The Journal: Cracked Earth (4 page)

While I was doing that, I dropped off all the
heavy comforters, blankets and pillows at the Laundromat. That
storm front must have missed us. The weather was still reasonably
okay to dry it all on the clothesline, even with the nighttime
temperatures getting into the forties. That the rain had held off
so far was a bonus. The temperature actually hit sixty-seven
yesterday, not what was predicted at all.

* * *

JOURNAL ENTRY: October 26

Well, that was short lived. We’re now under a
severe thunderstorm warning with possible hail. The blankets are
draped over chairs in the kitchen, drying very, very slowly. At
least they won’t get any wetter. I bet Jacob would love it here
with all these “blanket tents” to play under. It is fifty-seven
degrees and too warm to start the stove to help with the drying.
Other than the pillows, it’s also all too large to fit into the
dryer.

I’m pleased that at least I got the gas in. I
pushed some boxes out of the way, and parked the car in the barn.
Quarter-sized hail can do some damage!

Everything has shifted fast. It’s dark out
now and a thick fog has settled in. I can hear the thunder in the
distance. Tufts is not happy about staying in. He might be a big
kitty but he’s a coward at heart. The first crack of thunder and
he’ll be hiding under the bed.

* * *

Tufts the cat is my friend and companion. I
remember when I first brought him home. I was his fourth home in
four months, and he was scared to death. I had lost my long haired
white cat CeeCee six months before to cancer. That was a long and
lonely six months for me. Then I saw an ad in the paper: Free to
good home, long haired black cat, neutered, all shots, declawed,
owner allergic.

I called and picked him up the next day. The
first owner was moving into an apartment and couldn’t take him, so
he went to the pet shelter to await adoption. The next owner wanted
another black cat for a friend to their current black cat, only
that cat wasn’t adapting. The third owner was more loyal to her
other cat, which I understood. After a week with me, I saw the cat
sitting at the glass door staring out, the sun shining in,
illuminating the grayish tufts in his ears and on his tummy, and he
became Tufts. He’s been a wonderful, affectionate cat that needed
one owner (not a family) and to be an only child. Now, his golden
eyes greet me every morning and I spoil him rotten.

* * *

The storms have completely moved out and it’s
cool and sunny. I took all the curtains down, washed them, and put
them out on the line. I can’t believe how much I’m getting done.
It’s difficult to do all this by myself. I have to first remember
what to do, then do it and do it right. Not doing a chore right is
as bad as not doing it at all, especially when it might be one of
those vital things like turning off the outside water, or filling
the hot tub lines with anti-freeze. It could be disastrous if not
done, or not done properly.

* * *

After I washed down the hearth of the wood
cook-stove, I brought in a full load of wood. I had to fire the
stove up this morning. It was chilly, only forty-two degrees out,
and I didn’t expect the temperature to go much higher.

The fall colors are wonderful as usual, yet
also go away quickly. With a predominance of maple trees up here,
there is a vivid display of red, orange and yellow that draws
people from all over for the Color-Tour, our last hurrah for
tourism. It’s hard to believe that the peak color was two weeks ago
and now we have bare trees. What an amazing transformation.

At least there’s been no snow yet. I remember
one year when there was a foot of wet, heavy snow even before the
leaves dropped. It brought down countless trees and took the power
out. Mine was out for four days; others for over a week. The power
company did massive trimming the next spring to keep it from
happening again.

The forecast is for flurries on Sunday so I
put the chickens’ winter walls up on the inner yard, yet another
thing off of my list. Putting those sheets of thin plywood over the
secure fencing keeps the blowing snow out of their small yard and
the roof keeps everything else out. The chickens are happy when
they are able to get out to scratch around in the dirt, and happy
chickens lay more eggs.

My best friend Kathy called last night to see
if I was going into town today so she could hitch a ride. Her
husband Bob was already in town for a day-long workshop and there
was a hockey game they wanted to watch later. Since I had planned a
quick run, I told her I could drop her off and save Bob from coming
back those thirty miles to pick her up.

