Starting New in the Poconos

What Happened?

2011-07-16T19:20:00.000-04:00

I have not posted in a while, I know, but I did not realize it has been over 6 months! Things got away from me, I guess. Thank you for not hounding me about this.

Last couple of months have had a few changes. I was laid off from my job, which is pretty big. I still work, now as a personal assistant, but still, a change.

My husband has a new job, one I think he really likes and likes him. He has had a few of those - jobs he liked - but circumstances beyond his control take away the opportunity. The best was the newspaper for which he was selling advertising space folded - end of job! He was doing well - they were not.

On our kitty front, many changes. After all, our cats are a part of our Pocono Life, so when these things happen, we are deeply affected.

We lost Star - a little girl cat who woke one day unable to stand up and when she did, could only walk in circles. Very scary to watch. We rushed her to the vet, who diagnosed her as having a form of inner-ear abnormality and showed us the office cat with the same affliction. He said she would get used to it and live many years, but she was so terrified of what was happening to her - you could see it in her eyes. Two hours after we got back from the vet, she died in my husband's arms. I think the changes were too much for her little heart and she could not take it.

Next came Scottie, who was older and had not been happy since Ike passed. He died quietly in his sleep.

Then, Sunshine, who was being treated for hyper-thyroidism for the past year. She was so skinny at the end, but had the heart of a lion, never giving up. Sunny came to us as a 2 week old kitten, abandoned by her mommy cat in our backyard, on the first day of summer, laying in a sunbeam. We bottle-fed her and made up a box for her, but her motto was "You cannot hold Sunshine." We eventually had to progress to a refrigerator box; when she escaped that, we knew she was ready to be a part of the group.

Sunshine would allow you to pet her and hug her as long as you did not pick her up. She was a princess and had to be in control. I knew it was time to give her peace when she lost control and allowed us to hold her and carry her around on her last day. The vet was amazed that she lived as long as she did when he gave her her release. It was the first day of summer, 12 years after we found her.

The hardest one for us has been Little Bear. He actually died a week before we had Sunshine put down. We think he had a massive coronary. We love all of our babies, but Little Bear had a special place, particularly on our bed, next to the headboard above our heads, where his thunderous purr would soothe us to sleep every night. This was important to my husband as he went through a year of chemotherapy. After his weekly shot, my husband would feel very cold, but would be sweating profusely (cold sweats). Little Bear made a point of sitting on my husband's head to keep him warm until he would fall asleep - summer, fall, winter and spring. He showed he cared, I believe. The night Little Bear died, he was particularly affectionate, holding my head between his paws, which he had not done since we first adopted him. I did not know why. I found him the next morning on the floor.

So we have adopted some new kittens - Sweetie, Fancy and Guy. I think we needed some energy in the house, and now we have it. We still miss our passed babies, and we are not replacing them, but these little creatures needed a home and we needed the love.

Brophy - the Building and the Cat

2010-12-26T11:40:00.004-05:00

My first job for 'The State' was to train employees how to work with the Mentally Retarded clients at a state institution. Three weeks after I started, I was training new employees how to work with the Developmentally Disabled(DD) clients. Better term for sure, but that should have been a clue of how things would go working for the state - same job, different name.

Not that I was really qualified to train anyone, let alone discuss the challenges new employees would face working with a DD population. I took a Civil Service test and came out #3 - so I was hired. Fortunately for me, we did not have any on-going staff development for the first 6 months after I started due to a disagreement between my supervisor and the institution administration. So I read manuals and books and talked to everyone about what I should know.

The first class offered was new employee orientation - some of these 'new' employees had been there for 2 years! - but I was to sit in our the training to fulfill requirements and learn how training was done. Two hours in, one of the instructors was unavailable and I was told I had to train the class. That class was "Life/Sex Education" - a class to acquaint new employees with how the clients at the institution dealt with sexual issues. The crux of the class was the clients were adults and should be treated as such, especially when they used all the different slang for body parts and functions. Yep, trial by fire!

Settling in, I discovered I enjoyed the job. It was very trying and a little intimidating, but the time I had when I first started helped. Truly learning as I went along, I had my own office and developed friendships and was treated with respect - mostly. Some people thought I was silly and not serious, but I found that my trainees remembered what I was showing them if I could wrap it up in a funny bow.

This all leads to Brophy. Brophy was the name of the building I worked in. The building was over 100 years old and had all the charm an institution could muster, which was very little. Still, I came in one weekend, painted my office, brought in some old chairs and wallpapered one wall with the brightest wall paper I could find. It was very comfortable and a refuge from the rest of the world. I got in a little trouble with our union painters, but they reasoned that they did not want to paint our offices anyway and let it go.

After one of my classes, some of the employees came in and told me of a little kitten caught in a bush outside. I was amazed they came to me and did not handle it, but they knew I loved cats and would be the one to save the kitten. So I went outside the front of Brophy building and extracted a little black kitten from the rose bush - now I knew the real reason why they came for me. Scratched from the bush, I brought the little kitten inside. I knew I did not need another cat at home, and we already had an office cat, but my boss (a new boss, not the one who did not get along with the administration) said for me to keep him in my office.

My new assistant would play with anything that moved, answered my phone (hard to explain the 'mew') and followed me when he was allowed out of the room in between classes and cried when I was not there with him and he could hear my voice. I tried many different names for him, but he always paid attention when the name of the building was mentioned. So, he became Brophy.

Fairly soon after Brophy took up residence, I was transferred. What was supposed to be a 'temporary' reassignment became a permanent move to another department within the state. Brophy now had to come home with me and get acquainted with the cats in my house. The minute he was put down, he jumped on everyone and basically told them he was in charge. That went well, except for one little girl kitty in the house who told him otherwise. He avoided her for all the time they were together.

Brophy had a personality and was very smart and opinionated. He was accepting of anything I did to him, but he told me about it anyway. He rode well in the car, he loved going to our cabin, and he hated leaving that cabin, showing his displeasure by defecating in his box - every time!

Last week he lost his year-long battle with kidney disease. For this past year, he let me inject him with fluids, he let me give him the medicine and he made sure to sit on my lap every night. But last week I came home and he was unable to control his bowels and bladder and I knew it was time for him to go. He looked at me with those big yellow-green eyes, the same way he looked at me the day I saved him from the bush as the vet gave him his release.

A fine cat.

I got a Job

2010-07-24T19:49:00.004-04:00

Again, have not posted in a while, but I have a good excuse. I got a job. I was not looking for a job, but now I have one. As my new boss says 'you are way over-qualified' to which I reply 'Don't hold that against me.' Good start. Still, innocently enough, I saw one of those tear-off ad papers posted in one of our local diners that said: "I need someone to work out of my home to help me with my business. Must know Excel, Word and PowerPoint..." I showed my husband the posting and said: "I can do that." He replied: "Yes, you can, if you want to." So I took one of the tear-offs and researched the number through Google and she was legitimate - East Coast Marketing Director for a major US manufacturer of floor care products.

Here is where it got more interesting. When I called and told her that I had researched her and was interested in applying, she said, 'Oh good, I am looking for someone mature to fill the position.' How old is my voice?

So when I was "interviewed," I think I was already hired. Maybe she ran a search on me? She wanted to know when I can start, told me what I would do the first day, said she would give me a key to her house, and its a shame she has to tell the young lady waiting in the living room that she hired me.

So I am her Administrative Assistant, but she gave me the title of Assistant Manager. I have a key to her house, my own office in the lower level of the house, and I get a raise after three months and can go to possibly full-time in 6 months - if I want it. Right now I work 20 hours per week and I am tired. I am so out of the habit of working outside the house!

The hard part is the company my husband was working for folded and he is not working. I know he resents that the first job that I applied to hired me, but that was not my intention - to hurt his pride. Still, my boss has come through and is paying my husband a decent wage to fix and paint one of her rental properties. Did I mention the lady has some bucks? Huge property with her own pond, goats, sheep, road, as well as approximately 10 rental properties. The house I work in was owned and designed by an architect and it is only 15 minutes from my house. I thought everyone around here had modest houses - seems the fancy places are hidden in the woods behind Lake Wallenpaupack. Learn something new all the time.

I have to stop now. We have another tornado warning tonight. A tornado blew through last night and left a lot of damage just north of us, so better to be cautious.

Cannot rush this stuff!

2010-06-02T16:12:00.007-04:00

I cannot believe it has been 2+ plus months since I posted anything here. Good thing I am not getting paid for this. Then again, if I were, I might write more. Truth is, I did write about a month ago, but my system or the Internet or the site or something 'dumped' an hour's worth of material to the vast wasteland somewhere. Frustration and all that, so I never got the itch to post anything else and figured out other things to do in the meantime.

The summer season is here in the mountains. The first couple of drownings occurred in the Upper Delaware and one of the lakes. DWI's are up - ah, Summer! These occurrences have become a regular part of the main tourist season. Still, up until last week we had frost at night. I guess a few warm days and nights brings out the crazy in people. It also brings the requisite flies and mosquitoes to annoy us and we expect all this.

We painted our living room - finally. A warm antique white. Looks very cottage-y and clean. Next stop in the painting tour is the office. Funny thing about a spring clean-up - you find things! The worst/best was discovering the hiding place for the infamous blue disc to reboot our old PC. I am sure when I put it there, I thought it would be someplace where I would not lose it. Mission accomplished! Now a new conundrum - restore the old PC or donate it. It looks so big next to the new laptop, which is faster and does more. But the old PC was a workhorse for graphic applications and printing stuff. My husband wants to boot up the old thing and have the option of taking the laptop with him when he does sales calls or whatever. Esthetically, I do not miss the thing on the desk, but he is probably right. Your thoughts?

I also found out why the poor old thing crashed - the hard drive got over-heated. I have come to this conclusion after reading an article from the NY Times. Could have saved it by putting the hard drive in the freezer - who knew? I know it overheated from excess dust (isn't all dust 'excess?') from our covered kitty litter boxes which are on the other side of our office, behind a heavy curtain, on the other side of our washing machine and dryer. Read a previous post regarding my thoughts on a dust-free litter - there is no such thing!

So now I will cook our dinner - something I know I have control over, barring anything unforeseen. Of course, if it were 'foreseen' you could stop it - like giant oil leaks - or maybe not.

"Accept the Chocolate"

2010-03-16T11:30:00.007-04:00

My husband and I had a lovely day yesterday celebrating our anniversary (see previous blog entry). We had a nice lunch, then poked around in hardware stores and the outlets in Tannersville, just looking and planning what we could do with our house this spring and summer. We would have liked to have taken a nice drive and had a sumptuous feast at a restaurant with a nice view of the mountains or the lake, but it was rainy and grey, so we went to a chain restaurant that played music that I do not particularly like. It was one of those days where every time we decided we should go ahead and get or order or do something, the item was sold out - unavailable - on order - 'should have been here yesterday,' etc.

Horoscopes

I do read my horoscope, several versions. Do I 'believe' in them? Not really. The 'fortunes' they predict are vague at best and get recycled around year by year. I think of them as fun references, especially when the prediction seems to be real. My horoscope yesterday said 'everything you may wish to purchase may not be available, for example, you may wish to buy a vanilla ice cream and all the shop will have available will be chocolate,' or something like that. Darn if that did not appear to be true yesterday! So our mantra became "Accept the Chocolate!"

Salespeople in the stores looked at us funny when we said that to each other after every disappointment, but, then again, we are used to salespeople looking at us funny. Nice to know we can give some variety to their day, I guess.

There was a time that these little 'ant bites' would bother the life out of me. So many things were discombobulated yesterday I could have gotten very cranky, but I have tried to develop an attitude that eventually things will come to fruition. Snow will melt and Spring will come. Mice will stop annoying us in the Winter to be supplanted by mosquitoes and flies in the Summer. Wait, that was not very positive, was it? Anyway, we can get around the annoyances and handle whatever happens. "Accept the Chocolate!"

Ike

This is Ike, laying on top of Sunny (who is not happy about this situation). He was trying to find a replacement for Checkers after she died and started to lay next to - or on top of- anyone who came near him, just like he used to do with Checkers. I put this picture up because it is the last picture I took of Ike. He joined Checkers on February 9, passing peacefully in his sleep laying next to his Daddy. He was 18 years old. R.I.P.

Anniversaries

2010-03-13T19:17:00.004-05:00

We are coming up on our fourth anniversary here at this house in the Poconos. We moved in April 1, 2006 and a part of us is amazed that we do not miss more of the things that were a part of our everyday life in NJ. This coming Monday is also the 29th anniversary of our first meeting at the St Patrick's parade in Philadelphia. My, how time seems to escape us, but I know we have not circumvented it. I look at pictures of us in our youth and realize that in many cases, the years have not been kind. But I look in my husbands eyes and the young man I married is still there - I hope he sees the same thing in mine.

But as the snow is finally melting and we see our lawn again, I was pondering what I miss about NJ. Bagels! Nobody up here makes bagels like they do around our old home turf. Some are close, but it must be something with the water or whatever. Yet I know there are many people who will insist that NYC has the best bagels - it is all what you know and grow up with, I imagine. There was one bagel place near where I grew up that made the bagels every night for the next day's deliveries to local restaurants and, if you went there after 2 am, they would sell you a fresh baked bagel right out of the oven - great after a night of clubbing, etc. Now one of my friends in NJ makes a point of bringing me bagels when she sees me; takes pity on the poor soul who cannot get a good bagel!

