CATCHING Up
Here it is mid-July and it has been a couple of months since our last newsletter. I had been encouraging Mrs.T to put something together but she indicated that she was not sufficiently inspired and passed the task off to me. And then her computer died so she had an even bigger excuse. So this update might be more journalistic and less entertaining than those of the resident muse.
We have been busy especially over the last six weeks and so I will give some snippets of our comings and goings. As it has been a while since our last electronic epistle, this one is a bit long. You can actually follow most of it just through the pictures.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157630611991378/
I will give you a rundown in more or less a chronological fashion although the pictures may be a bit out of order. Here goes:
Glass Art Society Conference
You may recall that last year we attended the GAS conference in Seattle. We had not been to one of the meetings for a while and Seattle was most convenient because it afforded us an opportunity to visit my brother John and his wife Suzy. (Their house was a bit of a hotel at the time with lots of visitors.) We had a great time and saw many friends that we generally only see at the conference.
This year the meeting was in Toledo and we felt a bit of an obligation to attend as it was in state. And we were fortunate to see many of our good friends again. We really hope that the conference will be in some more exciting location; that gives us an excuse to travel. Next year it is scheduled for Boston.
One of the highlights of the visit was a tour of the Libby glass plant. Tours there are unique; we gained some insights into manufacturing of fine glass ware. Unfortunately no photos were permitted. You probably have some Libby glass; it is one of the brands considered a 'must have'. The Libby money built the museum.
Another treat was that Richard brought many students from THE OSU and they did a demo. Ted T was the master of ceremonies and the whole effort was choreographed nicely even if a bit spontaneously. Check out Ted's jacket.
The contemporary glass movement had its beginnings at the Toledo Museum of Art. If you have an opportunity you should visit the museum and the relatively new Glass Pavilion.; it is a wonderful facility and a magnificent work of architecture.
You will also note that downtown Toledo has a lot of public artwork. Many parking meters and bike racks have a knitted cover. Benches are painted in styles of different famous artists. Sculptures abound. There are many galleries and they have a monthly art walk night. We picked up a very colorful frog for the pond.
Visitors
Shortly after we returned we had our first visitor - our son Nick. He drove down from Madison and stayed at the Holler Hotel, a.k.a, our house.. He came partly because of our next visitors. But it is always nice to have our son visit. He was able to see how the tree plantings were doing (fairly well at that time) as well as go to Columbus and visit his sister and other friends.
The second group of visitors were a bit rarer: We had the pleasure of a visit from John, Suzy, and as a bonus daughter Amanda and her daughter Nova. John and Suzy have not been East for some time and it was great that the family could all be together. Nova is such a sweetie, although Suzy said we were just lucky not to see her other side. But such young children do have their moments. And they all were able to take a day in their short schedule and visit us out here in the sticks. Now they have a better appreciation of our landscape and environs. You can read more about their trip - and see plenty of pictures of granddaughter Nova - at Suzy's wonderful blog:
http://www.sue-feathersandflowers.blogspot.com/
Flora and Fauna
Unless you are brand new to our musings, you have read something about our flowers and animals a time or two (gross understatement). So I guess I should spin a story about them. First I must note that after a while the sightings of animals is routine: Oh, there goes a deer. Oh, there goes a turkey. We still like to see them, but generally it is not so noteworthy after the five years we have been here. But nonetheless, there are a few things to mention. (You may want to refer to some of the pictures.)
Tubbie the turtle has left it seems. You may recall that we have had several turtles appear and leave over the years - Stinkie and Sinkie in particular. Tubbie, a softshell we believe, stayed around for quite a while. But then another turtle showed up; my guess is that it was Tubbette. In any case they both are gone, probably off to turtle Niagara Falls on a honeymoon. We also had a box turtle show up for a while.
Until this year we rarely saw rabbits around the house. We really are not quite the rabbit environment; they prefer a bit more open grassy area. But this year has been different. The rabbits have been as prolific as they are often portrayed - they are everywhere this year. One tiny one even hopped on Mrs.T's hand as she worked in the wild geraniums around the porch. It literally fit in her palm. Maybe the very mild winter contributed to this population explosion.
Likewise we have seen plenty of deer. They do not hesitate to come almost right to the house. R woke me this morning to see three munching in the front yard. I saw one baby so young and small that it was nursing. Unfortunately one never has a camera at hand when it is needed.
You will see the picture of a lizard, plenty of them this year. And the snakeskin shed by one of our inhabitants, probably a black snake or some water snake. And then there were the two German shepherds that came from some neighbor quite a bit down the road. And please note the scarlet tanager - a lucky picture although we see them almost every year.
