So...

Mother Nature is really having a hissy fit.

Thursday, the pups and I risked using some precious gasoline to go on an adventure to Goose Island in Lacrosse County. The weather was supposed to turn very ugly Thursday night with a major whup-a$$ storm coming in on Saturday through Monday.

We took this lollipop loop that goes around what seems to be backwater ponds of the Mississippi River and other spots where we could stand on the banks of the river and gaze across the wide expanse of water.

Hannah got her first lesson in 'leash walking'. She sure didn't like it at first. However, by the time we got back to the car, she was mostly walking alongside Charlie.

With both hands occupied, I had a hard time taking any shots at all.

I did tie Hannah up to a sapling to I could try a couple of photos and only really got one with my regular camera. Moments later, she lunged forward and her cat breakaway collar came off.

Well, we both learned from that! 

After chores and more outside play time, the two of them called a truce and fell asleep on the couch. In the old days pets were never allowed on the furniture. Hannah can't get there on her own, but she does ask to get up there and she does settle down quickly.

She was looking at me with her tongue sticking out! Charlie was guarding the squeaky ball and all was calm.

Around midnight, as predicted, the winds arrived. And they howled and howled. I live in a hollow of sorts and it sounded as if a C-130 was revving its engines above the house. I woke up around 2AM because of noises I heard. It literally sounded as if the large metal shed had been hit by a tree. 

I looked out into the living room and noticed that the heater light was off. I knew I wasn't getting back to bed so I put long johns on under my sweats and added an extra warm layer over my t-shirt. Of course Hannah woke up while I was hunting up my electric candle lights and headlamp.

We went outside in the dark [with my headlamp to light the way]. The dogs did their thing and we bundled up on the couch while I sat down with them to worry. Seriously, what else was there to do? The two little dogs snuggled in close and we kept each other warm.

The temps dropped to 48 degrees in the house by 7:30 when the power came back on. I'd done chores and checked our buildings. Everything was still standing. The mules were out of the winds and standing quietly. The fences were still up and despite the roar above, things were rather peaceful.

We survived! No damage. I was relieved.

At 9:30 my 'date' arrived. Not really a date, but a young man who is the son of one of my good friends. I've know Briar since he was born.

Briar was off school and had asked if he could come over to learn about photography.

He is a Lego Fan and so I told him that we would work on some Toy Photography and some Macro photography. He wanted to learn more about digital cameras. I showed him how to use his cell phone to to practice with. He doesn't have a digital camera. His older sister has a Nikon that I gave to the family a few years ago.

We set up a scene together and talked about composing photos to tell a story. The time flew by and we had a blast. He enjoyed composing scenes with some of my pieces of cardboard and 'junk'.

It was quite fun imagining a scene together and hunting around for parts to build it and analyzing it from different angles. The first scene was one he totally built. The rose shot was a quick lesson in how 'easy' it is to set up a macro shot even with a dried up old flower.

We had fun with the storm troopers and worked on the set up for that together. Briar learned some very basic lessons about depth of field and operation of my digital camera.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to stock up on water and get some food that I don't have to cook to make a meals if the power goes out again.

We may or may not be in for a doozy starting Saturday evening.

 

Lights OUT

So just after chores the other night the power ... blam

went out.

I didn't get too excited because we have 'smart' meters. They notify the local electric company that the power is out and things get fixed. 
After about an hour, I texted my neighbor asking her if she was out. I had no internet, no land line [it sure makes a case for having a Hardwired phone and no wireless phone]. My cell phone was at almost nothing percent with no bars. 

Since I didn't hear back from the neighbor I started to walk up to the top of the hill to knock on there door. By this time ol' Grumpy was having fits. His mindset doesn't do well with things like no electric. They had power and she'd call it in for me.

I grabbed a headlamp and sat down to read a book. Grumpy started pacing and yelling. I should have called, I was wrong, why did it go out? How come? I explained the best I could that ALL technology had failed us at the moment. The Electric Company didn't get notified and we had no hard wire phone and the cell phone was useless unless I went to the ridge.

More yelling. I started reading wishing I had more battery so I could tune in Pandora. Hmmm. I could start the car and go charge up the phone, drive to the ridge and listen to music. 

"Lipstick Powder Horn Mushroom. Description: Fruiticose grayish or greenish slender, unbranched stalks arising from a finally scaled surface and topped with a blunt red tip..." I tore a scrap of paper and wrote on it:
Found March 23 in the morning midway up a hill on a mossy fallen oak log with 3 or 4 types of mosses mixed in. NW facing hillside--very shady in summer. No idea what all the different mosses are as of yet but will search the moss book.

[Photo taken but obviously not posted with no power]

Another note to self:
Look up a bit more info on macro and in camera stacking along with Helicon stacking. 

I got up to get a drink of water and there was more yelling. I was wasting water. I reminded Grumpy that we were on a shared well and the pump was up on the ridge and it had power so we did have water. 
Long ago I'd talked to a counselor regarding this sort of behavior. The best advice I ever got was to not think of him as the rational person I usually knew. But to call him in my mind Irrational Man. Really nothing I said or did would change Irrational Man's mind. 

I opened up a notebook and started to make a list of things I'd like to explore with photography this summer. Small things in particular. The nasty icky ugly weeds that grow. Fungi? Lichen? Mosses and Liverworts. Things close to the ground. Poison Ivy? Tick weed, wild parsnip, and hawkweed. 

Eventually two trucks slowly came down the hill. Vernon Electric. I walked out to talk with them. I kept my distance and the first guy checked the meter and then quizzically looked at me and opened up the box on the post next to the meter. 

"Here is the problem," he said and pointed his light at a switch. He pulled it down and then pushed it to ON. 
Apparently it is the original on off thingy that controls all the other thingies. 

"You might want to call an electrician and have him fix this. It is odd that its a 100 amp. It is old. Update it to a 200 amp." 
I shrugged and pointed out that I had no idea that box was something that was ours so I never touched it. I apologized for not knowing that but also was very relieved that this incident happened as we needed that box to be upgraded.

I suppose it was missed when we upgraded the house in 2016.

Grumpy was hovering when I came in. I explained to him about the box and that I'd call our electrician in the morning. 
He was calm and wanted to watch some TV. 

I marveled at how his mind worked. Crisis over and all was forgotten. I wanted to really get back at him in some way and remind him that he'd hurt my feelings. 

Irrational Man. It just works that way. 
Jake will be showing up in a few moments and I'll need to go back out. 

I asked Grumpy if he would be okay without power while Jake worked on the box.

Whaddya mean? 

He'd forgotten. 

Update sort of....
Don't feel bad for me, I'm used to this. Yes I was really upset at his inability to understand reasoning. I had to walk outside and stand for a while and take a few deep breaths. This is what a CareGiver does. Screaming back at him would not have made anything better.
I kept telling myself I was better than that. The worst part is not having a way to release the pressure. 

I so need to get back to CrossFit! Be well.