there has been a giant brontosaurus in our yard for the last few days. (I know, there was really no such thing as a brontosaurus. It’s more properly called an apatasaurus, but the b- word sounds better!) This brontosaurus was big, orange, metal, and weighed approximately 10 tons. It didn’t exactly eat tree branches, but it carried Ted and his chain saw on its long neck 60 feet in the air to trim the giant oak trees whose limbs were encroaching on the roof. The only catch to this mechanized brontosaurus was the short in its wiring that sometimes caused Ted to get stuck 60 feet off the ground! It took a little persuasion with a hammer to get it going again. Here’s Ted at his work.
We’re off day after tomorrow to attend Sarah’s wedding festivities. My next post will likely be pictures from the wedding!
A few roses to stop and smell
“Take time to stop and smell the roses,” to me means to pay attention to and enjoy the little, everyday things of life. So here are a few of those that have happened in the past weeks, for you to enjoy, and for our family to remember. Continue reading “A few roses to stop and smell”
Photojournal of “Christmas in Kentucky”
This is quite a bit late, but by now you family members will be ready to enjoy the memories. For the record, we tried to get all Ted’s family to come here for Christmas, and it worked, more or less. His brother Dan arrived about the 20th, and Stephen came on the 22nd with Emily and Riley, with Beckham flying in on Christmas Eve. Ted’s sister Lucy spent Christmas with her family in England, then came over the water with her sister-in-law, Pauline, on the 27th. Sad to say, there was only about a day and 1/2 overlap when the early and late visitors were here at the same time. But we made the most of it!
Here is Serena, basking in the glow of the Christmas tree, impatient for it to be loaded with presents, and for her cousins to arrive!
Continue reading “Photojournal of “Christmas in Kentucky””
“Mom, do I have to do this writing assignment???”
Unlike her crazy sister who is working toward 2 majors and a minor, Serena does NOT like school. She endures it. She is generally diligent about getting it done, but she doesn’t enjoy a lot of it. So this post is just to have a record of a time when her mean ogre teacher (that’s me, by the way) dug in her heels and insisted Serena complete a certain writing assignment. While studying the expansion of Islam during the middle ages, she was tasked with creating an “Arabian Nights” style tale. Here, for all to see, is the evidence that she sometimes has fun doing school. (The astute reader will find plenty of take-offs here from other tales!) Continue reading ““Mom, do I have to do this writing assignment???””
California, Sep 6-13
Not the most interesting title, but then I’m trying to talk myself into actually writing this post. I’ll post some pictures, and make a few comments, because a picture is worth a thousand words, anyway, right? I guess the reason for this trip was family togetherness, though not the way you might think. Ted was taking a business trip and didn’t want to be there alone. He persuaded Beth to go along, and Serena wasn’t about to stay home while Mom and Dad were gallivanting around in California! As it turns out, she wouldn’t have been alone, for Lydia was there during her month off between SPEAC school and the start of freshman year at OSU. Lydia most conveniently house-sat and tended all the various life forms in our absence.
Continue reading “California, Sep 6-13”
Ahhh, Simple Pleasures are the Best
I just finished a week of directing Vacation Bible School for our church. This Bible Nature Camp had a bird theme this year, and I spent many hours searching stores for bird decorations and bird prizes, making bird decorations, and reworking the curriculum. I affectionately named it “Tweet Week”. Serena even took her parakeet with us each day to add to the interest and decor.
I learned a few things this week. The first one was that I’m not as young as I used to be. After being energetic and excited for the kids all morning, I had to come home and take a nap in the afternoon! The second revelation came from none other than Azeem, Serena’s parakeet. We were a little concerned that the traveling back and forth would upset him. Quite the contrary! He loved the motion of the van that made his hanging toy rock back and forth. Between that and the classical music I turned on, he chirped and tweeted happily all the way to Louisville and back every day. This bird is just so CUTE in his behavior. It made me smile to hear those chirps and tweets coming from the middle seat, knowing how much Azeem was enjoying himself. Everyone should carry around a parakeet in his car, for the joy, and to learn the meaning of the phrase, “Simple pleasures are the best.”
