COLD!!! and ADT

Connie and I got calls from ADT this morning. The heat sensor in the basement was below the 40 degrees cold warning. Thanks Connie for calling me (from warmer Florida!): I missed the call from ADT on my phone. (I'm not sure who they called first, you/David or me) I called ADT, the power was still on, just the cold sensor in the basement set off, they said.  I bundled up and went down. Our thermometer in Glastonbury read 0 degrees this am, by the time I left the house at 9:00 it was 10. I'm sure it was at least that cold in the hollow that is Thicut! Anyway, all the internal alarms were singing when I went in. I disarmed the the noise and ventured down the basement. It was only 39 down there, but with a bit of hot breath on the sensor, the temperature went up to 40 and I was able to reset the system. I then turned up the heat to about 55, let the house warm up a bit, turned on a fan pointing towards the basement stairs, and played the piano for 20 minutes or so. The temperature was still only 40 in the basement. Then I remembered the hanging light that someone moved toward the utility box. I restrung it near the heat sensor, and left the light on. Maybe the little warmth from the light bulb will keep the temperature steady at 40? We'll see. I turned the thermostat back to 50. The forecast says it's supposed to get up to the 55 tomorrow (with snow, sleet and finally all rain between now and then)! I'll go down again later in the week to turn that light off.

Swing down

Bob and I checked Thicut today. It's a sunny 15 degrees out. We've had several small snow storms in the last couple 3 weeks. Rene Desjardins has plowed twice. He reported pine branches down this last time from the VERY heavy wet snow last weekend. And sure enough, Aunt Gina's white pine by the driveway has several large branches that Rene moved out of the way. But the big news:
The branch of the maple tree in the back yard with the swing is DOWN. Here are pictures:

The branch took the cherry (crabapple?) tree down with it. Bob thinks there may be a bit that will live, but it looks pretty destroyed. 

All else inside the house is fine - the power was off at some point, but furnace, etc all working - we reset the clocks and timers; a dead mouse in the upstairs toilet (EEEUUUWWW), oil still about 5/8ths, the phone answering machine is full, but when I listened to a sampling, there were no messages, just silence. I can erase them all next time if you want. 

And Spring IS coming, next week should see 45 degrees and rain one day.

2 fish and lots of mice

 Happy February!
The snow from the storm that barely hit us a couple of weeks ago is almost completely gone. The temperature today is in the 50s.
Inside the house, all is fine, except the mice have found the soap dishes and there is lots of evidence that they're healthy :)
There is a little ice left on the pond and I saw 2 fish swimming in the bottom! An orange one and and a white and orange one.
Here are a couple pictures.

There is 3/4 tank of oil which should be plenty in this warm winter!

The brook is high due to the rain we've had in the last day or so. I love listening to its sound as I wander in the yard.

I went home by way of a tour of Haddam Neck: I took all the roads (intentionally, of course): Hurd Park Road, Basket Shop Road, Ague Spring Road, Quarry Hill Road, Rock Landing Road, Injun Hollow Road. And stopped at the cemetery, the church (and drove up School House Hill Road), drove by Aunt Yee's, Aunt Kate's, Uncle Paul's, the fairgrounds, and lots of other relatives' houses. Ahhh.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is rainy and 50 degrees, yesterday was sunny and cold when Bob and I went to Thicut.
There was this note stuck in the door from Matt Saunders (Rene's hunter friend).
"Sat 12-19-15
Betsy + Anna Ruth,
I cleaned the gutters and unclogged downspouts. I attached several leaders and screwed together. 1 plumbing vent [on main roof] is deteriorated but I sealed it for now till spring. I am also "guilty" of putting gravel in the puddle by bridge. I dug a channel for water to run off.
Just showing my appreciation and a bit of concern for allowing me to hunt here. Feel free to call if there is anything else I can help with.
Matt S.
My cell - 860 463 0905"

Inside the house all was fine. Oil level is still just at 1/2 half: it's been a warm winter so far that's predicted to change this coming week!

Bob and I went to check out the house and yard this afternoon. We went at 3:30 and by the time we got back to Glastonbury at 5, it was dark! Winter is just about here.
All's well at the house. I forgot your code Aunt Sandy, so I used ours and was able to open the house, bypass the kitchen window and re-set the alarm when we left, so that's good to know!
The oil is only down to a 1/2 because it's been so warm. I'll let you know if the oil guy comes this month. I checked the light timers and they're all fine too: I reset them to come on a little earlier since it gets dark so early!
Have a Merry Christmas holiday everyone!

tree on wires

I just am back from checking the house. Rene Desjardains (sp?) called Aunt Sandy and me yesterday morning to say there was a tree resting on the wires on the driveway. From his description, it was on the rte.151 side of the bridge, so I called East Hampton Public Works and they said they'd look into it. The very nice field worker called me back within the next couple hours to say that yes, there was a tree leaning on the wires and he'd call Eversource to take care of it. I went down just now to see. The tree was a completely dead one right at the Grassy Lane and had uprooted. All cleared now. It wasn't noticeable coming down the road, but going back out: very noticeable where it had been. I checked the power in the house and it had been off (clock on stove blinking). So I reset that clock, locked up and came on back home.
It looks like Rene and Matt have blown off all the leaves on the road from the bridge to the house and mostly cleared the drainage trench on the side of the hill.
All's well.

Bob and I went to winterize the J. Deere, Saturday. Here is what we found. Matt Saunders has created paths from the back yard into the woods. The contraption is his deer cart and a deer stand.  Is this okay with you all?

                                 This path is behind the crab apple tree toward the old spring.

This path is behind the rock garden and goes behind the hill where the chicken coop was.