What a week! The weather fluctuations were crazy, going from mid 80's to a blizzard and back to warm again. My week went from planting to shoveling and ended with yarny fun.
I was supposed to go to Helen's on Monday for my overdue birthday celebration but she was sick so cancelled. It was HOT that day - 84 degrees. That's too hot for me so after planting pansies in the pot by my side door, I stayed inside but got my hands in dirt giving my overwintered plants some love and repotting all my African violets. Inside spring chores.
My first step was to sift the compost left in last year's bin so I'd have it to add to the early bed and would have an empty bin to start loading up. I cleared the early bed, added the compost and then planted all my early veg - lettuces, carrots, radishes, etc. I then dug 2 beds against my neighbor's chain link fence and planted snap peas in those. I covered the soil with branches and sticks to discourage the cats from digging and called it done. Cross that off.
I was enjoying tea and reading in the front room when a van pulled into my driveway with a beautiful arrangement of plants from my friend Susan, who I'd talked to that morning and told her about my cancer. How lovely! I finished Iron Flame - the 2nd of the dragon series I'm reading. Denise had told me that the library's copy was on back order so I'd bought the 3rd book, something I rarely do, and it was delivered that afternoon. I was ready for snow, which would hopefully be the last for the year on the last day of winter.
The forecasts were all over the board depending on where you lived and how the blizzard tracked. I was surprised to see we already had an inch of snow when I got up at 6:00. It was very heavy and wet and was coming down fast. And such wind! I lost a big branch on my maple and the house shook when it fell, luckily in the middle of my backyard so it didn't damage anything. I was surprised when the power went out at 9:00. I was able to check Wahoo's page on Facebook on my phone and it was clear this was a huge problem and we wouldn't be getting power back anytime soon. It got pretty chilly in the house but I just kept adding layers. By mid-afternoon, my phone was getting low and my iPad was even lower.
I decided I should shovel my way to the garage so I could run the car and charge my devices. I got inside but when I pulled the cord to manually open the door, the old rope snapped in my hands. By then my snow crew had shown up on the assumption I'd need it done and they got me cleared out, which was a good thing because I had an early appointment in Lincoln on Thursday. After they left, I found my old desk charger and was able to drain the power from my laptop into my phone. I then went out to the car and put it on accessory long enough to get up to 12% on my iPad, which meant I could read before bed, which would be early at this rate. I figured out I could use a match to light my stovetop so was able to make tea and later made mac & cheese by candlelight.
I had a little battery powered lantern that Ginny had given me in my stocking so was reading by that in the front room as the light waned. The power came on just after 8:00 and I actually whooped when it did, scaring the cats. The first thing I did was run outside and open the garage door. I then plugged everything in to charge. I was super excited to have it back. Clearly I'm 100% dependent on power. Aren't we all? BTW, we got 9" of snow!
Thursday was a busy day, which started with me watching Survivor, which I'd missed while the power was out. Priorities you know. I went to Lincoln, where they got almost no snow, for an early lunch with Dodie before heading south to my appointment with the radiation oncologist. She was very nice and from Massachusetts so we had a nice chat about being an easterner in Nebraska. Then she asked if I wanted to participate in a study to evaluate if radiation is any use for people like me - tiny tumor, no lymph node involvement and cancer free after surgery. The clincher was I'd have a 50/50 chance of not needing radiation. Of course I was in! I had to fill out some paperwork and they'd send off my cells for testing. I'd hear in a couple of weeks if I'm in and if I get the radiation or no radiation group. Fingers crossed.
After the doctor, I went to hang out at Anne's because we, including Rene, had tickets to Annie that night. Annie was the first Broadway musical I'd ever seen and I was excited to go. We went to Tico's for Mexican food and then went to the Lied. It was wonderful.
I had a much needed quiet day on Friday because Saturday was another busy day. I picked Andrea up at 7:45 and we drove to Gretna to meet Anne and Rene for a ride to Winterset, Iowa for Fiberpalooza. We'd gone last year too and had a great time. I bought sock yarn, of course, but only 4 skeins, which felt like restraint. After shopping, we had a nice lunch in the cafeteria before heading back by the scenic route. We stopped for soft serve and explored towns along the way. We had fun in Red Oak, stopping at a bakery and chatting with the owners for an hour. I got home at 5:30 and did very little for the rest of the weekend, enjoying reading in the front room, making stew for supper and doing the bare minimum of chores.
Some week, right? I've lived in Wahoo for 29 years and never experienced anything like this storm. We were lucky in Wahoo because they had generators to get our power back. On our way out of town on Saturday, we passed miles and miles of downed power poles and dozens of line trucks from other states. They were parked when we drove by in the morning and again when we got back but they'd worked all day because there were new poles further west along the highway. There were still miles yet to repair but hopefully they'd finish it soon. And hopefully I won't experience another storm like it anytime soon.
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