Experience vs. Expertise

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.