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| Despite the blizzard the Cardnial & Red-Bellied Woodpecker showed up for suet & seed |
So this past weekend Dad missed out, in a way, on a storm of probably historic proportions. Maine (and the East Coast) was hit with a good old fashioned blizzard. We are talking the kind of record setting blizzard a city like Portland Maine hasn’t seen since 1979. The big winner for snow amounts went to someplace in Connecticut, but that’s not to say many places in Maine weren’t too far away from the 40.0 inches that fell down there, particularly Gorham Maine with the deepest, 35.5 inches of snow. I don’t think I have to tell anyone, that is a lot of snow to fall during one storm. I kept thinking, it was a good thing the little bit of snow that had blanketed the ground prior to the storm had melted because the 30 plus inches would have almost obscured views out of first story windows, had it not.
My cousin Dawn had flown in Thursday night, ahead of the storm and Friday morning, she, my Aunt Mel and Mom drove down to PJ’s in Rockland. They were all going to stay overnight at the Inn. The plan was for me to work my usual Friday four hours, go see Dad and eventually meet them all down in Rockland for dinner, where we could all have a little Hunt family reunion (that’s Mom’s side of the family). That was the plan. As is the case with my life, plans aren’t something that really work well for me. I do much better with no plan and flying by the seat of my pants, with regards to what happens it seems. There’s less chance of disappointment that way. Needless to say by dinner time Friday night it was apparent I was not going to be making it down to Rockland. I had at least managed to see Dad during the day and drop off some roast chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy I made for him. The dogs, Fritz (the cat) and I settled in for the night. I did not at that time, realize that settling in for the night really meant settling in for the next day and a half.
I woke up around 2am Saturday morning and thought, let me see if it was still snowing as the real beginning of the storm was to hit late Friday night. We all know weather reporters can be wrong. Sure enough it was snowing when I looked out the window. I went back to bed, not thinking much of it. I went to college up here and have been living back up here for almost 10 years now. I’ve seen my share of storms. Or so I thought. Let me tell you, this was a storm! By 2pm Saturday afternoon, it was quite apparent I still was not going to make it to Rockland and I was also not going to be able to see Dad. It was still snowing (and ended up not stopping until 7pm that night). I had told him the previous day I might not be able to make it depending on the weather. Luckily my friend Lindsay had to work at the hospital and promised to peek in on him and let him know about the storm, not that Dad would have been worried one way or the other. Most selfless man I ever met, there had been times already, while visiting him after work that he would see me yawn from burning the candle at both ends and wave me away telling me to go. But this storm, this blizzard! This was the kind of stuff Dad loved and lived for! This was the stuff he would have been talking about for years afterwards! And there he was stuck in the hospital, seemingly missing out on it. We all project our own feelings and emotions, thoughts and behaviors onto other people. I was doing just that with Dad and feeling bad he was not with us to be part of this incredible blizzard. Yet, despite him being in the hospital, he was still part of it, because PJ and I made sure to take a bunch of photos and set up web albums so that Sunday morning, when all was said and done and I was able to get out to see Dad, I was able to show him what had happened. He could not believe it. His eyes grew wider and wider with each new photo of this huge nor’easter. He looked at the photos of Rockland and of his backyard in disbelief at how blanketed everything was, especially his backyard. Mom and Dad recently had sliding glass doors installed in their TV room but the contractor hadn’t had time to re-attach the small deck and stairs that were previously there (they are still sitting on the side of the house until spring). The snow was almost a foot up on the glass of the doors!
I have joked with Dad several times now, since the stroke, saying if he didn’t want to deal with winter and the snow and cold he just had to say so, he didn’t need to take it to this extreme. I made the same joke with regards to snowblowing the driveway and dealing with snow removal after the storm. He laughed.
Below is a link to some of the photos PJ and I took and showed Dad. Enjoy!
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