Dark and Stormy Night

68 this morning, cloudy and very wet and humid. More storms in the forecast.

Last night was a dark and stormy night indeed. Big, rolling storms with lots of wind, heavy rain, thunder and stupendous lightning. This followed a day of intense heat--in the low 90's and soooo humid. The power went off, of course. The dogs were terrified; even though they are outside dogs they huddled here in the house all night, moving from place to place as if trying to find the safest place. They finally settled on the rug by my bed, and all of us got a couple hours of solid sleep.

At 3am there was quite a lot of excitement though. The dogs had woken us once again, and as we tried to go back to sleep, we heard the strangest squalling outside, something neither of us could identify. Larry was up like a shot, grabbed a gun and flashlight and ran outside, Daisy the dog on his heels. It was pitch black outside, thankfully not raining at that time. Daisy raced up into the woods as Larry shone the light around, trying to see whatever it was. The light caught on two eyes--when Larry went to see what it was, he found a poor, wet, frightened chicken that was so shocked it didn't even move when he picked it up.

Meanwhile Daisy chased whatever it was over the hill. Larry put the poor hen back in the coop and did some further checking around. He's been setting traps for raccoons because we've seen their tracks in the cornpatch, and we lost a chicken the other night. So he feels pretty sure it was a raccoon, and that Daisy managed to scare it enough that it dropped the hen. 

Such a ruckus. It was a while before we all settled back to sleep, and then another crashing storm had the dogs stirred up again. 

This morning we were up early. I'd skipped my shower last night, just too tired to take one, so in the last heavy rain early this AM I grabbed soap and a washcloth and towel and went out in the rain for a cold shower. It wasn't as cold as I expected, and actually felt pretty good, and it was a nice way to wake up. But later in the morning I conked out in my recliner for a short nap, completely unlike me. Then the power came back on--blessings on those sturdy workers--so I was up again.

I am happy to say that the gardens came through relatived unscathed. A few tomato plants blew over, a few branches fell from trees, and in the woods we heard a tree crash down this morning. But no other damage, which is amazing after all that wildness.

And now I am hard at work on the creative writing workshop I'll be leading next week at Allegheny Echoes in Marlinton, WV. We may have more storms this evening, and the humidity is thick, although it hasn't yet got as hot as the 95 that was predicted. I hope we avoid that, as I am no fan of hot weather. Whatever the weather, I'll be in here working away and praying the power stays on so I can complete what I need to do on computer and printer. Fingers crossed.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

More Snow and Ice Photos

It is just incredibly beautiful outside right now. I haven't ventured off the porch yet, though! Today I'll be going out but here are some photos from yesterday evening as the sun was setting. Snow is a lot of work, but I can never get enough of looking at it.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Snowy, Snowy Day

The weather people were right. It snowed!

Larry had collected our wood stepladders to get ready to take to booths; now they make  pretty cool snow sculpture.

And snowed and snowed, until in the end I think there's about 12 inches of wet white stuff out there. It's incredibly beautiful, so bright it almost hurts the eyes.

Of course, with a wet, heavy snow like this, the power is bound to go out. We've been fortunate this winter with no power outages, until today. Sometimes during the night the electricity went off, and when I called to report it the projected restore time was 11:00am tomorrow. We were prepared for it to be off, though--we put about 20 gallon jugs of water in the cellar, took our showers before going to bed, set up the morning's coffee and tea things, rounded up flashlights and made sure the kerosene lamps were full.  We also thought about what things we could get into if the power was out.

Free gas is a real blessing in an outage. Our cookstove, heat, and refrigerator run on gas so the only inconveniences are lack of lights, and the water not running. One day we'll get one of those natural gas generators and we won't even notice when the lights go out.

We still had plenty to do. Washing dishes takes a little more time, and Larry had a date with the snow shovel. I had a huge pile of papers that needed to be sorted and filed so I got that out of the way,

and then I worked on getting the polyurethane coat on the cabinet I painted yesterday and on the doors for it that Larry had stripped and stained.

He's already started stripping the door on the new pantry cupboard so I reckon I'll be painting it too in the near future.

Both of us enjoyed watching the birds at the feeders.

There must have been over 50 out there, and I counted 12 male cardinals at one time.

Love that little snowbird sitting right on top!

The feeders were busy, busy. I was glad we'd bought more seed when we were in town the other day because they are really going through it.

I never tire of looking at the snow.

When it was getting dark I started the process of lighting lamps and candles while Larry built a fire in the fireplace. I noticed that some of the oil lamps needed their wicks trimmed so I did that before lighting them. We'd just settled in by the fire, wondering what do next with the house being so dim, when, voila! The lights came on!

Tomorrow Larry will get out the tractor, and I hope he'll be able to get the driveway clear enough for us to get out to town. We'll see. With temperatures predicted to be below zero tonight, the snow will freeze, and I am not sure how easy it will be to clear. A foot of snow is a lot to move off a 1/4 mile long road that is all uphill. If he can't get it done, I reckon we'll just wait for the weekend's warmer temperatures to do the job.

