Left or Right? We’ll find out on the first Tuesday of November 2012 or shortly thereafter.
   
Year: 2012
The Derecho
Nor’Easters, and Snowmageddons (and various tropical storms, hurricanes and the occasional tornado) have all paid us visits over the years, but this was our first Derecho. It left a massive amount of downed trees and power lines in its wake, causing wide-spread, prolonged power outages. Unfortunately, it also caused intermittent failures in a number of local 911 Emergency Telephone Call Centers. And some of the local Water Utilities issued warnings for residents and businesses to boil tap water before drinking it or using it for cooking.
We were without power for about 12 hours and had to boil tap water for two days. Our daughter and son-in-law were among the fortunate few who did not lose power, so we packed up the dogs and fled to their place, which in addition to having power and a working air conditioner, has a pool.
The pictures show what the Derecho did to some of the trees in our backyard…and an “Inspector Dog.”
May, Day 5
A number of years ago, I spent the afternoon of Cinco de Mayo in Hussong’s Cantina in Ensenada, Mexico. Continue reading “May, Day 5”
May, Day 1
“How low am I, thou painted maypole? (Hermia to Helena)†― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
It’s May Day. Are the Maypoles up and ready to go?
May 1st is also International Workers’ Day, which was a really big deal in the former USSR.
And lest we forget, the first day in May is Loyalty Day here in the United States.
And, although it has nothing to do with May Day, the pronunciation is the same. 😉
1133 Days
My bionic left hip is 1133 days old today. I usually walk at least four miles or more per day so that’s another 1400+ miles on it over the past year or. It is still going strong, but I think my natural born right hip might be on the way out. I’m hoping it will hold on until fall. Summer is definitely not the season to break in a new bionic hip.
The Tree
This stump is all that was left of the Maple Tree that stood in our front yard these many years. Hated to see it go, but it was time. The tree had been dying from the top down for a while and was too close to the house to risk having all or part of it fall on the roof.
Once the tree was down, the next step was to grind out the stump. But first, Miss Utility had show up and plant those small colored flags that map out the  natural gas ,  water , and  sewer lines . Shortly after that occurred, the stump was turned into mulch.
The mulch produced by the stump grinder is being put to good use as ground cover under the pine trees bordering the right side of the front yard.
Here’s a “before” picture.