Another thing is pizza. For some reason the favorite version of pizza in this area appears to be what is called 'Old Forge Pizza,' named after the town the other side of Scranton that calls itself the 'Pizza Capital of the World.' Please! American cheese has no business being in the cheese mix used on top of a pizza unless you are making it at home for a child! Crispy crust, mozzarella cheese, fresh sauce (not ladled from a can), oil dripping down your arm - that is a pizza and it is something we just cannot seem to find up here. Again, must be this cool, clean water in the mountains!

But in the scheme of things, I guess I miss the ocean the most. We never lived more than an hour from the beach in NJ (by the way, people who grew up near the NJ shore tended not to call it 'The Shore' until it became the jargon used by the tourists. We went to the Beach!), and when we needed to clear our heads and get perspective on life, we would drive to the ocean and just sit and look. The ocean never changes and yet is constantly changing. Very zen. We are not hurting badly for the ocean view, we have our beautiful mountains, but about twice each year, I need to look again. Just to be sure that life continues, the air is still salty and the breezes can chill you to the bone. I tend not to go during tourist season - learned that from growing up near the shore area - but usually about mid-winter and autumn, I convince my friend to go to the beach, to sit and just look.

I also miss just walking around the corner to the store or a restaurant. I miss that particularly during a heavy, snowy winter. Used to be if I did not feel like cooking, we could just walk around the corner for Chinese, Fried Chicken, Pizza, Bagels - selections were practically endless. Most times we could not decide which kind restaurant to order from - too many choices. I admit that we eat healthier now.

The Storms of February, 2010

2010-02-28T17:36:00.007-05:00

We thought we were pretty lucky this winter. We had some snowfalls of 6 to 8 inches, one time a foot of snow was recorded, but Philadelphia and Washington, DC, etc. always seemed to get it worse. We were almost through February and it would be a downhill slide into the warmth of Spring. Stupid Groundhog! I had a feeling when Punxitawny Phil saw his shadow that there would be trouble. We got socked the last week of February, setting snowfall records for our area, as well as Scranton and Wilkes Barre. Yes, I know - Philadelphia set new records for the season. We set new records for largest one day amounts in February, as well as records for most accumulations for February - all in one week.

The good news is my car is in the garage - the bad news is my car is probably going to stay in the garage for about another two weeks. Five foot drifts would test the will of anyone going anywhere if they do not have to. We have my husband's car, which we parked down by the end of the driveway before the snow hit - wise move. After the snowfall, getting to the car was another matter. Neat foot path - we may drive the car up to the house in a couple of weeks too.

I am thinking more about Spring than I normally do, but what I am really looking forward to this year is painting our living room. It has taken us 4 years to figure out what color we would like and it is - beige! A cop-out to be sure, but we have paneling all through this house and, as I have said before, we are afraid to pull it down for fear of what is behind it. For example, if there is no drywall, then we have to put that up first, then paint or whatever. So the idea of what color to paint, or wallpaper over the paneling becomes a major conundrum. So we are going the easy way out with a pale beige so at least this tired paneling is covered and if we have to paint again, we are not trying to cover a bolder color. Four years - cannot rush these things.

We also need some other things looked after around the house. After all this snow - oh, yes, the total is about 3 feet and it is snowing as I type this - I am sure there will be many surprises awaiting us under this white covering. I would like to have some electrical problems resolved, as well as some steps added to the walk behind our house. And the garden again - this year we hope to grow more than squash, or at least I hope to grow other produce. There is always hope...

Reflections on Joy

2010-02-05T18:51:00.004-05:00

I am not sure why I have been thinking about the concept of 'Joy' lately; maybe because we had so much sorrow over the Christmas with the sickness and consequent death of two of our cats; or maybe it is the doldrums of winter. Our winter has not been that bad, so something triggered this pondering of feelings.

Joy, to me, is something more than happy or even happiness. Joy is something that is accomplished, or anticipated. For example, the Biblical concept of Joy was experienced upon the birth of Jesus, as that was anticipated and desired. Not to compare ordinary life with the Joy involved in the Savior, but a feeling of Joy stays with you and does not come around often.

My earliest memory of feeling Joy was when I was 4 years old (yes, I remember back that far - it is last week I have a problem with). My father brought home - what looked to me then - a huge two-wheel bike that someone had cast off. He fixed it up, painted it, and never put training wheels on it because he said it was time for me to ride a two-wheeler. So I excitedly went with him onto our dead-end street and got on the bike that he had fixed up for me. The basket on the front was bigger than me! My feet barely reached the peddles! But I was going to ride, because my father said I could. He held on to help me get on, then pushed - yes, pushed - me up the road. Fell on the front curb, but I did not cry (wanted to). Back up on the bike, then he pushed and yelled for me to peddle - peddling might of worked, but now there was this telephone pole in front of me - hit that! Try again, but now that my mother has realized what was going on, my father runs beside me and gets me to peddle, gives with a little push (enough of the pushing!) and I go into the neighbor's hedge. At least that was softer... Two more times into the hedge and now my father is threatening to put the bike away until next year - a whole year? So, one more time and I avoided the hedge, the pole, the curb and I was riding! Turning and stopping - not so much (my father had to catch me) - but I was riding! Joy!

The next time I remember Joy was the day my brother was coming home from Viet Nam. The anticipation, the praying, the watching my mother age before my eyes while he was there, were all resolved when he walked off that plane. Damaged in so many ways, as we found out years later, but at that moment - Joy!

Our wedding day, in spite of the threat of rain and a rampaging mother because of a messed-up catering order, proved to be a day of exhaustion and abject Joy.

The last time I have felt real Joy was for my 50th birthday party. I was happy to live to that point, happy to have my husband healthy and next to me, happy to have my friends share my happiness. Things got all screwed-up when I went back to work the following Tuesday, but that night I experienced Joy. I hope those people who were there that night saw that - they really have not seen it from me since.

I am happy. I love my husband, our Pocono home, our cats. I feel a thrill watching the moon, the stars, the sunsets and sunrises. The mountain and lake views we experience take my breath away. I am not complaining, I am just reflecting. I hope you do as well.

Ready for Winter

2010-01-15T21:14:00.004-05:00

NOW we are ready for winter. Almost half-way through the season and the house is much more comfortable. The nice young men from the county weatherization program did a wonderful job finding the air leaks, the poor fits on doors and windows, insulation. Cute young men - if I were younger, thinner, single - who am I kidding here?

Some embarrassment occurs when strangers start fussing about your house, at least for me. Finding dust bunnies, cobwebs, grease spots - I swear I went around this house looking for those issues before they arrived. The guys were nice about it; they said that the blower they used to test for leaks knocks stuff out of the smallest corners, etc. I can imagine some of the things they have seen. Our most memorable incident for them was finding a dead snake in our fireplace. The one guy said "I don't want to upset you, but we found this snake..." To which I said, "Another one!" He was expecting the 'girly' response; I know he will be talking about that to the 'guys.'

What really impressed me is these guys were working very hard, squeezing into tight areas, moving heavy equipment, including a refrigerator that did not fit into the door very well - and they never cursed once! Not even a sincere "darn!" We had snacks and coffee and donuts for them, but they insisted on eating their lunch outside in their truck each day. We told them to come inside, etc., but I have a theory - they were talking about us and getting any cursing/cussing out of their system during that break.

It was really cold each day they were here, so of course they had to keep the outside doors open to weatherstrip them. We had snow, so of course they were outside putting a new storm window up. It was slippery, so that would be the perfect time to bring in a new refrigerator (nice one, too). The only damage we sustained was a latch on our back storm door when the refrigerator caught it. Not bad.

So now that is all accomplished, the weather has broken and we have had 40 degree temperatures today with no wind. My husband and I took advantage of the warmer weather and did some additional weatherization, such as covering our exhaust fan and fixing some plastic we had on the windows. I wish we were as efficient as those young men were - what would take them 1/2 hour at most takes us two hours to complete.

Winter will be back soon, so I am sure this will show how well the improvements function.

New Decade

2010-01-02T19:56:00.004-05:00

As I am writing this, the weatherbug on my computer says it is 8 degrees outside. Now the windchill is probably minus 10 - yippee, winter in the Poconos! We are getting used to this - we may not like it, but this is not an unexpected event. This weather is why they sell insulated underwear and warm sweaters and coats. The usual - dress in layers, warm the car, stay out of the direct wind - oh, and the wind is whipping out there at a constant 20 MPH, with gusts up to 50 MPH. Good thing we used bungee cords and wire ties on the Christmas decorations! And we gave up on the inflatable balloon things - seen too many of them laying deflated on the ground because to inflate them is to invite them to travel - maybe to the next county!

It is nights like these that shows how little insulation is in the walls of this house built circa 1930. Back then they probably heated with coal, which was cheap , and an air-tight house was not necessary. I feel the breeze coming in in places that I thought we had covered already.

This week we are going to be visited by the county home energy program for three days to winterize our house. They are supposed to blow in insulation, wrap windows, replace some storms doors, and give us a new refrigerator (the one that came with this house is an energy beast - I wish they gave new ranges too.)

Being under-employed can work out sometimes, as we meet the income guidelines for this free service. Yay/Boo. Still, I am so looking forward to this and I wish we could have had this done before the cold hit. We had to wait for PA to pass their budget, then we had to wait for the materials to be ordered. Still, I am not complaining - really. We wanted to do this on our own, but if someone offers their expertise, who are we to say no?

This cold makes me very happy that we cleared a spot in our garage for one of the cars. Not real warm in there, but out of the wind. Of course it is my car, not my husband's - my car is more finicky about the cold, being a Toyota. Wish we could put both cars in our 'supposed' two car garage, but the one bay is really too narrow. Never noticed the difference until we fixed the doors. Guess we need an even smaller car? We could pull the car in, just cannot open the doors (oh, shucks). We needed workspace anyway; to stand out in the cold, but out of the wind.

Checkers

2009-12-21T13:01:00.004-05:00

Things get busy around here during the holidays. Our friends know why and I will not go into details here. But on top of our usual hub-bub, we have had an issue with our cats all getting sick at once. Very confusing to us, and life has become miserable for them. Humans understand when they are sick with a cold to ride it out; animals just want to hide from it.

Checkers

About 12 years ago we have a nasty storm around Christmas time (sound familiar?), with winds and blowing snow. More wind that snow, and bitter cold. We had decorated our house for Christmas with a large plastic light-up Santa that I had purchased with one of my first paychecks as a teenager (that is another story). We tied it up on top of our porch roof, but it could not stand up to the winds that day and blew off the roof with a tremendous crashing noise - at 5 am, of course. My husband ran outside as the sound was so loud, we thought a car had crashed into the house. The news of the 'death' of my Santa did not go well, but even worse was our front door did not shut all the way against the horrible wind when he came back in. When the door blew open, one of our cats, Scottie, ran out. We spent two weeks searching for Scottie, going door-to-door, posting fliers - the usual. We purchased a humane trap, set it in our back yard and put in his favorite food to temp him. That is how we got Checkers. (We caught Scottie the day after.)

We could have let Checkers go, since she was feral, but she seemed so calm in the trap that we brought her in and confined her to a bathroom until she could acclimate to her surroundings, and until we could get her to a vet to be sure that she did not have anything that would hurt our other cats. I would go in to visit her, and she would come up to me very shyly, full of trepidation, but willing to be pet and held. These little visits were very precious to me.

We took her to our vet and Checkers was in perfect health, about 6 months old, and, of course, ready to be spayed. She came home and took up residence in the bathroom until she was healed. Having sniffed each other through the bathroom door, there was very little excitement when she joined the rest of the group. Then she met Ike, our pure white deaf cat. It was love at first sight on her part and our little cuddle sessions were now over. She bonded to Ike and I guess she figured she only needed him and the female human was now unnecessary. I was disappointed, but she became Ike's hearing buddy, so I did not push the issue. The only times I got to hold her again were when I was able to trim her claws, or when we moved. These escapades consisted of corralling the poor cat into a small space, donning oven mitts, and wrapping her in a towel or shoving her in a carrier.

The minute she arrived here in the Poconos house, she laid down her boundaries: feed her, let her buddy up to Ike, and let her hide when we come near. We tolerated all this because she was the world's best mouser. No fooling around with the prey, like the rest of the cats; she would just whack it! We started calling her Ms. Soprano.

I believe, and our new veterinarian agrees, that one of those mice that dared come into our house brought this bug that they are all suffering from now. Checkers, being the real assassin, got it the worst. We were able to catch her to take her to the vet only because she had grown so weak. She had pneumonia.

The vet told us we would have to medicate her everyday and really subject her to some intensive care. We knew that once she got her strength back, if she did, she would fight us. It would all be torture to her. She was so sick and she had no fight left in her. I know she told me it was time to go. I know, silly, talking to a cat, but I swear when I told her what we thought about doing and that Ike would be joining her soon (he is 18), she relaxed and gave me a final gift. She let me hold, cuddle and caress her beautiful fur one last time. No more fight.

We buried her under the magnolia tree where we have the others who have passed since we moved here. We have a spot next to her for Ike when he chooses to go. I think he misses her, I know I do.

I know this is a self-indulgent posting. Thank you for reading.

First Snow

2009-10-17T18:19:00.004-04:00

So we had our first snow for the season this week. We received 3 to 4 inches, no biggy, and it was 'fairy tale' snow - it only gathered on the trees and the grass and melted on the roads. No hard freeze that night, so we have a Camelot situation. Pretty good. Now, the bad news - our beautiful fall foliage was still on the trees, so the heavy, wet snow caused some damage and power outages. And we all complained, boy, did we complain. Nothing cheerful about getting snow on October 15. Especially with all the foliage tours and Oktoberfests planned for this weekend.

