When I finish this entry, I will put on my socks and shoes and my winter coat and walk the dog our daily mile, down Hartka to the railroad, along the railroad to Northmont and back home.
No doubt the big storm we had yesterday has torn off all the blossoms on the 30 cherry trees that line the railroad.
I will stop as I often do to give honor to the ancient, giant willow oak along the residential side of the railroad street and I will ponder all the things that tree has seen over the couple of hundred years it has been standing there.
The storm we had yesterday was truly frightening! The wind made unusual noises and I am surrounded by trees in my yard, so our roof got pelted by broken branches as we always do, but no trees came down here. What we had were burning electric lines, boxes exploded as the wind ripped the wires out of the boxes on the trees. We lost power for 2 hours and even though it is spring, it got surprisingly cold in my house in that short time. I did worry, but I countered it by making plans. I put on warmer clothes, found my Brooklyn Lantern, put a good flashlight nearby and a candle and matches and waited it out. Some of my neighbors got in touch to find out if all was ok in my yard.
I was worried about the food in the freezer since I had stocked up because of the shortages caused by the disruption of supply chains and I was afraid that food would all spoil. But even more, I was worried about the sump pump. In the rainy seasons, I have a running stream in the earthen basement of my old house. In one corner there is a kind of well with a sump pump in it. The stream caused by heavy rain, flows down into the well and the sump pump pumps it out again. One year when we had a power failure during the night, I awakened at 6 a.m. to find over 3 feet of water in the basement which took out my washer, dryer, water heater and heater motor. Now I have a new heater and a big fat loan to pay off for installing it and I didn't want that new heater ruined.
We were saved.
But it all reminds us of the fragility of our existence, and reminds us to be mindful and empathetic for the others, not so lucky, the ones who had the tornado, flooding, and who were already struggling by being out of work and having no money to rely on while they wait out these disasters.
Hoping you are well and stay well! Hoping you find some way to enjoy the great natural world in the midst of these disasters! Happy Earth Day 202!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Update of corona in our area:
Two Haddon Township residents and two Oaklyn residents were among the additional 125 new cases of the coronavirus that were reported in Camden County on Tuesday, bringing the totals to 2,215 cases with 86 fatalities.
One new death was also reported after a Cherry Hill man in his 70s died after testing positive for the coronavirus.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete