To Everything, There is a Season...

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

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

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...