It was an interesting weekend to be sure

It started out warm enough but on Friday afternoon the furnace popped a breaker. So, Bill fixed it (and eventually put in a bigger breaker – more wattage). But by nightfall we knew something was up. The thermostat was set for 68, which it had stayed at during the day, but started to fall once the sun went down… and continued to fall to 55 overnight. We thought perhaps it was because of the strong winds and some gaps in the insulation so Saturday morning saw us installing more insulation especially on the North West side of the house. The temp came back up and so we thought we were good.



Off we went to some friend’s house to deliver a special order of flutes. Here is one of them.



When we got home we were expecting a nice cozy house….. it was 56 degrees. So we bundled up and trotted off to bed to wake to 50 in the morning. Brrrrr! Bill futzed all day with the furnace trying to figure out what the problem was. There is supposed to be a backup heat for when the temperature gets below 30 but it didn’t seem to be kicking on. He decided to go outside to the unit and check it out. When he opened the box he found a live wire that was not connected! The wind blew it against the side of the box and … well the main breaker was now tripped and the smell of electric fire permeated the house. He quickly shut off the main and capped the end of that wire so that he could turn the power back on. The unit continued to work as it had before but we still had no heat once the sun went down.

So Monday morning he called the HVAC Company to come out and look at it. Apparently we do not have a big enough element for the heat pump that we have. So, he is going to go talk with the folks that we bought it from to find out where the rest of your heat elements are. (We bought it direct from the factory – our neighbor works at the factory and got it with his discount.) 
Meanwhile, back in town.... Apparently my kids were having some issues with my furnace as well. I had replaced the battery in the thermostat on Thursday evening and everything seemed to be working fine. But the kids ended up having to replace the battery again and relight the pilot light on the furnace. The microwave went out as well. So it was not a good weekend for electrical things or furnaces here.

Flooded Vacation

As some of you know, we go on a two week camping vacation every year to PSG (Pagan Spirit Gathering). We go early as we are on the layout crew. We are the first ones on site to start putting up signs so the setup crew knows where to put everything. We tape off the vender spots and other layout duties as needed. So we arrived at Stonehouse Park in northern Illinois on Wednesday the 10th. The first day is setting up your own camp and meeting with the festival director to see if anything moved or changed since last year. It had been raining at the site for several days the prior week so the ground was soft and we anticipated mud later in the week.
Thursday morning we got up bright and early to start our duties. It dawned sunny so that meant hot and humid all day. A little sun burning, some tired muscles, but lots of fun ensued that day. Meanwhile the setup crew arrived to set up their own camps in anticipation of starting their duties on Friday. The annual ‘Carpenters Ball’ is always held on Thursday night to welcome everyone and initiate the newbies with foot rubs, back rubs, fruit etc… it’s really not a bad thing at all but sort of a bribe for the hard work that lays ahead of them!
Friday morning we got up bright an early again – but this time it was cloudy and overcast and slightly drizzly. This did not however, dampen our spirits or the work that needed to get done. So we finished up our sign work while the set up crew started setting up 10x20 shelters. We went into town that afternoon to restock our supplies and wash our muddy clothes.
Saturday morning was again rainy and it had rained all night so there was definitely some mud happening. Wood chips had been secured in town for the walkways in our camp. We had a few tweaks to signs (the directory always has something that needs to be moved!) Some of the vendors start arriving and setting up their booths and part of the layout crew’s job is to greet them and help them get settled. The coordinators for the event started arriving and setting up their camps as well. Later in the afternoon all of the coordinators (which included Bill and I as we coordinate the Labyrinth on Wednesday night) had a meeting. The safety plan was discussed as well as the disaster plan.
Sunday morning – this is when the gates officially open for festival participants. We all greeted them with “Welcome Home!” and any newbies (we call them virgins) rang the virgin bell. Since there were approximately 200 of us already on site, the remaining 700 for the event all came in that morning. As you can imagine it’s quite a bit of chaos! We had our first meeting as a tribe that evening where coordinators are introduced, roll call of where everyone is from, and general announcements are made. As the coordinators lined up to introduce themselves it started to rain. Later I found that someone who was recording from across the pond captured a funnel cloud above us. It never touched down but in hindsight – what a scary thought!
Monday we had our first Morning meeting of the tribe where we usually get announcements for the day and a bit of entertainment from the musicians that will be on stage that evening. It again started raining during the meeting so we cut it short. Workshops filled the day and as I was just getting into the final workshop at 4:30 we got the announcement that a major storm front was eminent and that the creek was flooding. The disaster plan was put into effect. When we got back to the campsite to tell everyone to move their cars out of the parking area, we found out that the large field where were have the labyrinth was already flooded and some of our group’s tents were in danger. So we headed to the field to help and OMG! There was already 3 feet of water! We managed to get our friends tents and belongings out before they got flooded but a lot of people were not so fortunate. Many cars were lost in the parking area and several tents were ruined. A tree fell on a camper that was not in the RV area but camped near the flood zone. No loss of life or injuries though so that we are thankful for that. We stood in horror watching the flood waters rise and breach the road between the field and the pond. Suddenly we had one big lake where there should have been grass and tents. The sense of community that day was amazing – everyone pitched in to help get as many camps and possessions to high ground – it lasted all night!
Tuesday morning a mandatory morning meeting was called where we were told that for safety reasons the festival had been canceled and that evacuation would begin immediately. There were three phases – those that were displaced or in danger of further flooding were to pack up and leave immediately. Next was the RV area which we were in and finally the setup crew would pack up all of the 10x20s’ and other equipment and leave.
We got out on Wednesday afternoon. We had to be pulled out as the mud had gotten very deep and the truck even with four wheel drive could not do it alone. Fortunately, someone had a winch. We packed up our muddy mess of a camp and headed home getting home around 10:00 that evening.
The rest of my vacation (which was to last until this morning) was a study in what to do. In 16 years I’ve never been home for the summer solstice! I am always at PSG. We of course first unloaded everything and took the camper back down to the property. We will be cleaning it up this coming weekend. We went to the Cahokia Mounds to watch the sunrise (which was obscured by clouds and an incoming storm), went to breakfast, took naps and watched movies on Sunday.
I still feel let down as my vacation never actually happened. I’m grateful for the lessons learned and the fact that no one was hurt but the tremendous loss that everyone felt was overwhelming to say the least.

