A 16 HOUR POWER OUTAGE CAUSED BY HIGH WINDS

 OUR FRONT YARD FROG POND IS LIVING UP TO IT'S NAME

I was on the phone talking to my Aunt Jean in Sarasota Florida Friday night.  It was about 9:15 p.m. when 'BANG' the phone went dead and I was instantly in complete darkness.  With a big windstorm going on outside I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was.  Kelly and I quickly located our flashlights and lit half a dozen candles.  It was anybody's guess when our power would be back on.  A few minutes?  A couple hours?  Maybe tomorrow??  No power = no heat so as the evening hours merged with the night, the house cooled down but not as bad as if it had been in the middle of winter.  I ended up in our living room recliner sleeping in my clothes with my winter jacket on in case we had a tree come down on us.  Fortunately, that never happened but in the morning I did see a house the next street over with a tree on its roof.  

 KEEPING WARM IN OUR SUNROOM THIS MORNING

Luckily, our Park's new owners, Sara and Adam had installed a generator last year to kick in during power outages and keep the Park's well water pump in operation so all the residents at least had water.  Up until that generator installation, the lack of water was always a major problem here during power outages and I remember our first year nearly 22 years ago carrying buckets of water up from our Park's pond to flush our toilet.  It was winter and I had to break ice at the pond's edge to get at the water. (I'm sure glad I don't have to do that anymore)  

 THIS SQUIRREL HAS STRETCHED OUT FOR AN AFTERNOON REST

 THIS FELLOW IS KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON ME

When we woke up this morning the power was still off so that meant no morning coffee.  With that sobering thought and fingers crossed that Bayfield's Tim Hortons coffee shop was open, I hopped into the Jeep and headed into the Village.  A lot of other people had the same idea so I was in a line-up but at least the coffee shop hadn't been affected by the power outage.  I picked up one large coffee for Kelly and one small coffee for me.  Kelly also had a Honey Cruller donut.  Kelly later said that coffee and donut was the highlight of her day.  It's not hard sometimes to please we Seniors you know:))

 PHEEBS LIKES THIS SPOT BY MY CHAIR IN THE SUNROOM

 WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THE POWER TO BE RE-STORED

Closer to lunchtime, we still had no power so feeling hungry, Kelly and I decided to drive into Bayfield to get a sub at Subway.   'Awww Nuts', they were closed due to the power outage as well.  From there we headed for Bayfield's south end and the Woodland Drive-In.  'Walla' they were open.  Kelly had a hamburger and I had a foot-long hotdog.  Home again, the power still wasn't on so I headed outside to pick up fallen branches, etc.  Checked around the house and didn't see any damage.  Walked across the road and checked our neighbor Monica's house and everything was okay.  (she'll be home from Florida tomorrow) Walking past her garage I opened the door for a quick check inside.  Everything was okay, except......her garage light was on.  What??  I stood there for about 10 seconds trying to figure how the light could be on if the power was off!!  And then it dawned on me, 'hey wait a minute, maybe the power IS on'.  I quickly walked back across the road and when I saw water pouring over the rocks in our front yard frog pond I knew THE POWER WAS BACK ON FOR SURE:))))) It was shortly after 1 p.m. and we had been without power for about 16 hours.  And, here's the other good news.....our skies began clearing around 10:30 this morning and we ended up with clear blue sunny skies for the rest of the day.  Yesereeee, a double 'Yahouie Louie' for sure today:)))))

 AT THE WOODLAND DRIVE-IN KELLY HEADS BACK WITH OUR LUNCH AND HEY HOW ABOUT ALL THAT BLUE SKY EH:))

With sunny skies once again overhead I busied myself outside picking up small branches and raking up more pine needles and leaves.  I hope to load up the utility trailer tomorrow and haul all that stuff off to the Park's recycle area.  Pheebs and I even took a walk over to the Park's pond and back this afternoon.      

 THE WHOLE FRONT OF OUR SUNROOM CAN BE SEEN AS A REFLECTION IN THIS SQUIRREL'S EYE

Al's Music Box:)) Honky Tonk Blues was a hit country and western song written and performed by Hank Williams. The original 1952 recording was a major hit, and it later became a hit for Charley Pride.  "Honky Tonk Blues" is one of the most problematic songs Williams ever recorded. According to Colin Escott's 2004 Williams memoir, Hank and producer Fred Rose had attempted to record the song several times previously in August 1947.  In March 1949 this version featured a light, jazzy feel and an intricate solo from guitarist Zeb Turner.  The backing on the December 1951 session is believed to have been Don Helms (steel guitar), Jerry Rivers (fiddle), possibly Sam Pruett (electric guitar), probably Jack Shook (acoustic guitar), and Ernie Newton or Howard Watts (bass). The song was about a young farmboy who leaves his father's farm for the enticements of the city, only to become worn down and disillusioned. The version that was released did not contain all the lyrics on his original demo; the next-to-last verse in which Maw and Paw are "really gonna lay down the law" was missing, emphasizing in a way that Hank himself never made it back from the honky-tonks to Pappy's farm.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( An old drunk stumbles across a baptismal service on Sunday afternoon down by the river.  He proceeds to walk into the water and stand next to the preacher. The minister notices the old drunk and says, "Mister, are you ready to find Jesus?"  The drunk looks back and says, "Yes, preacher, I sure am."  The minister dunks the fellow under the water and pulls him right back up.  "Have you found Jesus?" the preacher asks."Nooo, I didn't!" said the drunk.  The preacher then dunks him under for quite a bit longer, brings him up, and says, "Now, brother, have you found Jesus?"  "Noooo, I have not, Reverend."  The preacher, in disgust, holds the man under for at least 30 seconds this time, brings him out of the water, and says in a harsh tone, "My God, man, have you found Jesus yet?"  The old drunk wipes his eyes and says to the preacher, "Are you sure this is where he fell in?"

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- I signed up for an exercise class and was told to wear loose-fitting clothing...
If I HAD any loose-fitting clothing, I wouldn't have signed up in the first place!

- Look, you can either agree with me or you can be wrong.

- I got my wife a metal detector as a present, but she didn't like it.
Strange, as she always likes to dig up things from the past.

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Christopher Columbus was the best deal maker in history. He left not knowing where he was going, and upon arriving, not knowing where he was. He returned not knowing where he had been, and did it all on borrowed money.
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