Ai yi yi yi yi

This posting was supposed to be up the other day but the computer has been... well "peculiar" and probably virally infected (avian flu??). We took it to get repaired and it rewarded us by being exactly the same when we brought it home. Yowzah. And sometimes (like right now) it works fine... I'm taking advantage of that miracle!!

So Bob and I are on the way out to shop and there was a lot of activity at the road's end. Turns out (gasp!!) lil' ol' Jeremy Swamp Road is getting a traffic light at the corner of it and Route 67! Progress comes to our neck of the woods. And although this may signal the urbanization of Jeremy Swamp Road, it's a good thing because when they fixed all that flood damage, they installed a bridge that has so many cross struts and weird accordion uprights that it's very hard to see around. Bob and I were wondering when an accident would occur. So here's another picture on our way back home...

Thar she blows! Swinging in the Jeremy Swamp breeze! It hasn't been hooked up to work yet, but it's there. Hope it works better than our blasted computer and I sure hope it has nothing to do with Frontier!!! Maybe the town officials will have a champagne-fueled installation celebration. Maybe it will help with all the melon-head wannabes that use our road as a short cut. Maybe not!

And how's this for weird?! Looks like a moon-scape. This is occurring on the other end of town. I'm not quite sure why, but there has been a big bi-partison infrastructure project to redo the exit/entrance ramp off the highway. Lots of big dirt piles and large equipment... doing something. They engineered this in such an austere way: huge barren swoops of dirt. I certainly hope the plants some native shrubs or ground covers! (And you will notice hay in the rear view mirror of Bob's truck. We were on our way home form scoring 20 bales when I shot this picture.

And it isn't the loveliest time of year, but its is the Winter Solstice for which we actually received abit of snow. We're celebrating and I hope you are too!

Would Ya Look At That!!

 

Wowee! It's like moving into a whole new hacienda! Bob's balustrade is all done; painted, installed, in place and ready for service. It's so beautiful and makes climbing the stairs an exciting adventure.

Bob worked so hard on this... masterpiece (there is no other word for it!) It changes the whole dynamic of the upstairs landing. Why I actually vacuumed this area this morning in tribute! Here's the balustrade on Bob's work table, prior to us carrying it up and erecting it:

This allows you to see the pattern straight on which is harder in real life as the hall is narrow and the angle gets distorted. (It looks like stained glass with the colors of Bob's studio in the background!)

Bob and I posted images of the balustrade on Facebook and it was greeted with raves. It's the only way anyone can enjoy it as the house is (obviously) off limits to visitors due to COVID. Just wait until next year. When vaccine is widespread, we'll have a Balustrade/Railing Festival and invite all of you to a champagne toast and stairway climb!

Our 31st Non-Anniversary!

And how better to celebrate our 31st non-anniversary than with me contracting a cold and a phone call from our driveway-sharing neighbors to say that there is yet another (!!!!) tree down, blocking passage? We've lost track of how many times the driveway has been impassable...
I was contemplating returning to bed as my throat was scratchy and my nose was stuffy and I just felt generally tired and run down when Bob provided the above intelligence. The tree decided to fall down late; we were in New Haven and didn't arrive home until a bit past 11:00. Our neighbor got home at around 1:00 to discover that she couldn't drive up the driveway. We were lucky!

(This shot is from the other side, by our neighbor's stranded car.) I rallied energy to assure Bob that I'd help drag limbs away, after he'd chainsawed the downed tree into draggable pieces. Fortunately, we have great neighbors and everyone pitched in. Bob sawed the side branches and when enough weight had been removed, we all formed a line and grabbed a rope that had been affixed to the biggest limb and we pulled. The third of the tree that was damaged gave way and no one got hurt and we quickly piled the truck high with debris to cart off into the woods.

You can barely see the truck for all the tree! It took an hour and a half or so but I think everyone secretly enjoyed the helping out and the cleaning up in the mildly chilly morning.
Which, of course, leads back to Bob and I celebrating our 31st anniversary! Yes, the basil was struck dead and blackened and tonight we're having a small occasion. (We'll wait until I feel 100% before we really congratulate each other on attaining a bit over three decades of unmarried bliss.) But I actually feel pretty okay after a low key day of laying around in the sun and getting picture books from the library. Sorry to see the garden go, but I guess it means less work!