I'm such a stalker!

Apparently I never actually posted this back in March!


It occurs to me as I read some of my friends on here that haven't posted for a while that I havn't posted for a while either. That's not to say that I've not been hanging around. I read your posts every day and sometimes comment but I forget to actually post myself sometimes.

We got our taxes back on Thursday (took less than a week! Woot!) so we went shopping for a few items that were needed. There was a woodworking show in town on Saturday so Bill and I ventured over in search of a router table. We had bought bits for making raised pannel cabinents at the last show we were at a few years ago but Bill found that the table he had would not accomodate the larger bit. So we found a really nice table for him this weekend that will fit.

Then we went to Costco in search of some canned vegatables that we had forgotten to buy the last time we were there. And Bill remined me that I have been looking at replacing my laptop. (Why is it you can never go into Costco and get just the things you went in for? It always requires at least $200 to get out the door!) So, I was looking at them when the HP rep came over and talked me into getting an HP. Now I should know better really - I had a specific machine in mind which they didn't have but she talked all around that convincing me that her machine could do everything I wanted. So I bought it.

Brought said machine home and tried to load the software I need for work on it - no go. Then I discovered that there was no indicator for the num lock or the caps lock. Now who in their right mind would not put some sort of indicator for at least the num lock? I have too many passwords that require num lock to not know if I'm locked or not. The HP was retured and I'll be going back out to the Toshiba website today to order my new lap top.

I also got a Food Saver while at Costco. Bill had one that we have literally worn out! So we bought a new one and I happily sealed steaks and salmon away in the freezer in individual packages. I love this thing and i'm hoping that this summer we will be able to purchase a side of beef from a local farmer to be sealed and frozen. We wore Bill's Food Saver out packaging venison too.

Red Barn Update

It's been a while since I gave you an update on the house in the country. Yes, we are still working on it, no, it's not done yet. Unfortunately. But we have made some progress. Bill put insulation in most of the walls upstairs and in the shop downstairs. We had the electric hooked up to the furnace and Bill has most of the duct work in. He has been working in the yard quite a bit this spring. We have such a big yard that we've started taking sections at a time and working until that section is finished. We have been tring to get to the orchard for several weeks now but something always seems to come up. My work pulled all the tulips this past week and gave them away to employees so I took some then found that there was a lot left over so I brought the rest down on Thursday. We planted them along the road down into the campground. Last fall I did the same with some ditch lillies and iris - both are coming up now.

