Back In the Saddle Again

Well, here we are. I can't believe it's November 5th already, and I REALLY can't believe that the photo above was taken on the morning of OCTOBER 30th. That was the day after a good old fashioned Nor'easter blew into Connecticut and nearby states, and dumped up to 17 inches of wet, gloppy snow on top of leaf-covered branches.

Do you know what happens when this occurs? Trees and/or huge tree limbs snap, crackle, pop and break, falling on to houses, sheds, and power lines. For us it meant a week long power outage. I was without power (and heat) for five days. Some people still don't have their power back. Not to worry, the power company expects (hopes?) to have power back to 99% of all customers by midnight Sunday. We shall see.

Anyway, I'm thankful that my power is back, and I hope those of you who are still out will get yours back soon. Meanwhile, I can honestly say that I was lucky. While my back yard looks like a tornado hit it:

I was extremely lucky in that nothing came down on the house or the shed and gazeebo. My wife, Stephanie, was great. She had to deal with two children all day who were bored because they were out of school and there was nothing electronic to play with. While I was at work, where the electricity flowed freely, as did the heat, she had to find places to take them to keep them entertained. And, thank goodness for the YMCA. Not only were we able to shower there, but the kids had a ball swimming. It was a lifesaver during a couple of afternoons this week.

So now, I've got some cleaning up to do. Ironically, I had just sold my chain saw (which I rarely used) the weekend before the storm, so that left me with just a bow saw. I went out this morning to make a start, and after about an hour the saw broke. So now, I'm heading out to Sears to pick up a new one. I hope they're not cleaned out, or my yard will be looking like this:

for quite a while. Oh well, all's well that ends well--although I guess I'll be losing four trees. I suppose it means less leaves to rake next year!

Now that things are sort of back to normal, I can start concentrating on my book again. In the next couple days, I'll be updating you on that front. I will also have an announcement to make sometime next week, so stay tuned. In the meantime, be safe and be warm!