In the scheme of things, it was not as bad as the first snow last year on October 28. This was predicted, unlike that one, where a few flurries turned into approximately two feet! I noticed many people had a more resigned aura about them. It is going to happen, we will complain, and life goes on. Are we prepared? The stores rushed the snow blowers and salts out front, moving aside the Christmas decorations. (Halloween, Thanksgiving - that stuff is in the back marked down already. One town has their Halloween parade today - not like Halloween is on a Saturday this year - just get it over with!) But I think most people figured this would melt and we would be okay, depending on how many snows they have seen. Now the one that was predicted for tonight into tomorrow is another matter. This one may cause a little panic, as it is associated with a "classic Nor'easter" - batten down the hatches, matey!

On another issue, the flu (scream here). My husband got his flu shot last week - not the H1N1 - and the vaccine was administered into his arm and shot right back out! The pharmacist giving the shot had never seen that happen before - neither had my husband, of course. The two men just sat there and looked at each other for a while, after the original exclamation of "huh?" "What now?" The pharmacist examined the needle - nothing wrong - he examined the arm - nothing wrong - he harrumphed and mumbled and my husband is asking "Well?" No bone was hit, and no offense to my hubby, but his muscles are not that pumped. So, we have to go back in 1 month for another flu shot, for free, because we are not sure if any vaccine got in at all. Weird. Can hardly wait for whatever the H1N1 vaccine brings.

The Unfinished Projects of Spring

2009-10-03T18:41:00.004-04:00

It is Autumn. Where did the Summer go? I took a long walk around the house and I noticed all the unfinished projects planned last spring. I am not frustrated; I am more amazed that the time escaped us.

The tree that fell last winter - still there. Like I expected to get up and leave (leaf?) or something. We had discussed getting a lumber company or logger to come out, thin out some of the overgrowth and pay us for the lumber. But the economy beat us up on that - if people are not buying houses, or fixing things up, they do not buy lumber and so the loggers do not look for the little purchases and clean-ups - they need to make money on the stuff people are buying. We could pay to clean it up, but that is an expense we cannot handle in the priority of things.

It is what we call a 'yay/boo.' Yay, that huge tree is not hurting anything, really. Boo, when it toppled, it must have disturbed the water table, so the pond is no longer there in our woods. Yay, we had less mosquitoes and we did not have to treat the pond for standing water. Boo, we did not see the ducks or hear the frogs as they enjoyed the pond.

Hedges grow extremely well in the wet summer we had, so we never got them trimmed as much as we would have liked. We did get a garden planted, late, but we are still picking squash and we put in a second planting of lettuce to hopefully get picked before a heavy frost. The corn gifted us with maybe 8 ears before it got sick and died. Nice corn stalks, however.

I have to believe that it will all be accomplished eventually. As my husband always says to me, "You are the only one bothered by it!"

When we start a new project, like the garage project, sometimes normal maintenance can suffer. We had a chilly day this week and when we took our warm jackets out of the closet, one of them had mildew on it. One of those rainy days caused water to seep in under the door of the closet, causing a moisture build up and attacked my husband's canvas cowboy coat. (I think it is a costume type thing - the South Philly boy in a cowboy coat and Stetson - oh, yeah, cowboy boots too. Go figure!) So washing and spraying with Lysol was the chore for that day. The excitement goes on...

Garage Organization

2009-09-27T18:45:00.007-04:00

I have not posted lately, because we have been in the middle of one of our 'to do' tasks - clean and organize the garage. This is our first garage in a house that we own - we had a garage at a place we rented, but the place was so large that we loaned the garage to a friend who was moving from out of state. So, we have proved the old saying that you expand to the space you have, meaning the garage was very full, or at least appeared that way. Is a garage really meant to park a car inside? Really?

The expedition started with a thought out plan of where everything can go. Right! We pondered (mulled) this for a couple of weeks and made every excuse as to why we should not do it each day - it was too hot, it was too cold, too rainy, too nice to be cooped up inside, etc., etc. But finally, after going in the garage to look for something that I know we had and now could not find, we knew it had to be done now. My husband was between jobs, so we had no money and no place we had to be. No excuses....

First is sorting. That is followed by "What is this?" Followed by "What does this go to?" And then "Why do we have this?" After spending an inordinate amount of time figuring out what things were, we spend even more time getting it out of there. Really, have we only lived here four years? I knew moving in on April Fools Day would come back to bite us!

Next comes the arguing. "Why is this here?" "Do we really need this?" "Have we ever used this?" "How does this work?" "Why did we buy this?" We didn't get as angry as we could have, as we knew this would be a very trying experience for both of us. Nice thing about getting older; we have had the big arguments and we realize that we will probably get the same answers, so we just walk away, cool down and get back to work.

This all took about a week of sorting, organizing, hanging, and tossing. Then comes that proud moment when we can see the floor and there are work surfaces again. When we go to get a tool and it is where it belongs and only takes a minute to retrieve, as opposed to an hour of cursing trying to find it ("I know I put it here - Who moved it?")

So I took some pictures so we can record this great moment in history (the ones below show a little work still to be done). And, so far, we are taking great pains to put stuff where it belongs. If this works, cars will be in the garage - what a concept!

Stray Cat Syndrome

2009-08-26T18:09:00.009-04:00

As I have said before, we have cats. By many people's estimation, far too many, but they are all loved and they are all spayed or neutered. The majority of them are also older and have started developing the usual problems of age. In a sense, we are all older in this house and everybody is incapable of kittens.
All of our cats came to us in one form or another. For a while we seemed to have kittens growing in our yard in NJ and we found homes for most and adopted some of them. We only 'paid' for one kitten and that was the first thing my future husband and I bought together. We had just moved in together and we wanted to bring home something. We had only $2 between us, but the pet stand at the Collingswood Auction had stray kittens for only $2. So we agreed on a beautiful calico kitten who that night sat under the middle of the bed and cried her lungs out all night. The cat that I already had when my husband to moved in, Vanilla, was deaf, so he didn't care. Vanilla lived to be 21 years old. The crying kitten, Ms. Kitty, stayed with us for 18 years. They remain in our hearts.

More cats came and stayed and passed on since then and we never paid to adopt another kitten until Gracie, who was a rescue and the organization insisted that making people pay shows that they will be invested in the animal and will not harm them. (Just come to our house!) But two of our boys were strays and they have a different mentality - that mentality is reflected in their feelings about food. The bowls must be full, the food bin must be visible, and if these things are missing, the boys are absolutely sure that they will once again feel like they are starving to death. These 'little' boys are very rotund and there is nothing much we can do to prevent them from eating short of locking them in a room and listening to them cry bloody murder (can you tell we tried?). We let our crew eat dry food at will, and the majority are in good shape, but these two stray boys. They do not eat ALL the time, but the food has to be there ALL the time.

This Stray Cat Syndrome applies to many things, and not only to cats. In our current economic situation, I guess you could say that this mentality applies to money - it should always be there. In my case, I always want water around - I may not drink it, but if a bottle or glass of water is not nearby, I get really thirsty. This feeling applies to cars as well - I do not go anywhere for days on end, but when we only had one car and no car was available to me waiting outside my door, it just felt wrong. I feel this way about my family as well. I may not get to see them very often, but they should always be there. And they are not there anymore and that is wrong.

Thank heaven for my husband and my cats. And our friends whom we do not get to see often enough, but we know are there. And that is comforting.

Hubby's Bad Day

2009-08-08T10:48:00.010-04:00

We have had a lot of rain, which makes grass grow very well, of course. So well that even some landscapers are complaining that they cannot get to all their clients to get their grass mowed before the next rain. Poor Guys! But this also means that homeowners who do their own lawn have to coordinate when to mow so that it is not raining and there is enough time-off to get everything done. (On that matter, why do we worry about it so much? Where we live there are forests and open fields and nobody cares about them. I guess it is leftover from where we lived before, where you could be fined by the borough for not cutting your lawn.) Still, when a bird lands on the front lawn and disappears, it must be time to mow. And not a little chickadee-size bird either - more like a robin-size bird! But finally all the planets aligned and a day-off occurred during a sunny, dry day. So the hubby puts on what we call his 'devo suit' - a white coverall - and starts by spraying around the house the bug killer stuff we hook up to our hose. Precautions are made, windows are shut and he wears the devo suit, baseball cap and respirator. I get this vision of someone coming to visit who is new to some of this stuff and seeing him - I think it could really be frightening! So that went well, bugs killed, windows reopened, respirator removed and he progresses to the riding lawn mower. Mower starts up fine and off he goes to mow the front lawn to save the birds from disappearing again, donning his now traditional straw hat to prevent sunburn on his head and neck.

During all of this I am in the house doing that never-ending domestic enterprise - laundry. My being in the house keeps our cats calm, as all this outdoor activity can be upsetting. Remaining calm, they sleep through most of this. This is good. Laundry in the washer, I get the idea to fix a door that is sticking, so I go out to the garage to get a tool I need. My husband swears that nothing goes wrong with whatever he is doing until I am within earshot. I walk outside and hear a very unnerving 'crunch' sound that comes from under the mower. He immediately turns the machine off - wise move - and walks around it to see if he ran over something. And I innocently walk up behind and and say "That didn't sound good." Of course I scared the heck out of him and he starts his usual tirade about nothing goes wrong until I am near, etc. I start to walk away and look at the mower as he backs it up and I notice that something is really amiss. Mower is running and is very noisy, so now I am doing hand puppets to get his attention.
"What, what!"
"Something is lose under the mower!"
"What?"
"Like I know!"

He gets off the mower and starts to try to roll the mower over to look underneath.
"That is not a good idea!"
"Yeah, I know, and why are you still here?"
"Honey, just lay on the ground and look underneath."
He lays on the fresh, mown grass.
"Honey?"
"What?"
"Remove the key."
The undercarriage that holds the mower blade housing in place had dropped its tie-rod, or at least one of the tie-rods. The air is now very blue and I am not talking about the sky and the better part of valor made me move quickly back inside.

Out here in the country/woods it is not unusual to hear banging and clanging and gunshots, echoing through the mountains, the noise could be miles away, so it becomes background noise during the day. I did not hear my husband trying to bang a pretty mean bend out of the tie-rod with the sledgehammer. I did not hear him cry out in pain as he hit the bejesus out of his thumb with the sledgehammer - it also helps that the washer was in its spin cycle and making its usual racket. However, when he tried to get in the door and there was torrent of very-bad-words because I had absently mindedly locked the door, I knew something was wrong. Oops!

Many ice packs later, and a fine lunch (oh, yes, I was cooking while all this banging was occurring too), he insists he will now fix the mower. Right! Of course, the tie-rod had a nut on the end that no amount of persuasion could get that sucker loose. I am of the belief that a new day may be a an opportunity to start anew, but he is determined to get the machine running and to get this lawn mowed! Realizing that he is licked with this nut, he drives into the nearest town to the auto repair shop where he knows the owner and, looking pitiful with a banged-up thumb and grass in his beard and hair, begs him to get the nut off the rod. That worked, and he drives back in triumph, puts the rod on the mower and finishes the front lawn. Back lawn - another day.

We are not at the end of the day, just half-way through. He removes his devo suit, showers and drops the shampoo bottle on his toe! He is now convinced that staying in bed the rest of the day is sounding like a fine option. But, we muddle on and because there is that little voice inside saying 'This is not your day!' everything he touches goes wrong. Little things, like dropping anything he picks up, putting clothes on backwards - this could really get to a person. So, we nap, and he rolls over onto the now very sore thumb. We decide to go out to dinner, but he insists that I drive (I would anyway) and I am happy to say, getting away from the house was a very good idea. Nice dinner, come home watch TV, go to bed, put his pajama pants on backwards...tomorrow is another day!

We Grow Squash Well

2009-08-03T18:10:00.011-04:00

How these postings seem to get away from me. Mind you, I have some of my best postings being written continuously - typed is another thing. However, I can honestly say I do my best writing where nobody sees it - now if my brain could only learn how to type!

In the garden department, we appear to be good at squash; I really wish that I liked squash more than I do, but I will use it. Garlic does much to make anything palatable, as does butter, but we gave that up for gall bladder season. None of our produce is real tasty, but I understand that comes from too much rain and neglect. We have the neglect aspect down very well.

We have been trying to use the all-to-often rainy, cool days to do some more work around the house inside. We finally got the inside of our sun porch painted and our next big project is to organize the garage. How does that happen - you start with everything in its place and then it seems to find a new place. Like most men, my husband has the 'horizontal disease' - if there is an empty, flat surface, whatever is in your hand at the time gets put there. I sometimes feel like such a nag, but knowing how we forget where we put things makes me more strident in advocating that things have to be put back where they belong! It is very frustrating when we know we have something and we cannot find it, so we buy another one. IF you are lucky, you find the original before you start using the new one, but that rarely happens. Why do you think there are so many open packages in the hardware stores?

So a simple project takes all day and at least two arguments - or at least they used to. Now we do more planning before we start something, usually taking an hour or two the day before to find everything we need before we start. We have been amazed at how quickly we can do a project, clean up and then do something we want to do on our days off. Brilliant this planning stuff!

On top of everything, our PC died - brain hemorrhage or something. Feels like your whole world collapses when that happens. Fortunately, we had bought an external hard drive and all of our information was backed up on that. We looked into getting the PC fixed, but with prices going down so much since we bought it, it would cost as much or more to fix than to buy new. (Some repairers charge a fee before they even tell you if it can be fixed. ) Still, I tried to muddle through fixing the thing. I pulled out all the start-up discs that I had and I am re-booteding better than Nancy Sinatra, until the system asked for the blue disc. Blue Disc! What Blue Disc? I don't have a stupid (not what I really said) Blue Disc!

