Finally the weather has broken to the ‘above freezing’
realm. As such, I was able to get out yesterday and complete my penance – for
having left a plastic and a wooden ‘holy family’ out in the deep snow and frigid
temperatures beyond Epiphany!
The plastic ‘holy family’ were un-tethered from the
plug-adapters, lifted off their wooden stakes and deprived of the
‘bag-of-rocks-in-their-socks’ which had prevented them tipping over in the wind
while they adorned my front yard for about six weeks. They, including the
milk-crate manger, were all hoisted into the attic-space above the garage where
they’ll remain until next Advent. They may find it a bit uncomfortable up there
in July and August when it is 100F (38C) outside – and probably 150F (66C) up
there, but at least they’ll be dry!
From the other side of the driveway, I had lifted the wooden
‘holy family' off their re-bar posts and picked up the spotlight that had blinded
them for the past six weeks. Their home until next Advent would be against the
firewall in the garage – behind the ladder that I had just descended from after
stowing their plastic clones. These too would now be safe from the damp – and
being in, rather than above, the garage, the ‘woodies’ would not be as hot as
the ‘plastics’. It may seem a little odd
to put the ‘family’ more likely to melt, in the hotter storage area, but
placement was more a consideration of space, than comfort!
I got out the step ladder, changed the flags on the porch –
from Christmas-themed flags, to a small ‘Stars and Bars’ and a ‘Birds and
Bushes’-themed larger one. That also made it possible to remove the Christmas
lights that had been strung across the porch and around the front door some
weeks ago. I merely unhitched those strings of lights, leaving their ‘boxing
up’, along with the hundreds of feet of those on the bushes, to my wife’s
capable hands. I am not allowed to get involved in that part of the celebratory
actions. I am ‘willing, able - but not allowed’!
Nicer weather today than yesterday, so also time to get some
of the grand-children out to play! So, after a phone call or two, I was on my
way, with my youngest son, two of his kids and my elder daughter’s oldest son,
to ‘watch the eagles’. No, not they of ‘Hotel
California’ and ‘Long Road out of Eden
Our trip was to Winfield Locks and Dam 25 about 20 miles
away on the frozen Mississippi River . There,
each year at this time, these majestic creatures gather to feast on fish in the
segments of the river that are ice-free. Besides the raptors, there were
hundreds of gulls – sitting on the ice and in the water’s edge, upstream of the
locks and dam, where barges had passed through earlier. We saw six Bald Eagles
– one perched 60-feet up in a tree quite close by, and five standing on the ice
just in front of three duck-blinds almost a ¼ mile away towards the far bank of
the ‘Mighty Mississippi’. We drove ½ mile downstream, below the locks and dam,
to where the Winfield car ferry was making its ‘every 20 minutes’ trek across
to the Illinois side of the river then back to
the Missouri
side.
Just 100 yards upstream from the ferry-landing, on the right
bank of the river, we were treated to the sight of about 30 Bald Eagles – in
one large tree. Every few minutes or so, one would glide in from high above the
river and gracefully land into the branches. The three grand-children, barely
showed any effect of the cold (it was sunny but breezy) as they marveled at the
sight before them, eagerly looking through their binoculars. ‘Playtime’ over,
we headed back for a lunch at a fast-food joint and then I headed home where
more tasks awaited me.
Next up on my list of tasks was to shovel as much snow as I
could manage – my wife was out shopping and so deprived me of the pleasure of
simply handing her the shovel while I directed operations – from the curbside.
Our city’s snow-plows had thoughtfully pushed a pile of snow, 3-feet high that
extended 6-feet from the curb, just where I normally park my vehicles. Sure, I
had my vehicles parked in my driveway since before the 10” snow fell, but
tonight, I needed those curbside space as well as the driveway spaces. Why?
My younger daughter was having a bachelorette party; the
more than two-and-a-half-dozen celebrants, clad in 80’s garb, were assembling
at our house where a bus was to take them to places I thought it best my wife
dare not go! So, I had clear the garage
to accommodate two cars, direct the arriving guests to park six cars and SUVs
in the driveway and have snow-free curbside available for six more vehicles.
My truck had no space where it could be parked, so was left in the center of
the cul-de-sac until the bus had departed! No matter, I was NOT about to be
disturbed by a bunch of liquor-filled young ladies arriving back at the house
just in time to wake the rooster and stumbling in and out of bathrooms or
trying to hold on to windows that would insist on chasing doors until they
sobered up. I had arranged to spend the night at my other daughter’s house with
her husband and their three kids. That I did; I arrived just as the twins (1
year-old) had been put to bed. With their older brother sound asleep on the
sofa, I popped my first can of beer since New Year’s Eve and ‘dad’ and I
watched a bit of an NFL match on TV until I started to doze off too. I climbed
the stairs, crawled into bed and my busy day was ended.
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