I am worried about that warming trend, though. Flooding was already happening before this storm. I only hope those high waters have a chance to recede before this new snow melts. For those of you along creeks and rivers, I'll be thinking of you and hoping you stay high and dry.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Getting Ready for the Storm

All indications are that we are in for a bit of a blow--rain, freezing rain, sleet, ice, and snow all rolled into one weather system. I left the storytelling retreat last night and drove home instead of staying over as planned because I well remember the last ice storm 10-11 years ago and I did not want a) to be stranded away from home, and b) Larry to be here dealing with it by himself. The bad weather was predicted to hit sometime during the night so it seemed wisest to shift plans and come home.

This morning we're doing more preparations. I thought we were pretty well stocked but Lordy me, who forgot to buy toilet paper?? Me. So we made a quick run to the store and bought some extra batteries too. We figured we were all set.

When we got home we started thinking about the last storm and how branches and trees crashed down all around us. That prompted us to move our vehicles to safer parking places. We also moved all the patio and porch furniture. The deck is vulnerable to the big maple that shades it but there is nothing to be done about that.

Then we decided to fill buckets and containers with water. We'd bought 5 gallons but if the electric goes off, and that seems likely if the storm is as bad as its press, then we'll need water for the pets and the chickens, water for the toilet, water for doing dishes...we needed more water. Last major storm had our power off for 9 days, after all.

So I filled plastic tote with about 12 gallons and put it beside the toilet for flushing; Larry filled all the buckets he could find for the animals and I filled empty plastic jugs, about twenty of them, for use inside the house. We save plastic jugs for cider-making in the fall, but right now they're a useful backup. We also filled a 5 gallon cooler.

My next thought was, what if the power and the gas BOTH go off? How would we cook? That's a situation I had not considered. I have plenty of candles, so I could put a candle in a pot and heat food over that--not perfect but it should work well enough for food that only needs heating up. I'm making boiled eggs right now, as it will be plenty cold enough to keep them for a good while. Scones are in the oven too, so that's breakfasts taken care of. For lunch and dinner we have canned meats, canned soups, and lots of salads and veggies that can be eaten raw. I'll be on the lookout for a backup cooking device in the future. Just in case, you know!

I'm catching up all the laundry today so that everything is clean and the hampers are empty. Who wants to run out of clean underwear?? The lamps are filled and we have plenty of kerosene on hand. And of course, we have books of all kinds to keep up entertained and projects that can still got forward without power or gas.

So I think we're set. Mother Nature may be acting up, but I hope we'll be able to ride out her temper tantrum all right. And if you don't see me posting for a few days, you'll know that we're busy playing pioneer and will have lots to tell you when we get back online. Keeping my fingers crossed that all our preparations are for nothing but a little snowfall.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Allegheny Echoes: Memories Echoing

 Allegheny Echoes is a week of music and creative writing workshops held near Marlinton, West Virginia for the past 16 years. The worshops were the brainschild of old-time musicians Mike and Tim Bing and writer Kirk Judd. The group wanted to create an atmosphere that would immerse participants in the music and culture of West Virginia in a setting that encouraged creativity and learning. Based at the Marlinton Motor Inn, classes are held outside in tents with views of the surrounding mountains or in a variety of locations in the town of Marlinton.Each day offers a presentation by a Master in a different area: creative writing, old-time or bluegrass music, or specific instruments.

One of the popular features of Echoes is the Wednesday Night Wild Meat Feast. The meats vary from year to year. This year, the meats included bear, venison, clams, wild turkey, lamb and a few others I can't remember. The cooks are class instructors and their friends who volunteer and work for hours to prepare a smorgasbord of fine food. My favorites were the Maryland clams and the turkey, both cooked to perfection.

While the cooks worked, there were jams going on everywhere.

 Author Jim Minick, who was the featured Master for the evening, enjoyed the food too.

 Jim's presentation of his work was one of the highlights of Echoes for me. His writing is rich and thoughtful, detailing life on his blueberry farm in southwestern Virginia and the challenges and joys of rural living as well as the potential for living a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. I bought two of his books and read them both within a week of Echoes.

Junior Spencer

Honoring the elders of our culture is a significant focus for the week;  Junior Spencer and Charlie Loudermilk (they call their group Mudhole Control--I love that name) were the featured Masters on an afternoon when the temperature was over 100 degrees. That didn't stop the music! And on the mountain with the breezes blowing, we all sat and listened willingly to these two men who have been playing together for longer than most of us have been living.

 Charlie Loudermilk

The day following the performance by these two gentleman, the "next generation" of Mudhole Control was onstage. This group includes sons and relations of the Charlie and Junior, the passing down of the music another cultural tradition that is exemplified by these excellent musicians.

Again, temperatures soared into the upper 90's and over 100, but as you can see, the tent was packed and the musicians played on.

One of the real highlights of the week is the Student Concert on Thursday night. Each class is offered time to perform onstage. My dulcimer class chose not to perform; we were more focused on learning the basics of many tunes and did not feel we had any one ready for performance. Larry's banjo class, minus the other man who also took the class, did perform, playing Old Joe Clark. I was so pleased to see Larry up there, and he says he was perfectly comfortable. His instructor, Ben Townsend, was a pleasure to get to know. Ben is a member of the popular old-time group Foxhunt, which is a group of young guys playing old music in a unique style of their own. You can hear Foxhunt here.