In moving the PC from one house to another, heaven knows where this disc went! Organized and well packed, and probably so well packed it got thrown away - or something! Thank goodness for friends. Our dear friend met us at a half-way point between our houses, where we had a lovely lunch, and then she loaned all the discs she had to help us to try to bring our PC back from the dead. It looked like we were passing something illegal between cars in the parking lot. So we come home and I load those discs on our PC and our system is now regressed to 1998! Which means nothing that we have saved can be recognized anymore on that PC.

But now we had to wade into the murky world of buying a new PC.

Here is where you realize how much you depend on the Internet; normally, I would research on-line for the best deal and then go to the store. Oh Right, the PC is Dead! So now we are spending the better part of a week in our spare time going store-to-store to get the best deal. In the end, we were at a shopping center that had two stores that sell PC's and laptops, so I am in one store, on my cell, calling my husband who is in the other store to see who has the better price, deal, etc. (Yes, like those Sears and Home Depot commercials.) We decided on a laptop, which had more on it than our old desktop. But the salesperson was insisting it is not good, we need bigger, better, he has a degree in Computer Science, on and on. Finally, I looked at this skinny little kid and said we are not using the thing for games, it is better than the one we were using pretty darn well up until last week, and Consumer Reports recommended the one we picked for people like us (a euphemism for over-50). Then I walked away and said to my husband to handle it from that point. I figure my husband can win through intimidation, since he is a big guy. Of course the kid tried to sell us the extended warranty - which costs almost as much as the laptop! Right! No! Even the check-out person asked "is there a reason you are not buying the two year warranty?" We don't want it. "Really?" Now we feel like she is saying 'do you have to heads and are you out of your mind?'

This laptop can do so many things that I didn't know I ever wanted a system to do. But one purchase leads to another - new mouse, USB extension plug, DVD camcorder.... hope this all works out!

Birds, Bees and Bugs

2009-07-03T21:27:00.008-04:00

It has been pointed out, ad nauseum, that we have had only 9 days without rain since the 'unofficial start of summer' - Memorial Day. I have heard from some people starting their gardens that the excess water has caused no end of heartache, including flooding and rotten seeds. We tried to plant a traditional garden and we could not find more than one square foot that was not inhabited by rocks, tree roots and various other impediments. So we are trying a 'raised' garden - sort of. We did not build all the nice walls and make it look pretty; we just laid down newspaper, threw purchased soil (cheapest we could find) on top and planted. We surrounded the ugly garden with some fencing that was left in our barn and, amazingly, things are growing! We have already eaten some of our lettuce - we have tasted better, but this is the stuff that we grew! The corn is trying, as is the squash and some basil. That was all we planted, as this is our first attempt, except for some tomato seeds we planted in containers. Those seeds have been lost due to over-flowing container pots, especially after we had three inches of rain in less than an hour, 2 days after we planted the seeds.

Now, we did try to go out and do the traditional weeding, raking and all that, but the bugs have been overwhelming and, well, it has not stopped raining long enough to get anything accomplished. Do not get me wrong, I don't mind getting wet, but the areahas had some pretty impressive thunderstorms, with lightening, wind, etc. Not smart to stand outside in a thunderstorm holding a metal rake!

Mrs. Birdie - our lodger in our breezeway nesting on our motion light - keeps a close eye on anyone who comes and goes through any of the doors - occasionally, harmlessly, flying over our heads to warn us away from her nest. She should be well fed with all the insects this year! The one bug that has not shown up too much this year are the gypsy moths; it seems all the moisture has caused trees to develop a fungus that kills the moth larvae. But nobody told the 'dumb flies' that were brought to the area to eat the gypsy moths - while they don't bite much, they are annoying. And, of course, mosquitoes are more plentiful than we remember - wet, moist weather, duh! We wear the "OFF clip-on" which works very well to repel flying insects, but if they are ravenous enough, nothing stops them.

I have not seen any honey bees either, but that is a national problem. Bumble bees are going crazy on our rhododendrons, which have bloomed late this year, but are glorious. I look at them from inside - way too many bees to get up close. This is Independence Day weekend, the big launch of the summer season around here. Almost as if it were planned, it is supposed to sunny and warm this next week. I will believe that when it happens. The good news in all of this, besides the outstanding flowers blooming, is we have not had to water anything yet. We even gave up collecting anymore rain water - we have plenty.

Our basement is another matter. It could really use some dry time. So could I.

Serendipity

2009-06-19T20:23:00.008-04:00

In my previous persona as a NJ State employee, I was responsible for project planning, among other responsibilities. The state had me trained as a "Certified Project Manager" and I knew how to develop projects, illustrate them on graphs, lay out timelines, contingencies, variables, etc. I guess my bosses saw a very organized individual in me and wanted to utilize that talent - or nobody else wanted to do it! In any case, I knew the most valuable resource - and the most unstable resource - were people. I could plot and plan tasks down to days and prepare for every contingency but my human resources would always throw me a curve. So I got good at begging, cajoling, pleading, bargaining, and anything to get the job done. I also got good at generating paper - everything looks more impressive on a long graph with critical points, etc. I discovered most people cannot really read these graphs, or they looked so complicated that they did not want to. So I would get compliments on the graph and it would be placed, carefully folded, into the back of the supervisor's notepad or briefcase - never to be seen again.

I have known many people in my life in bureaucracy who depended on plans and were sure life was better with a plan. I had one friend/supervisor who laid out her life up to when to sell her house and retire and move to Florida - and it worked out for her! She had minor setbacks, but she somehow did not let anything prevent her from her goals. She sold her house within one week (full price and a 250% profit), found a condo the next week, practically planned her retirement party and I believe is very happy with achieving the plan. I do not think she is the type to allow herself to truly relax and is probably planning her cruises, parties and possibly her funeral! I just hope she has not planned when she will 'check out.'
My life here seems to be without a plan and I tend to allow serendipity to determine what gets done each day. I still make lists of what needs to be done - I just do not put time limits on completion. Things will get done when our resources and time allow. If the day is sunny (not many of those lately), work outside. If it is too hot/rainy/buggy, work inside painting rooms, sewing, fixing whatever (something always needs fixing). Tired, not feeling well - nap. Tired of being in the house - go somewhere. The only time I need to plan ahead is when something involves another person, such as a doctor's appointment or visiting a friend. After all, just because I let serendipity rule in my life, I am sure that other people need to plan. I understand both ways.

I am still organized, just not as much with my time. And it seems things get done better now since I do not worry about completion mandates as much. At least not like I used to.

Spring Surprises

2009-05-19T13:37:00.012-04:00

The gentleman who built this house around the 1930's seemed to really like doors. This is a smaller house - or at least it was at first - with two, maybe three doors at the outset. When we moved in, it had five entrance doors available. The front door nobody ever used, except to move stuff in, or for deliveries (delivery people used to get particularly vexed choosing which door to get us to come to). What used to be the attached garage had been turned into a laundry room/extra room sometime after the free-standing garage was built, sometime around the 1970's, so another door was added there to cross under the breezeway to the garage. After that a sunroom was added on, which is the way in for everybody who knew the previous owners. There was even a little note pad attached to the wall near the inside entrance door to leave a message in case they missed you. And, of course, the back door to the 'root cellar,' which my husband insists on calling the bomb shelter (60's damage - duck and cover!)

So the door we tend to use the most is the door from the laundry/office/cat litter room out to the garage. It comes out the side of the house, under a covered breezeway, and it prevents some of our lovely springtime (or anytime) mud from coming into the main part of the house. So imagine my surprise when I innocently walked out that door and was 'assaulted' by a bird in the breezeway. Yes, visions of "The Birds" went through my head and I backed up inside as quickly as I went out. I waited a few minutes, looked for the vicious birdy, and then went about my business, convinced that bird would never come that way again and we can go about our usual routines.

Wrong! Last week we were coming home after dark and I noticed something different about our motion-sensor light for the breezeway. It looked different, or dirty, or something.... The vicious birdy had built a nest on top of our light! Pretty savvy - covered, protected, warm - pretty perfect for a mommy bird to hatch her eggs. Not so for us, however, as we are forced to use another, not so convenient door for our entrances and exits. Cannot bring ourselves to remove the nest and hurt the babies.

As far as our other doors... we really saw no sense to the real front door, since nobody uses it, so we walled it off. What used to be the front room with that door in it we now use as our master bedroom, so the opening is sealed, save for the top to put in our air conditioner. We don't use the AC much and I did not want to block a window opening that would allow fresh air in.

In addition to all those, we think there was a separate entrance to the cellar, that has since been walled in. I think the old man was just looking for escape routes!

God's Flashlight

2009-04-28T18:09:00.006-04:00

Amazing! We hit close to 90 degrees yesterday! Again, not really ready, as most of our summer clothes are still in the attic. Yes, the weather people predicted this, but it gets so we do not trust them very much. Besides that, we are in the 'higher elevations,' where exceptions to the predictions prevail. We coped okay - t-shirts and jeans are suitable all year and always available.

For the cold weather we cover the windows with plastic, put up heavy drapes, and arrange the furniture to prevent any winter chills. Now with the nice weather (we hope) the plastic has to come off, the drapes washed and put away to be substituted by lighter curtains, and the furniture can be placed to enjoy the lovely views of the blooming flowers and trees. So as this occurs, God's Flashlight comes out. This is an expression my husband has developed that explains the angle of the sun coming in the windows 'just so' to highlight the "floating fairies in the air" (dust) and the muted sheen of the furniture (more dust). This is why we have spring cleaning!

I feel it is a never ending battle here in the woods. The air is clean, but the pollen is plentiful. And we have cats and the ever present litter boxes. (There is no such thing as a "dust-free litter." - those marketing people need to really use the stuff - in a home - with windows open - and really, truthfully tell me their litter is "dust-free!") In addition, the winter containment harbors the dust and the removal of the adaptations just releases the result. So we try to keep everything clean, take a day or two as the official spring cleaning days, and the next bright, sunny morning - the dust is back! Never ending battle.

Fires

We have not had rain for a while, so everything is very dry. The humidity is low, which makes for beautiful blue skies, but fire danger is very high. We have a burn ban in effect (the day after my husband had his fire incident), but people being as they are, some insist a campfire or or burning trash is their right. As a result we have had some massive brush fires, some very close to our home. We respect the firefighters and what they have to go through, so when we hear the trucks from the station up the street, we are understandably concerned.

It is quiet here. We have cars go by and logging trucks and school buses, so we are used to those sounds. But when a State Trooper puts on the car siren in front of your home, you pay attention. That is what happened to me this morning, sound asleep, the siren goes off and I 'stuck the landing' before I was fully awake. I was up, on my feet, looking out the window before I knew why, what time it was, where my husband was - I was prepared and unprepared all at the same time! I figured I had a decision to make - not sure why, but I was decisive. I decided to go to the bathroom! I realized very soon what had occurred and started to laugh - some way to start a day! I found out this evening the trooper was called to a chemical spill on the Interstate - our road is a shortcut to get the next entrance.

Restaurant Time and More Adaptations

2009-04-21T11:37:00.004-04:00

My husband has gotten a new job, working at a restaurant 6 nights per week. As a consequence, we have switched over to 'restaurant time.' Anyone who has worked at a full-service restaurant knows what I mean by that. In the real world, people work all day and relax and sleep at night. And sometimes that relaxation takes 'real people' to a restaurant to have dinner and drinks and talk. Other people have to be there to prepare, serve and clean-up after, hence 'restaurant time.'

My husband goes into work around 4 pm each day and is there until closing and final clean-up, which means most nights he does not get home until midnight - and this is the off-season yet! Once the season starts, I probably will not see him until 1 or 2 am. I understand that, as we both worked in restaurants when we first met - in fact, I got him hired as one of the cooks for the chain that we both worked for. (I got the job immediately after we met, so I had them hire him.) As a manager, I often walked out of the restaurant at 2 am and drove the 45 minutes home; I know what it is like to get home so late, so I prefer to wait up in case he is too tired to drive, or so I can see him for a little while before we go to sleep.

So we sleep in a little later now, and try to get the appointments and necessary matters done in the late morning/early afternoon. Now if Mother Nature would adjust her clock - the cats want to be fed, the birds get noisy at sunrise, deliveries arrive - we are not ready! The cute little woodpecker certainly did not get the memo - he is still trying to peck a home into our metal antenna - go Woody! (pictured below) - but metal pinging at sunrise! Naps are becoming an important aspect of our day.

One day off per week now, so we try to pack a bunch of stuff into that one day - visits, shopping expeditions, intense yard work, etc. Last week we did some shopping for yard stuff, then came home and tried to get yard work done. I thought a nice big lunch was in order, so I went inside to cook while my husband did some yard clearing and burning of the wood cleared. Next thing I see is him running back towards the faucet (you see where this going, don't you?), then running to the garage, then running to the faucet - all the while with expletives being quietly mumbled! I know he did not want me to know, and did not want me to get involved, as there is an element of embarrassment involved here. So I waited until the running and cursing stopped, walked quietly out the backdoor to 'announce lunch was ready' and feigned surprise that the brush in our back yard was blackened and, now, non-existent. No harm done, really - he contained the fire before it spread too far or progressed into the woods. Really, this will probably help the grasses and ferns that grow there, and that area is greening up already after a week. But the prospect can very be scary - fire in our woods and all.

Oh, yes, it snowed yesterday. I think this makes 7 months of snow now? Supposed to be near 80 this weekend.

