I went to Thicut yesterday, lunch in hand, prepared to spend some time in the quiet. I brought Lady along so she could do some off the leash running (she loved it!). It was about 40 degrees, snow gone and sunny outside. I

• checked the furnace: at 9/16 full
• turned pump and H2O on (and off when I left)
• reset stove clock which was blinking (power had gone off sometime only for a minute or two)
• tried to turn off the water heater at the fuse box to see if that would lower Anna Ruth's electric bill, but couldn't get the double fuse to budge; I'll ask Bob to try next time he comes with me
• checked all over the house to see what else may be drawing electricity: only the stove clock, the lights on timers, the answering machine and the radio in the kitchen are on as far as I can tell
• replaced the dead bulb in the basement near the stairs
• cleaned up dead leaves on oxalys (sp?) and wandering jew and swept the floors
• sat down to read my book while eating a warm lunch of mac and cheese and hot chocolate
• let Lady run around outside while I filled the car with wood to donate to the church's youth 'Homeless Awareness Sleepout' happening this weekend. The kids gather around a fire barrel in shifts all night in front of our church on Main Street to raise awareness of the homeless.
• picked up the few branches in the yard and driveway from the week's blustery weather

Last Thursday, Anna Ruth, Eric V. and Ann stopped by Thicut. The report is that everything looks good. They were doing 'errands' like: paying taxes, visiting the library, having lunch at Moodus' Village Pizza, visiting John and Phyllis, etc. It was a successful visit, I think. The big news from Ann's point of view was that SHE found Ben's HS class ring on the rug by the door! "The light must have been just right because I saw something shiny and asked, 'what is that'. When Eric looked, it was Ben's ring!" They didn't even know it was missing. [It's on it's way to Texas today] Anna Ruth's CT visit was overall a good time.

Bob, Jen, and I went down to check on things yesterday. The snow is melting, the house is 'warm', plants are watered and no sign of mice or snakes! (knock on wood). The evidence of fireman's boots outside the house has melted away, Bob and Jen nearly completed cleaning up the fallen branch, so things are good!

3:30 am: We got a call from the ADT security company that a fire alarm had activated in the basement of THICUT. Bob and I rushed down to find 3 huge firetrucks, a police car and various pick-up trucks parked near the entrance to Sexton Hill Rd. We drove on down and found (NO SMOKE OR FIRE) 5 firemen in full gear walking around the house trying to determine how to get in to check it out. We let them in, and we all trooped into the basement (one fireman was tall enough that he couldn't stand up straight). We located the smoke detector. It was not even activated at this point. They found nothing to indicate danger. It was about 10 degrees F outside...Remember, it takes us about 30 minutes to get from our house to Thicut. (Bob made it in considerably less time this morning...) I've decided to send the East Hampton Fire Dept a thank you note saying that we really appreciate them. We had gotten about an inch or two of new snow (unplowed) which was one reason the large trucks didn't even attempt to go to the house... My question is: what if there HAD been a fire? Where would they have gotten the water to put it out? Would those big trucks have wanted to negotiate the bridge? I called ADT and they suggested that dust, a spider, a web, any number of things could have set the smoke detector off...

What a wonderful visit with the Eckersons and Sarah's fiance Luke!

We spent a couple hours showing the Texan the falls, the swimming hole and foundation to the sword factory.

Then we had hot chocolate in the kitchen and to top it off, Jen, Sarah, and Ben went through the hole in the ceiling with 6' 8" Luke to 'catch' them.