Larry, pickin' and grinnin'. This class taught the old-style clawhammer banjo as opposed to the bluegrass style of picking.

And after the concert, a lot of jams, listening, and talking back at the motel. And a few high jinks, too, like lifting someone with this hand trick...it worked but I'm not sure how. I'm not identifying the accessories to this crime!

At the Friday night Masters Concert, the Opera House in downtown Marlinton was packed. Kirk Judd led off the evening with one of his stellar poems, accompanied by Mike and Tim Bing and Danny Arthur.

Then, suddenly

That monster storm of June 29th blew in and the lights went out. Emergency lights came on and since it was pretty terrible outside and we were inside 18-inch thick walls, the audience just stayed while the bands played on. It was an awesome concert, even without lights and sound systems, probably one of the best I've attended.

As we left the Opera House, we realized what a terrible storm had passed through. Trees were down everywhere, power lines were lying in the road, things were tossed around and we saw some damage to homes. We made a safe trip back to the motel, and the rest of the night was music without lights--a very good time despite no electricity.

We packed and left for home the next morning. Even though there were already stories of gasoline shortages, we had no problem, stopping at this little country store and filling up.

Damage was everywhere along the way home. We saw many scenes like this one:

It was an eventful week, filled with music, re-connections with old friends and making new friends, hearing words that cut deep as the poets and writers read their work. And all around us the mountains, weaving their magic, making even the hottest day cooler with their green-ness and soft breezes. We learned a lot; Larry  continues to practice his banjo and I now understand much more about my dulcimer. I've not been as good about practicing but will get to it as soon as these busy storytelling days are over.

Next year, maybe I'll take banjo myself!


Copyright 2007 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

On the Road Again

I'm off to Fairview, West Virginia today, a small town near the WV-Pennsylvania line, to tell stories at the library and the elementary school. It's always a pleasure to visit this town, and to soak up the atmosphere of history in a mining community that has known much history, some good and some tragic.

Last Friday when we returned home (and boy do I have photos and stories to tell you about that trip!) a thunderstorm blew in and just as quickly left. The sun peeped through the raindrops so I knew there would be a rainbow. I hurried up to the top of the ridge and took photos. Here is one; I'll share more when I return this evening.

See you tonight!

What Can Happen in an Evening

Writers Group: after a day of figuring out what's up (or not) with the elevator, how to get delivery to 9 branches when the delivery van is in the shop for a new windshield, when we're required to pay prevailing wage on projects, what asbestos abatement means, why a librarian wants to cancel a subscription to Time, and how to get a brick walk repaired so it doesn't block a fire exit, it's a relief to go to writing group.

A stop at the coffee shop for a fresh brew (okay, they said it was 45 minutes old when I got there so I wheedled a fresh pot--45 minute old coffee can cause premature aging!) and I was still close to on time. I was determined to bring something new to the group this week since I'd missed so many meetings, so last night I wrote a new short story. It was different, I'll say that, and the ending had a strong impact. A little work and it'll be a good story. Seeing everyone again really made my day.

Drive: The sky was ominous--black clouds piling high, big gusts of wind, premature dark. I darted for home, only a quick stop to relieve the "Empty" light on my gas gauge (my little Nissan Sentra is so used to running on empty I think it just keeps going out of habit). I raced the storm, literally. It started to pour at the gas station, but a few miles out and it was a light drizzle, then only wind. I made it to the house just as the first fat drops caught up with me.

That might not sound like a big deal. But I had 6 miles to travel on a small 2-lane highway, 2 more on a one-lane, bumpy country road, then 2 more on a dirt-and-gravel road full of twists, hills and bumps, then 1/4 mile on the driveway. So I was doing some speed on bad roads to outrun the storm.

Storm: I raced raindrops to the porch, ran into the house and unplugged phone and computer. My mind relieved, I went back to the porch with a glass of Chardonnay to sit in my rocker and watch the storm with Larry. It was stupendous, great flashes of lightning and big booms, a tree cracking in the woods behind the house, rain blowing almost horizontal as the lightning show continued.

Storytelling: when the storm passed, we hooked the phone and 'puter back up, and I returned a call to my storytelling friend Donna Wilson. She was working on the final report for our grant for the series Stories at the River's Edge. Because of her efforts, the series was very successful. She is quite a woman, an organizer with a creative streak that reveals itself in storytelling. We talked about stories, how they connect us with people, what they mean. We plan to do the series again next year. With Donna involved, I know it'll be a success again.

Writing: After such an evening, here I am at the computer, trying to capture the best of a very good evening. My full-time job is demanding, but knowing I can come home to good friends, a lonesome ridge, and a loving man makes it all worthwhile.

If only it would flood, or trees fall and block the road so I can stay home tomorrow! But a woman can't have everything, and I'm happy to take what I got tonight.