Motivators and Spring Longing

2009-04-07T18:03:00.005-04:00

Sometimes the 'Powers that Be' send along powerful motivators to get a person to do certain tasks; or to accept the concepts and feelings that are inevitable. Looking around our yard, we are motivated to clean up and start planting. (Of course, there is a 'but') - But the weather does not seem to want to make up its mind! It is snowing now - just enough to annoy my husband, I swear. It is something we should expect and accept, since we are in the Poconos, right? We had 50 mph winds this week. Silly me put out some new pinwheels and whirligigs along our fence in the front - we picked them up later that week in the woods. Guess we will wait to put them out again, or find another way to stick them in the ground.

Health issues are extremely powerful motivators. After the realization hits home, an acceptance follows. My husband is Diabetic, as are many people in the US now. Almost a fad, huh? But a person has to accept that changes need to be made or the consequences can be bad. So you watch the sugars and carbs in your diet, move on and adapt. I have developed problems with the digestion of fats. Inevitably my gall bladder, so I got angry, make another change in the diet and move on and adapt. Those 'Powers that Be' are forcing us to eat healthy and we are better for it, but it is annoying. There is a whole preparation to eating out - something we both love to do. The Internet is useful there, as most restaurants have their menus on-line and national chains have nutrition information readily available. Still, good thing I can cook, but that may be the reason we ended up with these minor difficulties. We must tell ourselves that we are basically very fortunate and move on.

On the Spring (in name only so far) front, we have violets and crocuses growing in the sheltered areas by the house. The ducks have landed on our pond - which still has some ice on it - and are quacking up a storm. The frogs have not come out yet - still too cold. We were doing some work outside this week and an osprey flew overhead. Boy, do they move! It dive bombed out of the sky and then pulled up and quietly landed on a tree branch. Amazing! That bird's cry is piercing and loud.

We also saw some of our eagles back, as well as the bats that live nearby, probably in our old barn. I think we have a cat nesting for her kittens in the barn as well. We do not go back there often - the barn houses our lawn tractor and not much else. Some would say to knock it down, but I like the way it looks like a part of the woods.

Evaluating the Damages

2009-03-19T18:18:00.007-04:00

This was a surprise. I had heard a large boom during one of the winter storms; after I had looked outside to see if anything had fallen on our house, I attributed the noise to 'snow thunder' - a phenomenon we get during rapid weather changes.Now that the snow is melting after 6 months of being on the ground, my husband and I could tour our grounds to survey the damage. I never expected one of our huge trees to have fallen over onto the pond. When we found this tree, we just stood there trying to figure what we do now. There are services that come in to clear this type of thing, but more and more there are companies that will pay you to log on your land. Now we are looking around the property to see if we have enough trees to have a company to thin them out and we could get PAID! That would be nice, and a lot less strain on the back - arms - shoulders, etc.
It was close to 60 degrees yesterday, and my husband's day off, so we started the clean-up. A beautiful day, but a lot of work. Chainsaw, reciprocating saw, shovel, pitchfork - we were armed! Old clothes, hats, safety glasses, gloves - we were ready! We were sweating! We were the rural cleaning force for clean yards everywhere! Well, our yard anyway...

We lost just about all our lilac trees and bushes due to the early snow in October, so they had to be cut down. I do not know if they can regrow, but 'people who know' say they may, but smaller. I am happy to say that part was easy. We also cut down an old pine tree in front of the bathroom and dining room window - amazing the light we get in those rooms now! We had high hopes of getting the entire yard of damage cleaned up in one day - right - sure! But I am proud of what we did get done before our exhaustion took over. This is where we have to admit we are middle aged and cannot get as much accomplished in one day.

And it snowed the next morning, as well as the morning of the first day of Spring. Makes it hard to be optimistic that Spring will really arrive soon. It seems to be here in name only.

To Everything, There is a Season...

2009-02-28T20:45:00.010-05:00

Everyone gets to experience the traditional four seasons - summer, fall, winter, spring - but in the Poconos, we have many more seasons. Of course, there are the Hunting Season(s), something many people look forward to up here, as well as various Fishing Seasons (ice, trout, etc.), Camping Season, Boating Season - any season that gets the blood pumping in the followers of those activities. There are the sport seasons - Baseball, Football, Hockey, etc. But up here, we have some of our own special seasons:

Mud Season - comes right after the ice thaws and before the greenery starts. This season is especially appreciated by people with light colored rugs and new wood floors. Not much you can do about it and some communities celebrate it with special fairs and activities. An extra special attribute to the mud season is when it freezes again and makes for better slipping when driving or walking.

Road Repair Season - a special time that allows people from all walks of life to gather together on their way to -anywhere- to share in the joy and camaraderie that comes from the frustration of not getting where you are going. This season comes right after the Ice Season that causes other traffic delays, but is a contributing cause for Road Repair Season.

Ice Season (also known as Winter) - another source of frustration for drivers, and as mentioned above, closely allied with Road Repair Season. I give all the credit in the world to the plow drivers and salters, but they sometimes miss spots, or spots re-freeze, making for spectacular driving calisthenics. And, of course, all that freezing, thawing, salting and plowing leads us to...

Pot Hole Season - we have some of the most spectacular pot holes that I have ever witnessed in my years of driving. Axles have very little chance if it were not for the deft driving that a person develops up here.

However, worst pot hole that I have ever heard of occurred on the Belt Parkway in NYC. The traffic reports on the radio station went something like this:

10 after the hour= "We have a report of a pretty big pot hole on the Belt Parkway this morning. Be careful, as it is in the left lane."

20 after the hour= "We are getting a report that a Volkswagen Beetle as driven into the pot hole and has become stuck. That makes this a pretty big pot hole and we advise you to be careful and stay out of the left lane. NYC is sending out a crew to assess the situation."

40 after the hour= "Okay folks, this is a new one on me. The city has sent out the crew and they have put a flag on the car to alert traffic of its location. I guess they cannot get the car out, I don't know, but I would avoid the left lane of the Belt Parkway by any means possible!"

Sometimes I miss New York City traffic reports!

Clean-Up Season - before planting season, there is the traditional time for cleaning up after the ravages of Winter. As I said before, we had a lot of downed limbs and bent bushes from the ice storms. We also have some clean-up to the house and certainly some painting is in order soon. As far as raking the lawn of little bits and pieces, I prefer to leave that to the next season...

Windy Season - "March comes in like a lion," right? Well, we never raked our leaves because October must come in like a buffalo or other large animal. Someone got our leaves, but we got all the twigs and other roughage from the somewhere or somebody's lawn, but I have faith that the winds of March will just blow that stuff on along somewhere else. If not, in April, we rake - cannot rush these things.

Growing Season - I hope we can have one this year. It is shorter than I have been used to, but a couple of dear friends had a garden up here last year and the 'fruits of their labor' were wonderful. I hope we are as successful. But, of course, then we have to contend with deer, birds, etc. trying to eat our garden. Then will come...

Harvest Season - we hope...

Adaptations

2009-02-16T16:53:00.005-05:00

I have noticed a phenomenon of 'hardening off' for people, animals, and plants during the cold winter months. I know many of our plants were severely damaged by our early, heavy, wet snow storm at the end of October - the plants had not had the opportunity to harden off yet to prepare for the snow. We have many broken limbs and bushes smashed by the weight of the snow caught in the leaves that had not fallen off yet - they just were not ready.

People get used to the cold as well and 'harden off' - we had a warm spell and most people were in shirt sleeves, no coats and shorts in temperatures that would have required a warm jacket on people who are not used to our often-bitter cold. Even now, I find we walk outside without a coat to tend to things that do not require a long time outside, but during the bitter temps we always put a coat on. By way of explanation, current air temperatures are now in the 30's during the day - much easier to handle than the 'teens and below that we have just lived through. We are hardened off. No guarantee the temperatures will not drop again, as snow is again predicted later this week. After all, the stupid groundhog did not see his shadow!

Birds get used to the cold somewhat, but when we have a break in the weather, they go crazy! Nice to walk outside and hear all that type of noise though. Some of the birds we have here have made adaptations that are very puzzling. We have a woodpecker who every year for the past two has tried to build a nest on our old, unused TV antennae. The antennae is, of course, a heavy aluminum type and has probably been attached to our chimney for 50 years. We have not taken it down because it is 'up there' and not hurting anything, and it is so well tethered in place with wires attached to adjacent buildings and other poles that we are afraid of starting a house-of-cards effect. So the woodpecker still tries to build a nest for a potential mate each spring and clangs his head on the metal trying to bore a hole in that thing. Annoying noise, but we admire his tenacity.

Another bird we had last year, and I hope comes back this year, provides moments of amusement for our cats (if you know about cats, moments of anything is an accomplishment - they get bored easily!) This bird is a bit of a clown, trying to sit on one of the guide wires for the power pole in our yard. The wire is attached to the ground at a 45 degree angle, but he still tries to perch on it, sliding down, getting back up, over and over again. On top of that, he is insisting that it is his right and this is his territory and swoops at anything that comes close to him. I am not afraid of him, but I do tend to wait until he flies away before I go outside. I just have these visions of the bird pecking me - I think it is Alfred Hitchcock damage. So I have adapted to him.

We will Swing Around

2009-02-02T18:22:00.003-05:00

A phrase we hear a lot up here, "We will swing around to see you," is shorthand for 'we will come over whenever we get to it and when we want.' We hear this phrase uttered by friends, professionals, service personnel - and we find it a little maddening! We call up to get a repair for our hot water heater (which is new, but has taken a fit) and we explain to the manager/scheduler/wife that we need the plumber to come by at certain times so he can review the situation with my husband, who works evenings. So we get a phone call, after my husband has gone to work, that the plumber was going to swing by to assess the situation - now/today! So we call the manager/scheduler/wife, since we cannot call the plumber directly (cell phone service out here is another story) about the importance of seeing this guy at a certain time frames. "He is very busy," she says " putting in new tubs in condos, etc." That is very good and speaks highly of his abilities, but just 'swing around' anytime!

It is the culture up here, more relaxed and laid back. We got used to service people giving time frames in NJ, albeit very broad time frames, which they did not always adhere to. And it explains so much - why some places are open when they want, why you cannot reach individuals, why we have a veterinarian who comes to your house ('swings around') instead of you bringing the animal in. We have been late for appointments, not often, but a few times, and nobody gets upset. Worried, but not upset. In NJ, I was late for a Doctor appointment due to traffic and my Doctor was enraged! She lectured me about how it messed up her whole appointment schedule and never asked if I was okay. I apologized profusely, reminded her of how I have waited for her, but she was still incensed.

Our previous repair guy, a young man who has recently passed away, was always punctual, or I should say, always early! If he said 8 am, he was here at 7:30 - so he caught us in our night clothes more than once! He was from NY and had moved to escape as well. He had seen the 9/11 attacks from a roof in NYC, and that event and vision wore on him. His work was a personal mission, so everything had to be perfect - he would be heartbroken to know our water heater is acting up, since he installed it. But he often remarked about how people never kept appointments up here, or just showed up. We thought it was funny - now we understand.

Some of this 'swing around' stuff is charming. Our power/telephone pole is next to our garage, 400+ feet from the road, and I never thought about it until I looked out and saw a man climbing up the side of that pole early one morning. Of course, it belongs to the power company and they have every right to examine it, but I was getting dressed at the time! We are so far out, I do not have curtains in all the windows, especially if all they face is the woods, which is the side of the house where the pole is! After getting dressed and talking to the gentleman, I am pleased that they only certify the pole every five years. So he will not be swinging around for awhile.

And yes, some of our friends 'swing around' - we don't mind that. One of our friends yells at the house when he drives up "Are you dressed yet?" Charming...

More Introspection

2009-01-27T18:29:00.003-05:00

I have been reflecting a lot these days - maybe it is a part of cabin fever. For you weather watchers, we are expecting a foot of snow in the next 24 hours, at least in the higher elevations, so that means here.

Anyway, introspectively, we have crossed a bridge in our country that I honestly never thought I would live to see. I remember the 'race riots' of the 1960's and the animosity that festered then. I also remember my father and oldest brother being the two biggest racists that I will ever know, my brother being the worst. If they were alive now, they would be sure the world is doomed.

My father was an "Archie Bunker" from All In The Family - they could have modeled the character after him. And yet, that was one of his favorite TV shows. I do not think he understood the main character was flawed; I think he thought he was right. My father hated certain ethnic groups - actually, I think he hated all ethnic groups - but he had an interesting array of friends. One of his best friends was actually a black man who was 'passin' - pretending to be Italian. My father never put that together, even when the daughter was very dark and had very curly hair. My mother told me about the guy having to do what was best for his family and I should not tell my father. The daughter was one of my friends in grade school and we never discussed the issue, as that was how it was done then.

We lived for a time near the Garden State Parkway, and during the riots in Asbury Park a gentleman's car broke down, so he came to our house to use the phone for help. He was very nervous, as he was an African American man entering into a white family's home, pretty far from other houses and in the middle of the night, amidst all the racial tension. My mother answered the door, let him in and gave him a cup of coffee and a couple of aspirin. After he took the aspirin, he panicked and was obviously afraid that my mother had poisoned him. It took a lot to reassure him that there was nothing wrong. I remember pondering how he was as frightened of us as we had been taught to be frightened of him. My father was asleep upstairs during all this. Being deaf, he did not hear anything, and as usual, my mother said I should never tell my father about the incident. But it made me realize that this was a person, not the stereotype that my father, and later my brother, preached about.

My father gave me a lecture once on who to marry. By the time he was done, there was pretty much nobody left! No Catholics, no Jews, no Blacks, no Orientals, etc. I took it all to mean that nobody was good enough for his little girl, but he was serious and threatened dis-ownment if I crossed any of the lines. I will say here, the lines were crossed...

My brother was so prejudiced that he would quit jobs if he were forced to work with someone outside his beliefs. And yet his first marriage was to a woman from a foreign country! Hard to figure, but I am sure he would threaten to move to Canada if he were alive today.