And then there is the question of next ownership. Phoebes built the nest - a marvel of architecture - a couple of years ago. Phoebes return to the same nest each year and raise a couple of broods with a break in between. This year some wrens decided they would take over the nest when the phoebes took their interlude. There has been squabbling over nest ownership. We have even observed both types of birds going in and out nearly simultaneously. We are not quite sure how this will be resolved.
You will notice the picture of a raccoon. Now there really is nothing special about a raccoon, although capturing a picture of one at night is a bit challenging. But this raccoon is a bit special. It took us a while to realize that the fish food we stored on the porch in a metal garbage can was also raccoon chow; they love it. Although we had put a bungee cord around the lid it was not quite tight enough and this raccoon managed to pry off the lid and down a goodly amount. We heard him on the porch making a lot of noise a couple of nights and I managed this photo as he scampered off. So we tightened up the cord. Well the raccoon was quite aggravated the night when he (or she) discovered he could not open the lid. So he pushed the entire garbage can about two feet in an effort to loosen the top. With a little more effort he might have pushed it off the porch. Now we are more careful to make sure things are snugged up.
Finally, you may note the profusion of water lilies. They also have spread like gangbusters. And there are even some red and yellow ones.
The Derecho
The afternoon of Friday 30 June will stand out for quite some time. That was when the derecho came through. A derecho - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derecho - is quite an exciting weather event, if you like that kind of excitement. Straight-line winds up to 90mph (145kph) whipped through much of Ohio including our county. Trees went down willy-nilly. About a half million folks, including us, lost electric power. The event was comparatively brief but the aftermath was a full-blown disaster. Muskingum county was hit very hard. We were trapped with - as we would discover later - about ten trees across the drive including one in front of the house. One of the trees that came down was probably the oldest and largest on the property, a white oak several hundred years old and 3 or so feet (1m) in diameter. (It grows each time Mrs.T tells the story.)
We immediately contacted our neighbor who you might recall does tree work and removed a tree from our roof when we had the last big storm several years ago. He said he would get to us as soon as possible. But as we had no damage to the house and were not in immediate danger he would be busy with other work requiring more immediate attention.
This link takes you to several pictures of what it was like in Zanesville; Macy Trees LLC is our neighbor's company. Jamey said this was probably the biggest tree he has ever worked on. Be sure to look at all the pictures so you can see how this house was crushed.
http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=BA&Dato=20120705&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=207050802&Ref=PH
The crew managed to get to us Monday and cut a path out through all the downed trees. We were able to go replenish our supply of drinking water and buy some food that would keep without electricity.
Yes, we were without electricity for the weekend. Fortunately we have a small generator. On Sunday I filled it with oil and a bit of gasoline and miraculously it started right up. We had not opened the deep freezer or the refrigerator and things were still cool enough. We plugged in the deep freezer and moved in things from the refrigerator freezer and kept them frozen. And no electricity also meant we had no power to the water pump. The hot tub provided assistance allowing us to bring buckets to flush the toilets. As noted we relied upon bottled water for drinking.
Meanwhile Rebecca was preparing to depart for Iowa for a poetry workshop. She left on Saturday 7 July with the clean clothes she could gather up. Still no electricity. Finally it came back that evening. I was left with a lot of dirty dishes and clothes to wash. I just caught up on that before Mrs.T returned on Friday 13 July.
Poetry in Iowa
Just a short mention that Rebecca enjoyed her visit to Iowa and learned a lot. However, getting there and back was not half the fun but half of the hassle. Planes were delayed both directions, especially on the return. But she can tell that story later perhaps. The town and campus are delightful and there are a few pictures she took around Iowa City.
Vroom Vroom
Not much rest as on 14 July the annual motorcycle event traversed our property. The organizers had been out surveying the course the prior week. I talked to them and they pronounced that the 160 mile(250km) course was a disaster and they had to clean up and reroute much of it. They apparently were able to get everything in order in time. No pictures this year.
Firemen's Festival
Philo and the surrounding area is served by the Harrison Township Volunteer Fire Department. (Brush Creek Township where we live does not have a fire department.) Each year this festival is one of the main fundraisers for the HTFD. It is a good old-fashioned small town event. Enjoy the pictures of our parade and fair.
Well, that should about do it for now. Perhaps the muse will be inspired after her workshop to produce something more exciting for our next installment.
It has been hot and very dry here so we hope wherever you are that you are keeping cool!
Dan and Rebecca
www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com
