Our week was dominated by COLD. On Monday night the much discussed Polar Vortex hit here. By Tuesday morning it was -20° with the wind chill approaching -40°. School was canceled on Tuseday. On Monday night we took what we thought were adequate precautions against the cold. We opened all the cupboards to allow air to circulate around the water pipes. We set the faucets to drip. We put a heater in the upstairs bathroom to blow on the pipes. Everything worked except in the upstairs bathroom. The cold water pipe froze anyway and the drain in the bathtub froze, so we had no baths that day. We worked all day Tuesday to get them thawed. Miriam was supposed to leave on Tuesday to fly back to Utah, but her flight was canceled. All the flights out of Buffalo were canceled because of the weather.
The cold finally began to abate on Wednesday night when the temperature finally rose above 0°. It’s amazing to me how 10° can seem warm after experiencing -40°. The temperature kept rising and by Saturday we reached a balmy 45° – which felt unseasonably warm.
Miriam was finally able to leave on Thursday thanks to her Aunt Roxann who works for Southwest Airlines. They were going to make Miriam wait until Saturday for a flight out, but Roxann managed to get her a flight on Thursday night. We were sorry to see Miriam go. It was so nice having her home. Since she’s been gone we’ve been moping around.
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| Miriam braving the cold. |
In the midst of all that cold, seed and nursery catalogs arrived in the mail almost every day. It was a serendipitous boost to my morale. I carried catalogs with me to school every day and in every spare moment basked in the hopeful glory of pages full of pictures of colorful flowers, gorgeous vegetables, and beautiful fruit. On Saturday morning I spread all my catalogs out on the dining room table and started my pre-purchasing research, comparing quantities and prices. I love planning my garden. It keeps me from going crazy in the winter.
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| Seed catalogs. |
Hannah and Josiah went to our District Chorus Festival last week. They were there from Wednesday afternoon through Saturday afternoon. This year the event was held close by at Oswayo Valley High School in Shinglehouse, so they got to come home every night. They were two of the three students chosen to attend from our high school. They had to audition in order to be placed in their sections. Hannah made 15th chair in the alto section and Josiah made 14th chair in the bass section. They practiced all those days with 180 students from all the high schools in our district which covers most of Northwestern Pennsylvania. Then they performed in two concerts – one on Friday night and a second Saturday afternoon. They had a great time. Stacey and I attended the Friday night concert. It was excellent.
Stacey left on Saturday morning to visit Sarah in Detroit for the weekend. Detroit is a seven hour drive from here. She’ll be back on Tuesday. We really miss her.
I took advantage of the warmer weather on Saturday afternoon and began pruning the orchard. I usually prune in late February or early March, but there’s no reason to waste a bit of warm weather in January. I alternate heavy and light pruning every other year. This year is a light pruning year. I have 32 trees to prune and I finished about half of them before it began to rain. I’m expanding the orchard this year, adding twelve new trees – eight apple, two plum, and two pear. I’m still trying to decide which varieties to plant. I’m also putting in a row of blueberry bushes. I can hardly wait for spring.
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| The orchard, half pruned. |
Today it is cold and gray and blustery. It seemed strange at church without Stacey. Hannah was supposed to run the Primary for her, but we had no Primary aged children today, so it didn’t matter. I directed the congregational singing in Stacey's absence. On our way home from church we saw what I’m pretty sure was a golden eagle eating a dead deer at the side of the road near Harmontown. We stopped so I could take a picture, but the eagle flew off and wouldn’t land again. It was enormous. Now we’re home from church and we’re sitting around acting listless and unmotivated. I planned for us to have pork chops for lunch, but it seemed like a big hassle. We almost opted for ramen instead, but that’s what we had for dinner last night, so I gave in and made the pork chops. They should be ready soon. I ought to go check on them. This evening we’re going to Shillig’s house for a Sabbath Soiree – the first we’ve had in a long time. That will make us miss Stacey even more, but we’ll enjoy the company of Kurt and Julie. Good Sabbath.
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| That small speck in the sky above the trees is my suspected golden eagle. |