I am sure there are people still like my father and brother today. I hope they are more open to a dialogue to resolve their issues. Or they at least stay quiet.

Okay, This is Cold!

2009-01-16T14:56:00.004-05:00

Seems I talk about the weather a lot - and I do! I talk to my friends and they always ask "How cold is it?" I think it makes them feel better about the moderate amount of cold that they have in NJ or wherever. But this week - this is cold! Below zero air temperature and who knows what wind chill. Has not been this cold since 2005, as the local weather caster, Joe Snedeker, likes to point out - and we know how we can trust weather people! He did make one point - people are proud of their cold. It is a competition to see who can take home the imaginary prize for coldest temperature. I think today was minus 15! Okay, you win!

Reminds me of how cold it was when we were looking for this house - should have been a clue, huh? We had the one house we called the 'ice house,' whose driveway was so slick with ice we had to hold on to each other to get back to the car - human-chain style. This week my hubby and I were walking to the bottom of our hill to get to the car and were reminded of that incident as I slipped and grabbed him by the collar, chocking him, to get my balance. We were fine, but he did not appreciate being used as a prop to hold me up! To explain, we park at the bottom of the driveway so there is not so much to shovel when it snows (note 'when,' not 'if'). One detail - when the driveway is all ice, how do we get to the car? Slide, Charlie Brown, slide!

We bought a snow blower yesterday - finally. We give up.

A Trip to IKEA

2009-01-09T18:07:00.004-05:00

We have many places to shop up here, but we do not have any place like IKEA. I am a big fan of that store; it amazes me how the furniture and home goods are designed for limited incomes and space. After all, I am frugal (frugal=cheap), and my husband and I have gotten some pretty good deals in the things we need over the years, especially at their original Plymouth Meeting store. This time, we needed a new mattress.

We have purchased IKEA mattresses before; they are usually well suited for our body frames and the cost is affordable. The nearest IKEA is Elizabeth, NJ, so we planned a day trip on a weekday to avoid the crowds. I looked up the directions on their website, thinking they may have insight into a shorter/faster route. I really should know better! After a tour of the Ironbound section of Newark, NJ - following the directions as written - we arrived at the store in time for lunch. Of course, the weekend crowds had depleted the menu items available in the restaurant, so we had some of what was available. Swedish meatballs are always good, right?

Anyone who has purchased a mattress knows you have to do a lot of laying down, and try each type available. After choosing the mattress, we had to load it into the car. Did I mention we have a Toyota? It has flip down rear seats, but this was a queen-size mattress. It would have fit, too, since the mattress is sold rolled and shrink-wrapped - if the car did not have this area behind the seats that frames in the opening to the trunk - if that were not there, we would have simply slipped it into the car. A friendly IKEA employee offered to help, so there were three of us trying to get this inner-spring mattress into a Toyota trunk, yelling at the top of our lungs at each other. The yelling was because the Elizabeth IKEA is next to Newark airport and it was prime-time in jet landing land! At one point my husband pulled the poor employee off his feet (he was a little guy) when he did not hear that my husband planned to spin the mattress around. I was thinking by this time, 'if I see this on one of those hidden camera shows...'

Tying the mattress to the top of the car is not a good idea - we did that once years ago and drove around the Washington, DC Beltway with my husband holding the thing on when a truck sent an updraft and almost sent our mattress (and car) into the next state. We learned then, and several times again with other items, that there always has to be a better way than tying anything on top of the car.

We came home a more tried and true way, but of course now we hit the real rush hour for people coming home from work. So we are in heavy traffic almost all the way home with a mattress sticking out of the trunk of the car. When we reached home, we were so exhausted from the noise, traffic, general stress, that we went to bed like a school night. After all, the next day, we were expecting more snow!

By the way, we did not get snow - we got freezing rain and ice. Much worse for driving. However, I got up last night around 4 am to see the moon coming in our west-facing window and reflecting off the ice covered trees. Sparkling ice crystals and brilliant white snow - Hollywood could not have created a more beautiful scene.

Second Thoughts

2008-12-26T18:41:00.007-05:00

When I started this blog, my intentions (always good intentions!) were to post at least once a week. As shown by the dates of the postings, that went well! It is not that we do not have things happen to us, or that there is nothing to write about; it is just the usual inertia that occurs in everyday life.

We started this adventure in the Poconos knowing many of the difficulties, problems, anxieties that would occur as a result. Still, I must admit that the things happening lately have made us start second guessing our original motives. Of course, there is the economy - this area in the Northern Poconos was a little depressed to begin with. The commerce of this region relies heavily on tourism and, fortunately, gas prices made the area a very attractive place to vacation this summer. Now the whole national economy seems to be tanking and history shows that tourism is one of the first things to be affected. Jobs are being cut everywhere, and this area is no different.

Then there is the weather this year. It has affected us a lot, first with power outages and 16 inches in October, then 10 inches last week, followed by freezing rain making roads very treacherous. My husband had a bang up with our car scraping a guide rail to avoid a deer - again! And our other vehicle has somehow 'lost' its Drive and Reverse - it now only goes forward in 1 or 2 (automatic transmission), but if you rev it up, you can shift to Drive. Just do not get caught where you have to back up. However, now that the Christmas holiday is over, we should be able to take it to a 'guy' - he seems to feel it is an easy fix. Hope it is not too expensive.

As a result of these incidents, we are becoming very cautious driving with any type of inclement weather. I hate living in fear that the next incident could be really bad... I am beginning to think Delaware - near the ocean and not that many storms. Could buy a foreclosed house, but then there is selling this one and after what we went through with selling the house in NJ, I don't think we want to go through that again soon.

Then we see the beautiful sunsets, or how the snow sparkles on a clear sunny day. We remember that we do not get the summer heat. We see an eagle fly over our property, and we remember that we have property and rarely see or hear our neighbors. Utility costs and property taxes are relatively low and the people we meet are, by and large, friendly and helpful. Just last week, a guy with a tractor saw my husband digging the car out and asked if he could help. He plowed our driveway, and drove off before we could offer him any sort of remuneration! We have to find him and thank him somehow, even though I know he does not expect it.

I just have to remember the good parts.

Transitions

2008-11-19T18:22:00.003-05:00

Just went through another birthday. As one of my friends used to say when I would complain about getting older, "Consider the alternative!" However, an important birthday does make a person evaluate how things have changed and what needs to be accomplished in our lives. The 'alternative' affects more aspects in my life and those of my friends. I do not mean to be depressive, just introspective.

A good friend and former boss recently lost her husband. I envisioned how I would feel if that happened to me - every married woman does. There is an empathy that goes without speaking and a part of you aches. Another friend whom I have known since childhood lost a brother - I can relate to that directly, having lost both of my brothers. We have a bond that does not get expressed, but we read in each other's eyes. A part of childhood is gone. An expectation for the future is removed.

These events, and several others, made me think about the transitions in life. My husband and I moved up here to relieve some of the stress in our lives; stress that would most certainly have killed us far too soon. Neither he or I have any immediate family left, so we hold on tighter to each other.

Begin Again

Our country has just been through a major election. During the campaigns, things are said, accusations are made, and even if they are not true, the accusation cannot be un-said. Why do we believe George Washington chopped down a cherry tree? Because it was said - once - and even though miles of information has disproved the story, people still have the image in their head. The old joke "When did you stop beating your wife?" Never said you did, but now the words have been said and the image is in your mind. Left to germinate, the image becomes an idea, then a truth. It is easier to say the lie than to disprove it.

Thanksgiving is next week. To most people this means getting together with family, eating and reconnecting. In our house, we decorate for Christmas and evaluate the coming year, then my husband goes to work (service/tourist industry, remember?) Turkey can be eaten any day, as long as we have each other.

Surprise!

2008-11-01T17:02:00.009-04:00

The end of October, when people are preparing for Halloween, Election Day and SNOW? On October 28th we had the surprise of our lives with a Nor'easter that dumped over a foot of snow on our little mountain top. The weather forecasters (as my husband says, people who never get fired for getting it wrong) predicted 1 to 4 inches with a slight possibility of more 'in higher elevations.' Where are we - Mt Everest? We are only a little higher than Scranton, but we got creamed when they received only a dusting to 2 inches. Of course, we are on the weather line, but people in the next town over did not get even 3 inches of snow.

Okay, so the snow is one thing, but we also lost the cable/Internet connection first, then all power for over 24 hours. My husband and I were so unprepared. We should have drawn water, gotten lanterns/flashlights/candles ready. We should have had wood for the fireplace. We should have had food. We should have parked the car at the end of the driveway. We should have had our winter clothes unpacked, including boots...

For a total of two days we were stuck at the top of our hill, one car in a snow bank, the other buried and without snow tires. We had no heat, as the new boiler furnace was to be installed on October 30 (there is timing gone wrong) and with no electric we could not run space heaters. We had no water, because we have a well with a pump, so we got our old charcoal grill out and melted snow to flush the toilets ("a hobo fire") - fortunately we had just bought bottled water for drinking. It was cold, dark, and we were just getting to the point of calling a taxi, mushing through the snow to the road - which was clear - and staying at a motel when the power came back.

So why didn't we leave and stay somewhere else sooner? Well, experience tells us that power does not stay off that long and we wanted to stay here for our pets and in case anything else happened - like pipes bursting, or whatever.

Things work out eventually. We have power, we have our new heater, and we got one car out to make it to the store. The other car is still stuck in a snow bank, (that happened when we tried to drive it out of its parking place and skidded down another hill on our property) but we are expecting a spate of 60 degree days, so it should be melted out soon. Then again, can we trust what the weather people say??? I think we will be buying a large, gas powered snow thrower soon - our current model is electric and a lot of good that did us.

Foliage

2008-10-14T18:35:00.004-04:00

The autumn colors came in perfectly this year in time for the three-day Columbus Holiday weekend. Reports came in about the 'bang-up' business, and resorts being very happy and busy. The gas prices are making people who come from the NY and NJ areas stay closer to home, come to the Poconos, and enjoy the warm, beautiful weather we had this year.

I truly hope people took the time and rode around to view our foliage. There are places even on the major interstate highways where you drive around a bend and are literally awe-struck with the beauty. The colors intertwine before you like a patchwork quilt; a heavy, sturdy quilt that is full and warm and bright. The evergreen trees serve as the counterpoint to the reds, golds and oranges perfectly stitched by Mother Nature. I take pictures, but something about the here-and-now, real-time sense cannot be captured by film or digital images. There is a feeling, a smell, a grandeur that can only be experienced in person.

The people who live here all year do seem to appreciate this time. Locals remark to each other that they try to find the time in everyday life to enjoy our leaves. But there is a time limit on the beauty, a profound concept. Today, many of the leaves have fallen off the trees, still pretty on the ground, but not as grand. We had our warm spell of 70 degree weather - a short burst of steam, if you will - but now the crispness is coming back (okay, crisp is another way of saying cold!). The leaves crunch under the feet and probably need to be raked. I am going to wait; after all, the winds we will be getting soon usually take care of that. Not sure where the leaves end up, but I imagine there is one family who feels as if with all the leaves landed on their lawn. They are probably not too wrong.

Crime is Relative

2008-10-05T11:33:00.003-04:00

It is inherently peaceful in the Poconos, at least our part in the northern tier, but we are seeing an increase in crime in the more tourist-oriented areas. Still, the amount of crime is relative, based on the reporting we see and hear on the local news. In the "If it bleeds, It leads" journalism, murders and fires lead the newscasts. However, in comparison the sheer number of reports, we still are feeling pretty safe.

Our local cable allows us access to the New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia broadcasts; and we still watch those in order to maintain our perspective. Which leads me to a recent couple of crimes lately that hit too close to home. There was a murder in one of the towns on the other side of the lake and the murderer has not been found yet. And there was the child pornography ring that was found working out of our town. This says to me that there are many places to hide up here and we live out in those woods!

Being a large place with a relatively small full-time population, differences are noted immediately. After all, not to make a characterisation, but there is a large contingent of hunters up here; in other words, people who make it a point to notice the things around them. I believe that is why the fugitives who try to 'hide' up here in plain sight tend to be noticed and reported, such as the terrorists who were in training up here to attack Ft Dix in NJ. However, a source of concern is the increase in gang activity. The gang graffiti symbols are prevalent in the areas young people congregate, marking territory. It scares me that kids still think it is a cool thing - to be in a gang - when their parents moved to the Poconos to get their kids away from the violence. Pity.

So do we feel safe? Relatively, as we still have our defences up from all the years we spend in the metropolitan area. We still lock our doors whenever we walk outside, still look immediately whenever one of our motion-sensor lights go on (just the fact that we felt we needed to add those on the house is a clue to our mentality), still eyeball the parking lot when we bring our purchases to the car. We still behave defensively, but it is getting relaxed and we are becoming more open. I still want to hold on to some of the defensiveness, but I feel safe leaving stuff outside that would have gotten lifted where we lived in NJ.

Last Weekend of Summer

2008-09-20T10:29:00.004-04:00

Autumn is arriving with a vengeance. It is the last weekend of summer and the overnight temperatures have gone down to 30 already. But it is a wonderful crisp cool that makes sleeping so enjoyable.

I love this time of year up here as much, if not more than the after-season at the Jersey Shore. It is always quiet up here, but I have noticed even less traffic than before. What I am seeing more of now is motorcycles - I guess to get in their last ride and enjoy the foliage.