Jason is planning to come for dinner tonight
with Jacob and requested “meat,” so I need to shop. I suppose I
could pull something out of the freezer...

I found a couple of steaks that should
satisfy Jason’s appetite. Those, along with some steamed carrots
with Swiss chard and a salad will make a nice dinner.

* * *

JOURNAL ENTRY: October 27

A major hurricane is making its way up the
East Coast. New York City provides over 350,000 free meals each
day, on a
normal
day. I wonder what will happen if there is
no food to give out during or after this storm?? People can get
real ugly when they’re hungry.

The weather here is strange, though I doubt
it’s an effect from the storm. The skies are clear at night so it
got cold, only thirty-three degrees when I got up. When the sun
came up, the clouds rolled in so there was no solar heating.

I left one cherry tomato plant in the garden,
covered at night with a frost bag. The few tomatoes on it won’t
ripen without warmth, so I needed to pick those and bring them
inside, then pull the plant up. There’s also most of the short row
of Swiss chard that seems totally unaffected by the cold. I picked
some last night for dinner, so that I will leave alone to enjoy
while I can. It’s time to dump the flowers on the deck and put the
planters underneath. One more thing to cross off of that nagging
prep list.

Eric called to tell me that he is going to
come up for Thanksgiving. Wow, two visits in two months. I wonder
what’s up?

* * *

Jason brought Jacob over around noon. He had
a job to do that would take him a few hours, and since Amanda, my
daughter in law, is still out of town, I agreed to watch my nine
year old grandson. Jacob is autistic and takes a bit more attention
at times, but he plays so well by himself that it was easy to
continue with my chores. I dumped the flowers, hauled in wood,
changed the litter box, and did some laundry. Then Jacob and I went
for a short walk along my road.

Jason showed up around 5:30 P.M., just in
time for dinner. I made two Cornish hens, stuffed with fresh herbs
and cooked in the woodstove oven, served on a bed of basmati rice
with a side of Swiss chard. It was nice to cook for someone besides
myself. Jacob is fussy a eater, so I always keep chicken nuggets or
noodles on hand for him. He loves noodles.

* * *

JOURNAL ENTRY: October 28

No snow, although it sure is chilly! It got
down to thirty degrees last night. I built a nice fire in the cook
stove, started a new book, and spent the day relaxing. The fire
felt good, and I’m planning to cook a pot roast for dinner, a nice
long, slow cook. Yum.

It looks like that hurricane is going to
wreak some havoc on the East Coast. The media is calling it a
“perfect storm”, a nor’easter colliding with a cold front from the
west. They are predicting that some areas might see fifty inches of
snow! Even up here we don’t get that in one fall. The most that
I’ve ever seen is forty inches when I still lived deep in the
woods. That was a blizzard to remember, long before the Weather
Service was naming winter storms.

Over on one of my internet groups, Survival
Retreat, the speculations have already started on whether or not
the hardest hit areas of the storm are going to be able to hold
elections next week, or if they’ll be suspended. That’s never
happened before.

* * *

Today is the last Monday of the month. I paid
my bills for November online. Gosh, I love doing that! They are all
done and will go out when they should, automatically. I still
needed to plug in an amount for the propane bill, since the fuel
will be delivered on Thursday. It felt really good to have enough
in the checking for the rest of the year, with the balance in the
savings, ready to transfer over, providing no expensive emergencies
come up.

It was twenty-five degrees this morning, and
the furnace failed to come on when it was supposed to. However,
when I bumped up the temperature manually, it kicked right in.
Hopefully it was only a glitch. The woodstove is going now and it’s
quite comfortable. The temperature outside has risen to forty-five
degrees and the skies are a deep blue with near blinding
sunshine.

