Back in The Saddle Again

8:00

It's 7:00 and I have been up since 6:00, to a dark house, a surprise because in Connecticut, it would have already been light because their sunrise is 24 minutes earlier than ours here on Chautauqua Lake.  I was hoping for a clear morning but it's mostly overcast, with an occasional brush of rouge.  A month ago, there would have been lots of fishermen out on the lake; this morning, I finally saw a solitary soul out in the middle.  Perhaps it is no longer worth while, or fun, or they are just tired of fishing.

Indian River Nuclear Plant

We left Darien just after 8:00, when everyone but Beth who was off for the day at 8:30.  We said our goodbyes and were on the road again, a strange feeling to be back on Rt 7 to Danbury, #84 to Middleton, #86 to Chautauqua, 426 miles, seven plus hours.  Unlike our drive out, in fog, rain, gray skies, it was sunny the entire way, blue skies, and very cold.  The mountains, especially the Catskills, were covered with barren trees, stubs sticking up like Slugo's hair on his head (Nancy's friend, a comic from the 1950's). The colors at this time of the year are muted, a lavender, with brushes of dark green clumps of evergreens.  Most of the rivers were still frozen, or filled with ice, even the Hudson when we crossed it on the Hamilton Fish Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, with the Indian River Nuclear Plant off in the distance.

#86

 We had little traffic, slowed down only for a tractor trailer that was off the road but other than that, it was smooth sailing.  I was worried there might be some black ice in the Catskills but the roads were dry, snow piled up three or four feet on the sides.  Before our trip, Evie had downloaded Waze, an app for her iPad that Rami told her about, which works like a GPS but allows a passenger, to input data, like an accident, a cop car, even debris on the road, which we were able to avoid because of the application.  It's free and we no longer need our GPS as long as Evie has her iPad.

Late Amazon Arrivals

We got home at 3:30 and because our parking area was snow covered, we had to park our car on the road, to unload.  Fortunately, our friends, Linda Hepp and Ron Mc Clure, had checked on our house twice over the past three weeks, and they had shoveled a path to our house.  Otherwise we would have been in trouble because the snow had turned to ice, making it almost impossible to shovel.  Our house was fine, no water, burst pipes, the fear of anyone who has an empty house this time of the year.  Our car was filled with lots of 'stuff'', so it took awhile to unpack it and then put it away.  I had to park my car at Browns overnight, but this morning, Shane will come by and clear out our parking area.

It was strange to be back in our house, unsettling even, no grandchildren, just the two of us in a quiet, empty house.  I spent a good half hour going through our mail, just bills, advertisements, and magazines, nothing exciting.  Around 5:30, Evie made up a quick pasta dish, with chicken breasts, put it in the oven, and we settled down for a glass of wine as the sun began to set.  A few guys were out fishing, a couple were out cross country skiing, and a couple of snowmobiles flashed by as well.

We ate around 7:00, and spent the evening catching up on House of Cards; we have five more episodes to go before we can start on the news season.  We were both tired but stayed up until 11:00 before going up to read some and then sleep.

I don't anticipate much action today as we were both have come down with colds and are tired from the drive.  A trip to the Transfer Station will be our only excursion.