Free at Last

Tuesday night the area around our house 4 or 5 inches of heavy, wet snow. Some people apparently got more than that. Even though it does not sound like a big deal compared to some places like, oh Buffalo or Minnesota, the snow did cause some problems: 13,500 people in the county were without of power. After  going off and coming back on several times at around 3 a.m., ours finally stayed on, thankfully.

We woke up yesterday to see that our driveway by the house was blocked by a tree. Richard sent me down the driveway—I was able to scoot around the branches—to see what else might have happened, and yes, indeed, another tree was down farther up the driveway. This tree had fallen into the bank on the other side so it was high enough off the ground that I could duck underneath it, but a car could not pass.

We were trapped.

I got quite a bit of exercise trudging the driveway. I made another trip yesterday after we received a call from a delivery man who saw the driveway was blocked. He left the package next to our sign, and I went up there to get it. It was hard going, the snow was very wet and difficult to walk through in my snow boots.

We were expecting another delivery today so this morning I made a third trip carrying a chair with a sign for the Fed Ex driver to leave the package on the chair. I had to wear the ice cleats this time because the wet footprints of yesterday had frozen overnight and it was rather treacherous.

Early this afternoon I made a fourth trip, with the wheelbarrow, to pick up the packages the Fed Ex driver had left on the chair. I was reminded of the day when our boy was in kindergarten that I had to use the wheelbarrow to get him up to the highway to catch the school bus because our driveway was a river after a heavy rain

While I was gone to get the packages, a man from church called and offered us the use of his electric chain saw. Richard will notaccept help from anyone unless it is dire straits, and he wanted to see if we could do this by ourselves. He said he would call if he needed the chain saw. I thought this is a case where we should get help, there are two people at church I could have called who would come, but I couldn’t force the issue.

Richard used the battery-operated pole saw to clear the limbs by the house. We will still need a professional tree trimmer to come and work on it though. One tree is being held aloft by another tree. Both trees are too low for a delivery truck to get through, but there is enough space for us to get the car through.

We put the pole saw in the trunk and drove to the second tree and were working on that when a pickup pulled up. The man from church didn’t wait around for Richard to call, he just showed up and I am so glad he did. Bless him.

I'll have to leave the chair for deliveries at the head of the driveway, but we are now free and can leave!

In the Eye of the Beholder

When we were children, my parents took us often to the Los Angeles County Museums in Exposition Park, which at that time were the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Science and Industry. Admission was free, and it was a convenient way for my folks, who were very careful with their money, to offer us an excursion that didn’t cost anything except the gas to drive 10 minutes down the freeway and was educational as well.

Before the Museum of Art was built in the 1960s on Wilshire Blvd, the art collection was mounted on the walls and in galleries at the Museum of Natural History. I loved looking at the paintings.

One time Dad and I were in one the galleries, where a sculpture made of different kinds of metal things welded together, including old car parts, was on display. My dad, who worked as a mechanic for the LA Department of Water and Power, had strong opinions about stuff, and he had an opinion about this sculpture.

“What a piece of junk,” he said. And not very quietly either.

I think from that point on I loved looking at metal art that was created from other “stuff.”

There is some public metal art, a small herd of horses, on the lawn of the bank in town that I really like. 

But because it is "in the eye of the beholder," a dear man who we attended church with before he died, and who bred quarter horses to a high standard, hated them and thought they were... JUNK!!

We have some metal art, a cute pair of skateboarders created from

 spark plugs, bolts, washers, and other bits.

I don’t normally go to craft sales, but the week before Christmas, I noticed a sign that one was being held at a church I drive by on the way home. On a whim, I stopped in and saw Teapot Man (or maybe Teapot Woman). I wanted Teapot Man but given that I am very tight with my money, and have been known to talk myself out of a 25-cent book at the thrift store, I left without him. I went home and told Richard about him and he said, “You work hard for your money. If you like it, go back and get it.”

So I did.

And he gives me pleasure every time I look at him.