We have a busy few weeks ahead of us with festivals, a wedding, and then our annual camping trip in June. Then my last two kids at home are moving out in July. August will see me headed to Texas for the birth of my first grandchild. Before we know it, it will be fall again and more festivals. Where does the time go?

It's a Miracle!

It's amazing what asking for your money back will do to light a fire under a mail order company.  Toshiba isn't exactly a mail order company but they have been dragging their feet on sending my new laptop for weeks now.  Monday I wrote an email to them stating that I had waited long enough and if the laptop was not here by Friday I wanted my money back in full and I would go buy a laptop in town - and not necessarily a Toshiba!

 

Well, suddenly things started to move.  I have been watching the FedEx tracking and Tuesday morning the laptop moved from the same location in China it had been for weeks to another location in China.  Well, not very promising but I was hopeful that maybe that was the airport.

 

Wednesday it suddenly jumped from China to Japan and then on to the states!  Woo Hoo!  My laptop is stateside finally.  This morning it's in a sorting facility in Berkeley Mo (I have no idea where that is but hey - it's in Missouri!).  So hopefully I will actually have my laptop by Friday.

 

I don't think I'll order direct again.  Although I have done it twice before with no problems.  As a matter of fact, it only took a few days in the past but for whatever reason(s) this time - it has taken about a month.

Lost at sea?

I ordered a new laptop from Toshiba a few weeks ago.  My old Toshiba is about on it's last key and before the old girl dies, I wanted a new one.  (I work from home two days a week.)

 

So I got on the website (after shopping all around and not finding exactly what I wanted) and ordered a new Satellite with Windows 7!  YES, Windows 7 - you can still get it kids.  Anyway, the original arrival date was yesterday (2/23) but yesterday came and when I checked the tracking they had changed the date to Unknown... that's scary.  I know it was coming from China (a slow boat from China apparently) and that the LA port has been striking but the strike is over - has been for at least a week maybe longer and still no word.

 

I'm hoping that the ship didn't go down.  If I get an email from a shark I'll know it did!

2014 Roundup

I was looking back at 2014 and while it seems like it went by so very very fast, it was a good year.  Some of the highlights included:

My oldest son and his future wife at the time came to visit with us from Texas and got to stay a couple of extra days because of ION – the winter storm of 2014.  He also got married and is making me a grandma later in 2015!

My second son turned 24 and decided that it was time to go back to college and work on his degree – he is now a freshman at the local community college with his sister.  First time they have been in school together and in the same year!

My youngest son got engaged and married this year!

And my daughter graduated from high school and is now a collage freshman with her brother.

I got married and we are still working on our country home.

 

I visited Texas in the spring to see my son and his soon to be family.

I visited Arkansas in the fall for Bill’s family reunion as his wife.

We spent 2 weeks camping in our new camper in June only to find that Bill is now living in the camper until he can finish the house.

I had all of my kids and my step son home for New Year’s Eve this year – it was very good to see all of the Hodge boys in the kitchen with their sister laughing around the table.  Just wish we could have had their older sister here too.

Speaking of sisters, my sister came to visit right after Christmas and we spent the afternoon shopping in downtown St. Charles – something I had been trying to get her to do for years!

We had some sadness too – I lost my familiar, my Stormy kitty, my companion for the last 14+ years to a tumor under her tongue back in May.  She is buried under the hawthorn trees at the property.

Bill had to put one of his dogs down in July – he is also buried under the hawthorns with Stormy.

Our neighbor John, at the property and one of Bill’s oldest friends suffered a stroke in September and is not doing well.  He is wheelchair bound and can’t use his left leg or arm.  This is one of the reasons Bill is still living in the camper – he has been working on John’s house getting it wheelchair accessible and sitting with him while his wife has to go to work so he’s not had much time to spend on our place.

Several friends have lost loved ones and our community has lost people too.

But I look around my house as my kids are all home, safe and sound and count my blessings from 2014 and look forward to 2015.