A dear friend of ours lent us her beach house this week. It was nice to get re-connected to the shore, but I found it to be noisy, as the houses are close together, and not as cool as I have become used to up here. Still, it was nice to sit on the beach, watch the seagulls and boats and feel the cool water on our toes. But I have to say, I became a little homesick. Still, if someone walked up to me and said here is a beach house, on the water, with plenty of space between you and your neighbors, would I say no? I would say, "thank you very much" and "how much are the taxes?"

This is also the best time of year to do those home maintenance things that you didn't do during the summer because it was too hot, or you were too busy. Life slows down more this time of year, so somehow you find you have the time to do those things like caulking, landscaping, painting, etc. We are now getting bids on our new boiler for the heat - that should be fun! Strange people coming into the house to pass judgement on our heating system and to recommend various ways to take our money. Yippee!

Wildlife

2008-08-06T18:10:00.005-04:00

Let me start by saying that while we have had close encounters with wildlife, we have not had direct encounters. I am afraid that if some of our friends read about the wildlife here in the Poconos, they will never come to visit. I want to reassure them, but also to state that we are in the mountains! I am pleased that humankind has not destroyed all the natural wildness in the world.

It is still a little unnerving when you have encounters with wildlife, especially if you were raised in the city, like my husband, or in the tourist area of the Jersey Shore, as I was. Wildlife to us very often consisted of an occasional bunny, squirrel, bird, or drunken person. But now, living surrounded by forest areas with trees over 200 years old, we see flora and fauna that we used to see on TV documentaries. We have a nesting pair of eagles in one of our trees! How cool is that!

Deer are a way of life around here. They prance about our property and set off our motion sensored lights regularly. The previous owner 'caged' his prize bushes and flowers to prevent deer from eating them; we took the fencing down and while the deer eat some of our rhododendron bushes and hedges, the plants seem to be okay. My husband hit deer with the car one foggy night last year - the deer was fine, our front end was a mess! Part of living up here, I guess.

Our real first encounter was with a bear. We had come up to our cabin (before we bought the house) on New Year's Eve and we saw evidence that bear had been in the area. Since we did not see him/her/it, we figured get inside and just keep an eye out if we go outside. Later that night, around 8 PM we heard a scratching on our sliding glass door. I asked my husband to look and he said "What if it is the bear?" Well, I speculated that it would not expect to find anyone 'home,' so we would scare it more than it would scare us (Yeah, right!) So he got the flashlight and a broom (I guess so he could sweep it to death) and looked out the patio door where the scratching was coming from. "I don't see anything." But there was a little white paw near the bottom of the door. "Look down." There, outside the door, in 20 degree below zero wind chill, was a gold cat! As my husband opened the door to look closer, the cat walked right in, went into the guest bedroom, onto the bed and made himself at home - happy, purring and treading! The cat we had brought up with us for the weekend gave this intruder the usual greeting - growl, hiss,fitt, all the cat-anger noises!

Now what? This little cat was obviously well fed, used to people - he had to belong to somebody. So we boxed him up and my husband rode around the area to see if anyone had lost a cat. After 2 hours and subjecting this poor cat to inspection by numerous people, he brought the feline home. We named him Little Bear. And we did see the real bear a couple of weeks later - glad we didn't let him in!

We do get mice in the winter in the house - brave little souls with all the cats around. We discovered that our girl cats are much better mousers - the boys just like to watch. There is a comment there, but I will not make it.

Just this week we had another wildlife encounter. We were keeping our extra catfood in a locker outside and it was broken into. Okay, we should have known better, 20/20 hindsight and all, but we usually only do that in the summer. In the winter, we keep the locked container in our garage, and all bagged groceries in canisters or the refrigerator because of the mice. But whatever broke into this locker this week took about 9 pounds of catfood, bag and all. Maybe it was another bear?

Experience vs. Expertise

2008-08-05T13:50:00.004-04:00

Do It Yourself is all the rage now, between HGTV, DIY Network, PBS shows such as Hometime and This Old House. I find the information very useful, but it frightens my husband when I watch them. He is always afraid that I will get 'ideas' - and I do - but he means big ideas. Okay, I admit it, I am addicted to home improvement!

My feeling has always been that it does not hurt to try to do something as long as you have the ability and the funds to get started. I also believe the planning what to do and thinking it through before you start are even more important than 'just doing it.' How are you going to get experience unless you research how something is done and then try? We will never be experts, but we have enough knowledge to determine our limitations - sometimes.

I do pity my poor husband. He will come home from work and I will start to regale him with the information I have found out about how we can do...oh, it does not matter what. He is tired and I know whatever I told him will be quickly forgotten. But he agrees to - whatever - and then when we have the time and I bring it up, I can easily say "I told you about this the other night." I am not playing him, really, but I get excited about the project and the outcome so I tell him as soon as I see him that day. I just have to remember to tell him again in the morning!

You see, this is the influence of my father again. He taught me a lot about how to fix things, especially after my older brothers entered the armed forces and he needed help around the house. "I'm a girl" meant nothing to him, because we could not afford to hire anyone to fix stuff and if he needed someone to carry, hold, lift - and I was it! I grew to find the process of building/repairing things fascinating, which was a good thing, because I was not going to get out of it! Besides, the boys found the work fun, so there must be something to it.

I think I started as a 4 year old, holding a hammer and threatening a nail. My father probably figured it kept me busy and out of his way. Imagine. One day he was on the roof, repairing or re-shingling or whatever - and I thought I could help, so I climbed the ladder! Four years old! My father saw me standing on the roof, so he put me by the chimney, the safest place he could find, and yelled at me not to move until he could get me down. As he went over to the other side of the roof to secure his tools, etc., I saw my mother coming outside to hang clothes. "Hi, Mom," I shouted down to her. I did not know my mother knew those words! My father brought me down, but boy, did she curse him out for having me up there. (I learned later that my mother had a deathly fear of heights.) I kept saying I was only trying to help.

So home improvement means we do the improving, hands on, all that stuff. With limits, like certain electrical, heavy stuff like heaters, some plumbing. Over-our-head means that a project takes longer than one day. My Poor Husband!

Connections

2008-07-28T13:37:00.004-04:00

While I had mentioned that we had a vacation 'cabin' up here near Lake Wallenpaupack, I guess the real reason we ended up settling here was a connection to my father. My father was a 'coal jockey,' which meant that he would transport coal from the mines up here near Scranton, etc. to the supply yard in central NJ. He did this from the early 50's through the early 60's, which is when the coal industry started to fall out of favor due to issues like pollution, price, safety, etc. He would drive the three hours each way, sometimes two hauls per day, so a total of 12 hours daily on the road.

Amazingly, to me, he never tired of the beauty of the area and he would bring the family up here occasionally after he stopped 'jockeying coal' to show us the little areas that he found fascinating. I remember he stopped by the side of the road somewhere up here so we could taste the water coming out of a rock on the side of the mountain near the Delaware Water Gap. Being a little girl, I just did not see the attraction to water coming from a rock! But, my mom held me so I would not fall while I worked my way down to the side of the road to cup some water in my hands and drank this miracle. You know what - it tasted like water! Did not understand until years later that it was important that it was clean water, coming out of rock. Nowadays, that is probably bottled and people pay big bucks for 'natural, mineral' water.

So I guess that somewhere in the back of my mind I wanted to understand what he found so fascinating up here. I know we did not have much money when I was growing up; in fact, our family was on 'public assistance' (welfare) while he was working for the coal industry, so I guess he was not paid very well. But gas was cheap and it did not cost anything to go and look at something, so we would take rides as a one-day getaway. Mom and Dad in the front, three kids in the back, three hour drive - oh, what fun! And Dad had a good reach, so we learned how to maneuver to avoid the inevitable swipe that came after the "shut-up." No seat belts, so sliding was an art on the wool bench seats.

Years later, it became a tradition for my husband and I to take a day trip up to the Gap for my birthday in October at the peak of autumn foliage. Moving up here just seemed right.

Holidays

2008-07-05T20:12:00.003-04:00

Living with someone who works in the 'service industry' often means that you do not get to celebrate holidays with that person, as those are the days when employees are needed most at work. This means holidays like Independence Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, New Years, etc. have to celebrated on alternate days. That is okay, as we are not big on the 'big day' celebrations and the togetherness can be celebrated on another day - besides, most of the stuff you need for commemorating a holiday go on sale the day after!

This year something different occurred. Somehow my husband had the 4th of July evening off - the planets must have misaligned or something. We did not know what to do, so we thought we could go out to dinner. You would think people who work in restaurants would figure out that you need a reservation! Okay, so we'll get some 'to - go' food and picnic out by Lake Wallenpaupack and watch the fireworks.

A note here - I have not gone to see fireworks since I was a kid at the Jersey Shore, so I forgot how crowded the area gets prior to the display. These crowds were professionals! They must have been camped out at the lake all day! And park - where? People were parking practically on the road, not next to the road. Then my husband and I remembered why we never go out on the holiday, besides having to work. The crowds and the yelling and the general mayhem is very stress inducing. We looked at each other and I said that there are the fireworks from DC and NYC and Boston being broadcast this evening and he said, lovingly, "get the heck out of here!"

On a positive note, in spite of the gas prices and the food prices and the economy, the fact that there were crowds at the lake was good to see. Maybe the advertising to the NYC market about the Poconos being close by has worked. At least some of the local businesses should be happy.

We enjoyed our meal at home, set off some sparklers, and watched fireworks on TV. Togetherness...

Working

2008-06-23T09:22:00.003-04:00

This may be the main difficulty in living in the Poconos - finding a good-paying job. The tourist industry is big, but it does not pay very well, unless you are working to get tips. The 'life span' of these jobs can be a little disheartening, as tourist season is pretty well defined as being summer and ski season. Really, I wish people took more advantage of the beauty here in the spring and the fall foliage, but the traditional summer vacation is still king.

The people up here as a resourceful lot, as mentioned before. If they have a skill such as being handy around the house, they market it to the fullest extent. We have a 'guy' who works for the county during the week, but on weekends and evenings he is doing electrical, plumbing, roofing, etc. If you are good at what you do, the word-of-mouth will get you more jobs than you can handle.

Most people seem to have at least two jobs in order to make ends meet. My husband has joined that brigade, working at a tourist destination and a local restaurant. There is also a large contingent who commute to NYC everyday to get the higher-paying jobs. Really, a bear of a commute, but to some people it is worth it. Ironically, this area was populated by many coal miners to supply the railroad industry, and many of the innovations in railroading were developed here, but the passenger railroad was abandoned in the 1970's. I know those people who commute each day would welcome a train, but now we have to get approvals, etc., to start the lines up again. And the rails are already there, being used for industrial shipping!

In spite of all that, the living here is worth it. The cost of living is lower, the stress is less, and the people are friendly.

Spring at Last

2008-06-01T14:24:00.005-04:00

One day you are getting ready in the morning and you realize that you do not need to put on a sweater or a jacket. That is my new definition of Spring! You ride down the roads, which are riddled with potholes, (another story there) and the trees are many shades of green and the flowers are little bright spots of color on the roadside. The nights are still crisp and cool - jacket worthy, actually - but the days are bright and warm. The rain is refreshing and when it leaves, there are rainbows. (However, for the life of me I cannot get a picture of a rainbow - do I have to glue a camera to my hip!)

So, of course, the one time of year when you want to drive around and really get an eyeful (okay, autumn you want to drive around, too), gas prices become so high that you really feel that it is a waste on money. We sincerely try to bundle trips - to the store, and the bank, and the cleaners - but now we also try to appreciate the beauty around us as we do our errands. We have even added a picnic at the local state park as part of our errands, to try to enjoy the beauty.

Speaking of gas, PA has pump-it-yourself gas stations, so when we pulled into a small station two towns over, we were surprised when the owner comes out and starts to pump the gas. My husband asked him why and the gentleman said that it is easier for him to do it, less hassle to clean up afterward because, "after all, there is a limited gene pool up here and they get confused easily." We did not know if he was kidding, but he looked serious about his comment. We came to the conclusion that he was having a bad day.

Pocono People

2008-05-17T11:52:00.005-04:00

This past winter gave us a true idea about the people who live in the mountains year around. Because the winters can be rough, a self-sufficiency is developed. We have one neighbor who will drive to the store on his tractor when the roads get too covered. Pretty inventive, especially when he is wearing his bright yellow rain suit over his winter clothes - on his bright blue tractor. At least he is visible and he is not going to let a little snow keep him home! I see that this is where a four-wheel drive vehicles were developed to be used.

The common point of conversation becomes "How about that snowfall?' or "How did you make out driving in that weather?" or "Any damage to your (choose one or more) house, car, boat, shed, truck, etc?" We wanted to get inventive this year and use our old Volvo, which could not pass inspection and should not be driven on the road, to plow our driveway. We had a large sheet of heavy aluminum left out by our barn, so we thought we could tie it to the front of the vehicle and plow - right! That so did not work the first time, so my husband went to the local hardware store to get something stronger to tie the metal to the car. Two hours later he came back from the hardware store with so many ideas he did not know which to try first. The concept intrigued the salespeople and most of the customers in the store - it became a real brain storming session! For months afterward, anytime my husband went into the store, he was asked if the concept worked at all (it didn't) or did we try another way (we did). We ended up selling the Volvo - we still see it being driven by a guy who was willing to put in the time to get the thing to pass inspection - or something like that.

A little thing can become a big event, especially during a dull winter. My car was totaled after sliding on ice and banging into a rock and a tree on my husband's ride back from the closing on our old house in NJ; he was just three miles from the new house. Fortunately, someone was riding by the accident when my husband was getting out of the car and stopped to help.