I got another winter prep done. I recharged
the generator battery for easy starting. It isn’t hard to start it
with the cord, but my shoulder still isn’t one hundred percent and
I don’t want to re-injure it. The generator has the capability to
start by either pull cord or key, and the key method requires a
battery to furnish the necessary power. Jason got it all rigged for
me after I got the right sized battery. When the gennie runs, it
charges the battery, although if I don’t use it for months on end,
the battery gets drained. I finally got the trickle charger Jason
suggested and can now keep the battery level where it needs to be.
I didn’t have these issues in the woods: Sam ran the generator
daily to do his stained glass art and he did all the maintenance on
the gennie. I sure had a lot to learn after we split up.

I had to do one last sweep of the deck. I
don’t know where all these leaves are coming from, there sure
aren’t any more on the trees!

It might be a good day to clean off my
computer desk and the shelf overhead. Maybe my art table too. That
might give me the incentive to start painting Christmas cards
again. I used to hand paint all of our cards when I lived deep in
the woods. Watercolor art came easy to me and I really enjoy it. I
would work with two or three designs and then duplicate them
individually. That last year in the woods I made seventy-five
cards. After we broke up, one of Sam’s friends asked if he could
stay on my Christmas card list. That was flattering, but not so
touching as when I found all of my cards in Mom’s drawer after she
died. She didn’t keep any other cards, only mine.

The storm was ferocious. The perfect storm, called
“Frankenstorm” because it’s so close to Halloween. This was on a
nationally known television commentary website: “Not even a back
injury could keep him from coming onto the radio and telling the
New York branch that if the storm didn't get them, the inevitable
breakdown in the food supply and the subsequent rioting would
surely result in their untimely demise.”

That was even scarier than the storm. A
breakdown in the food supply is almost a sure thing, considering
the Just-In-Time system most major cities utilize, and for those
cities, yeah, there
will
be rioting. It makes me shiver. The
JIT system seems to be way too prevalent. What bothers me the most
about this is that people
could
have prepared! They could
have stocked up on food, water, supplies. They could have done a
lot of things but they didn’t, counting on the government to take
care of them and then blaming others when that failed. I do hope
that those affected by the storm
wake up
and realize that
their safety, their future and their very lives are in their own
hands, not the government’s.

We’re under a high wind advisory and Lake
Superior is under gale warnings. It’s cold, windy and snow is in
the air, likely tonight. I’m sure glad that I don’t have to go
anywhere, though I did bring in extra wood.

The furnace kicked on as scheduled this
morning, so it looks like yesterday was only a fluke.

Elections are a week away. I want all of my
winter preps done before then. I’m slightly behind, nevertheless,
if I push it, I might finish by my November 1st goal. I’ve used
that date for my personal marker for seventeen years now.

Wow! I’ve been up here that long already? Yet
there’s no place else I’d rather be. The air is clean, the water is
clean and there’s no light pollution. There is little crime and
it’s so peaceful and
safe
. The little town of Moose Creek is
literally at the end of the road. There’s no drive through traffic
because the road stops. The joke is that you either come here on
purpose or you’re lost.

* * *

JOURNAL ENTRY: October 30

I read a report today that said one-third of
all Americans are not paying their bills on time now, and that
more than forty-one
percent
of all working-age Americans are not
working, the economy is that bad. That’s the true unemployment
rate! I’m thankful that I bought this house outright when I did. I
have no car payment or mortgage, only utilities, insurance and
taxes. I’m in much better shape than most people, even with a
seasonal job. Plus, a large garden and canning helps keep food on
the table.

* * *

I braved the well pit and shut off the water
today. My prep list is almost done.

Dawn mentioned Halloween cocktails tomorrow
night. Any excuse for a party!

* * *

On Halloween I went into town early and got
four more fifty pound bags of cracked corn for the chickens. While
there, I picked up some more of Tufts’ favorite crunchy treats.
He’s
so
spoiled. Since it’s the official end of my season, I
picked up my celebratory rib eye steak and a single slice of cheese
cake for tomorrow. Dawn always puts out a lavish spread for her
parties, so that will be my dinner for tonight.