The weather (of course) was one of the big events of the week. Monday evening we had a terrific storm. It wasn’t dark yet. At first it was just thunder and lightning in the distance to the northwest of us. Hannah, Josiah, and I were standing on the back porch stairs watching the lightning and counting. There was no wind or rain at that point, but the heavy gray clouds were boiling across the sky. The sky kept getting darker and then the light turned green. We heard a sound – a low roar from far away. I suggested that we move to the more sheltered front porch and we made a dash for it around the side of the house. By the time we reached the porch it was starting to rain. The roaring sound got louder. Then the wind came in a mighty gust that bowed the trees and with it came a blast of hail. It was thrilling and frightening to feel the power of it. After the first onslaught, the hail stopped and it rained a while. There was a bit more thunder, then it was calm again and all that we heard were the peepers.
On Wednesday the temperature dropped and it began to snow. It snowed off and on until Friday. Some of the snow stuck, but now it has melted. The temperatures are still very chilly. It’s very disheartening to have snow on the ground here at the end of April. The peepers have frozen several times now. Local folklore says they have to freeze three times before spring settles in for good. I think we’ve reached that point. I’ve seen more happy signs of the season. I saw my first bumblebee gathering pollen in the hyacinths. And the first of the warblers arrived on Saturday. I heard a yellow-rumped warbler (a disappointing name for such a lovely bird) singing in an apple tree while I was inspecting the orchard. I took some good photos of it.
 |
| Thursday morning. |
 |
| The first bumblebee. |
 |
| The yellow-rumped warbler in the Northern Spy apple tree. |
Work progressed quickly on the barn during the week. On Wednesday they took off the old collapsed roof. Then day by day old things disappeared and new things appeared. The Amish are hard workers. By Saturday the upper part of the barn was almost done and the new front was going up. It will be nice when it’s all done. While the work has been going on, the chickens have been wandering free. They love it. They won’t want to return to their closed yard when the work is done.
 |
| Wednesday, the barn with the roof off. |
 |
| Thursday. |
 |
| Friday. |
 |
| Friday. |
As promised, last week was The Week of Josiah. On Thursday he was selected for the National Honor Society. The induction ceremony will take place this week. On Friday he traveled to Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania, to participate with other band members in the IU9 Band Festival. We drove down to attend the concert that evening. Saturday was his Eagle Court of Honor. We are so proud of him for his dedication to the Boy Scouts. He is our third and final Eagle Scout. We had to hurry home from the Court of Honor so he could get ready for Junior Prom. He didn’t have a date, he went with a group of friends. He had been selected as a candidate for Prom Prince, but his friend Dylan won. After the prom a few of his friends came over to our house for a Post Prom Party.
 |
| Josiah with his Scout Master, Cliff Wood. |
 |
| Josiah ready for Prom. |
 |
| The Post Prom Party. |
Sarah and Tosh are here for the weekend. They drove over from Detroit on Friday and met us at Kinzua Bridge State Park. We had a very chilly picnic at the park and looked at the railroad trestle bridge. The bridge was built in 1882 and was once the tallest railroad bridge in the world and was touted as the Eighth Wonder of the World. A portion of the bridge collapsed in 2003 when a tornado struck it. The part still standing is still impressive. After our stop in there, we went on together to Josiah’s concert. It’s great having Sarah and Tosh here. Sarah made refreshments to take to the Court of Honor and the Post Prom Party – cookies, shortbread, and brownies. For dinner on Saturday she made tamales for us.
 |
| Our chilly picnic. |
 |
| The trestle bridge. |
 |
| The glass deck. |
 |
| At the Kinzua Bridge. |
 |
| Sarah making tamales. |
Today we did not have our regular church meetings. Instead we watched a regional broadcast. This afternoon they are dedicating the auditorium at the high school in honor of Darlene Sitler, the elementary school music teacher who was murdered several years ago. They asked Josiah to play a solo on Ms. Sitler’s French horn as part of the ceremony. So we will be leaving to attend that in a few minutes.
The week ahead looks like it will be busy with the usual things. Sarah and Tosh are leaving tomorrow. We have a full week of the things that fill up our lives – school, work, a dental appointment, an evening at the Family History Center, scouts, chores, and on and on.