This was a strange phone call for me to receive:

"Hello, your husband just had an accident with your car and he asked us to call you to come get him."
Excuse me?
"Your husband asked us to call you to tell you to come get him."
Why didn't he call me?
"No cell phone signal where he was, so we rode down the road so we could call you."
Thank you and I guess he is okay?
"Oh he is fine, but he is afraid of how you will react."
Right...

I never got the woman's name who called, but thank goodness she did. By the time I got to the scene, there were (no exaggeration) 8 cars of first aid and fire volunteers, 5 cars of looky-loos and a state police cruiser. It was like everybody came look at the excitement of a car wreck on a Tuesday night! And I show up - in my nightgown with a winter coat thrown over top! But really, everyone was so kind and concerned.

Weather, continued

2008-05-09T18:59:00.005-04:00

We lived through winter, so we expect spring to be absolutely fantastic. And, to my mind, it is - the trees are blooming, the grass is getting green, the snow is coating the ground... Well, we should know better, since one of our biggest snowstorms came last April - 6 inches on the ground and the temperature went up to 60 the next day. Really, winter and spring starting dates are relative. As the local weather casters say "we have had snow as late as June.' Please!

This year we were living on borrowed time with our heater and the time ran out 2 weeks before the temperature hit 50 for the first time. The heater/boiler has been in use in this house since the 1930's - a good long run, I think. So we have been using electric space heaters when it gets too cold and we are back to wearing layers. Still, I cannot complain - the flora and fauna believe it is spring and winter is over. The bugs say its spring, too. No mosquitoes yet, but annoying little gnats and flies.

If summer is anything like last year, we only needed air conditioning about 2 weeks out of the whole season, when it hit about 85-90 degrees and was humid. We ran our AC from May to September in NJ, so this is great.

Weather

2008-04-28T10:58:00.014-04:00

Okay, we are in the mountains, so a person should expect some drastic changes in the weather, right? And we were prepared, since we had a vacation home up here for the past 5 years, right? Well, not quite....

It turns out that our little house on the hill is higher than much of the area, so we do get some interesting weather patterns. The sunrises and sunsets are gorgeous, and the clouds are so close and easy to observe. (Okay, we are not that high. But compared to NJ, we are.) It also turns out that we are on a weather line, which means that it can be sunny in the front of the house and snowing/raining in the back of the house. Remarkable! When we watch the weather on TV, we have to take an educated guess as to what we will get. I do know that whatever temperature they predict, we can usually subtract 10 degrees.

So how do you prepare for the weather? I know we have more sweaters in use than before, and dressing in layers becomes a fashion statement of necessity. I used to laugh at the locals who walk around in shorts and t-shirts as soon as the weather hits above 50 degrees. Now I understand - you really want to get out from under the heavy clothes by the end of a long winter. And, yes, you do get used to the cold. Not that you don't feel it; but it does not hurt so much, and when you go to warmer climes, you now laugh at the people bundled up! (It's only 45 degrees, so I don't need the coat with the sweater!)

Moving In

2008-04-16T11:00:00.004-04:00

We decided that we should move up here as soon as possible after closing so my husband could start a job that he had managed to find in-between looking for houses. Have I mentioned that we have cats? I will not tell you how many, but enough that moving takes the planning and coordination of starting a new company. Certain members of the feline family are okay with the moving process, (the 'zen' cats), while others feel that any movement away from their usual spot is an affront to their whole well being and must be punished by any means possible. So we loaded them into their carriers (That was fun! When one sounded the alarm, they all hid!), buckled them into our cars and headed off for three hours of the most ear piercing cries and moans that humans were ever meant to hear. And crying is not the only means of expressing displeasure, and it goes without saying (but I will) that much cleaning had to be done to the interiors of the cars!

So why move them out of the old house first? Because the realtor selling the NJ house said that the only way to get the house sold was to de-cat the house. Now, I kept a very clean house, but we did have litter boxes that some people found objectionable and I understood that. So, welcome to your new home kids!

The Mechanicals and Fix-ups

The house was really move in ready, but everybody who moves into a different house has to put their imprint on it. That means paint, clean, and fix the flaws as you see them. The house when we first moved in had one very small bathroom, so we knew that we would have to add a bath and remodel the original bath to make it a little more 'roomy.' The heater worked, but needed oil. And the previous owner left a washer and dryer in the garage, which worked but had to be dragged back into the house and hooked up.

Quite frankly, there was no real rush to get anything accomplished at the new house - the one our realtor said needed a lot of work - so we concentrated on getting the house in NJ sold. We had to paint that, do some minor repairs, stage the house to sell - and then wait a year to get someone to buy it. What housing downturn? I week after we had listed it on the market, we had an offer from a business man from Guatemala - who promptly disappeared! So our lives for the first year here consisted of shuttling between NJ and the Poconos.

Moonshine House

2008-03-28T14:47:00.000-04:00

There were other houses that we looked into besides the ones I reviewed in the previous blogs, but sometimes you see a house and the potential as a home is there in your heart. Let me say here that the potential was not entirely 'visual' by any means, especially in the snow and the cold weather, with very little light inside and the remnants of whatever was left behind by previous owners. But something hit my husband and I as we pulled into the driveway of "The Moonshine House."

I had seen this listing on-line, and had asked our realtor about seeing it, but he seemed to feel that it did not meet our criteria and showed us quite a few other houses first. But one day he was showing us another listing on the same road and offered to let us see for ourselves that this house needed too much work. The long driveway went up a hill to a modest little house with a two car garage - so far, so okay. We went inside and it was like a time warp to the 1930's - even the phone was a rotary dial wall phone. (By the way, try making a call to an automated system with a rotary phone - the system does not recognize the number you are dialing and hangs up on you!) Paneling was the decorating style of choice for the couple who had lived here - dark paneling. Initially we called the house 'the dark house' but the moonshine house soon seemed a better nickname. We think - educated guess - that the previous long-term owner, the family who built the house - made their own wine. We found wine jugs, wooden baskets, remnants of a grape trellis, etc. So, Moonshine House! That and there was a flower vase out on the side yard that, for all intents and purposes, looked like - a butt! We all saw it and thought the same thing! Oh, and the moon shine comes in the picture window in the living room.

So we put in the offer to the owners, who had just purchased the property 6 months before but then found out that the husband was being shipped out to Afghanistan. They were just starting to renovate when they received the news, so they had to sell. Unfortunately, their renovation left a lot of garbage in the garage that we had to get rid of. So we paid pretty much what they had paid and moved in April 1. Profound.

The original owner had been a caretaker for one of the big resorts in the area and had been very selective in his plantings, besides the grapes. We could tell that there had been love in taking care of the property, as well as the finish details in the carpentry. The place had good bones, but needed work to bring it into this century. And so the story begins.

Finding a Home - Continued

2008-03-19T11:22:00.000-04:00

As my friend who accompanied us reminded me, I did not cover all the houses that we reviewed. If there is a piece of advice that I can give about looking for a new home, it is to bring a friend along. The friend can look at the property without prejudice - without thinking of how the furniture will fit in that room, or why something appears out of whack, or even how to get back to that street the 'special' house was on. A friend is also a great person to bounce ideas off of, since your spouse will be considering his or her concepts, or, in my case, involved in a conversation with the realtor!

More Houses

In reviewing the MLS listings, we saw a 'fixer-upper' for a really low price that was described as a 'Doll House.' It was, although I think most doll houses are larger. There was off-street parking, for one car - small car - and the 'driveway' ended in a large rock on the side of the hill. Oh, and you wanted to get out of the car, too? Sorry, no room for that!

Inside, the living room was cute, the two bedrooms just fit the twin bed in each (I guess the hubby and I sleep separately?) and the kitchen was another 'step-saver.' The listing said there was a second floor, which there was, with steps that you had to lay down to climb up. Something out of an old war movie "We're taking the hill, Clancy, one at a time." My husband did climb up there, but he could not stand up. We heard there was another apartment downstairs, but I could not climb down the hillside to get there. Okay, if I were 30 years younger, wanted a place for my own, maybe..

Then there was the house overlooking the creek (Blue Creek House), very blue exterior, but what a view! The kitchen was smaller than the Doll House, with an eat-in dining area for very small people, but the rest of the house showed a lot of Craftsman details and wood finishes that made us consider it seriously, but... Next door to a biker bar, small bedrooms upstairs that did not seem to have any way to get furniture to (the stairs were narrow and had a landing half-way up), and the mechanicals (heat, water pump) were original from the 1930's. We seriously considered it, but someone else bought it while we pondered.

The Raised Ranch was built over the large garage, which acted as its foundation. At this point, we were not quite desperate yet, just getting tired of looking. Still, this place was in very good shape and had been on the market for quite a while, but was in a community. The older people who had this as their second home did some unusual wiring outside for lights on their driveway, etc. that consisted on indoor extension cords strung through the trees, over the front deck, under the leaves on the ground - can you say fire hazard? And I would like to say that if you have your house for sale, put away your medications and personal information - these poor people were on some pretty intense medications!

This house we seriously considered as well, but when we went back to see the house again - second look - the owners were there and the gentleman told my husband that he really did not want to sell, but his wife wanted to move closer to the grandchildren. Well, so much for negotiation, as he also said that he would make no concessions on anything, 'he could wait forever.'

Home Sellers and House Pets

The homeowners we encountered, which were few, were an interesting lot. Some were very forthcoming about information on the house, others appeared to resent anyone looking at their house. I guess they really did not want to sell. Then there was the house with a tenant, who insisted that there were only certain times to look at the house, since he worked odd hours. We understood that, but could some accommodation be made for when he was not home? No, so we saw the outside of the house and gave up.

A couple of houses had pets, which is nice, but some pets are not friendly. When the listing sheet says "Beware of Dogs," you take heed, especially when one of the 'puppies' almost knocks the door down trying to get to you. Kitties are cute - "is that cat supposed to go out?" - and we are eternally sorry to the pretty kitty whose tail was stepped on by my husband!

Finding a Home

2008-03-11T10:26:00.000-04:00

When do most people look for new homes? Spring, right? Possibly Summer or Fall, but not Winter. Well, we started in Winter - January, in fact. Fortunately, the realtor we used was young and willing (read, hungry) to go through the cold and snow and show us all the houses - many, many houses - that we wanted to see. Many of the houses, because it was off-season, were not heated, driveways not plowed, in some cases entire screen rooms and windows boarded up. Required some imagination to determine a potential in some of the properties!

We discussed our needs with the realtor, set our budget, reviewed the Pike/Wayne Realtors' website and off we went. There are many roads that do not get plowed in winter and we found most of them! And no, we did not have the requisite four wheel drive vehicle that appears to be pervasive up here; we soon found out why everyone seems to have them. Good thing my husband and our realtor had good upper body strength. But it was only a small car we had to keep pushing out of snow drifts, off ice, etc - only called AAA twice. (Did you know they do towing out of drifts?)

The Houses

Many homes in the area are in communities that provide trash collection, plowing, possibly a pool, sometimes security. After realizing many communities are iffy in the plowing department and consider themselves more seasonal second homes, we determined that a home outside a community would be better. That limited the search a lot. To keep things straight, each place acquired a nickname.

We wanted a view- lake, mountain, forest, but something to look at besides another house - and on a limited budget! One house we called the garage house, had a view that went on for years, with mountains, river, etc., but small - when we say small, the garage was bigger (hence that nickname). Imagine, tiny house, huge garage. And the living room was taken up by a huge stone fireplace, so there was room for maybe two chairs. The kitchen was a 'step saver' - if you took one step, you were no longer in the kitchen! But we seriously considered it - that view!

Another house we were greeted by the owner watching her granddaughter who had the 'croup.' Could we get out any faster? The house was okay, but who noticed after that? So, the "Croup House" was eliminated.

Then we looked at one we called the 'ice house.' We actually had to form a human chain to get down the hill over the ice to look at the house. This one had everything - a view, open concept, ability to add on if we wanted to, but only one bathroom and some strange right-of-way through someone else's yard from the road. But once there it was 5 acres overlooking a greenway preserve. So we put in an offer. The owner wanted to make his fortune on this house, as he was unwilling to budge on anything - wanted to sell strictly as is, at the listed price, no concessions. Amazing, since the house had been on the market for almost a year, empty. Disappointed, we had to walk away - too many 'ifs.'

Another serious consideration was the first one we looked at, which we called "three rivers" because it had 10 acres of property next to where several creeks met to make one river. (I didn't say the nicknames always made sense to everyone, just us.) It had its own pond, two bedrooms, two baths in a manufactured home, some say a trailer, but a big trailer. Some people had built huge luxury homes nearby, but this property was 'rustic.' It also included a small travel trailer near the river, which my husband immediately had envisioned as a music studio. So what was wrong with this place? Nothing, really, I just did not feel at home. Maybe because the owner was very ill in a nursing home, I don't know, but we looked at it three times to be sure. And this is why our realtor deserves his commission - we were not easy people to please, I guess. Still, he considered it all an adventure and we are still friends.

Why The Poconos

2008-03-07T11:09:00.000-05:00

My husband and I decided that there was very little keeping us in NJ. We had just celebrated our 25th anniversary, have had our share of crisis and perils, and felt that we needed a new start. We had a small vacation cabin near Lake Wallenpaupack since 2000 and we always felt more at home there than we had in NJ for quite some time. So when I retired from my state job, and my husband was between jobs, we figured that there was no better time to consider where we can go with the rest of our lives.

Okay, some would say mid-life crisis. Maybe. Nothing wrong with that either, but we had no family in NJ anymore, and our friends were willing to come up to see us, probably more than when we lived near them. You know, absence makes the heart..., but more like a visit is like a vacation, as this area is so beautiful.

I hope to post our feelings and reactions to starting a new life here in the Poconos. In spite of a few snags, we love it so far.