Thoughts from Crow Cottage (My Main Blog.)

crowbelle's Diaryland Diary

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Free to Be...

FREE TO BE....


I think that's what this Independence Day means to me. The (still preserved) ability to be free to be whatever I want to be. At least for now. I'm not sure how long this liberty will exist here in our "Land of the Free" but while it's here, we are thankful for it.

It seems to be eroding at the edges, though, piece by hard-fought-for piece of our liberties. I wish I had a crystal ball to see into the future. What will our land be like 100 years from now? 2,000 years from now? Will it even resemble our world that we live in now? I can sense that it's all unravelling slowly, before our eyes, as humankind degenerates into cruelty and greediness - sapping any optimism some of us may have about a good future for the world.

But for now, it's Independence Day in America. I have my Red-White-&-Blue flying from the pole on the front of Crow Cottage. We are the only house in our neighborhood to have a flag flying, too. I wonder why?

So, I just wanted to catch you all up on life here. I feel that this particular date in the summer (4th of July) is a midway point and that all of the days following it are pointing toward the autumn now. Oh, we'll have our waves of heat and humidity and scortching sun shining down for a couple of more months, but the anticipation of summer seems to peak on this date, and afterwards it just seems we have to slog thru the hot weather before coming to rest in the fall with the lovely coolness that fall brings.

On the homefront here: We had a fire in our heating unit. Must have been a leaky oil line, we aren't sure. A couple of weeks ago, it got cool and I turned the heat on to get the chill out, and saw smoke coming out of the vents. Pandemonium hit. Paul was not home. I had to make split-second decisions. Who and what to get out of the house in case this was the end of our home as we knew it.

Getting the dogs out into the yard out back was my first priority, and no easy task as Whitby knew I was panicking and she ran downstairs to the basement, which was fully consumed in smoke, so it was very hectic. Got them outside finally, but my second priority was to get my purse which, as any woman will attest to, is my lifeline to the world. That is one thing I do not EVER want to lose, for obvious reasons. So I ran back in (I know...I know... but the flames were still contained to inside the heater so far...I could see them trying to escape but nothing in the house was actually burning up yet). I shut down the main emergency switch to the oil burner, and that seemed to do it. The fire slowed considerably but by then the house was engulfed in thick white smoke.

I got upstairs and retrieved my purse and saw my stack of folders of work sitting there, and my computer. I wanted to rescue the computer as, without it, I can't make a living, but I knew that was impossible. So I scooped up my folders of work (all that dictation by the doctors - if lost - would have made many, many people very unhappy!) and I grabbed my purse and coat, and came down and called 911 (Hmm... maybe I should have called 911 first?). I went outside to wait for the Fire Dept.

A police car arrived first. One lone police officer came to calm me down (I was visibly shaking all over by then). We waited outside the house in the driveway for the fire trucks to arrive, but they sure took their time! I think they went to the wrong neighborhood. I heard the sirens going down the main street but they kept on going, then finally came back. Anyway, long story short, the fire stopped, the firefighters got a huge fan and put it at the basement door, and they set about getting the smoke out of the entire house.

Within 30 minutes, the smoke had cleared...Paul got home after it was all over (natch!) and we all went back to our lives.

Except now we have to replace our heating system. When the oil man came to check it out in a day or two, he found that our large oil tank had a small leak, so that will also need to be replaced.

And after all that, we will need to have major electrical work done to get the system to a 200 amp system from its current 100 amp system, to accommodate the future central a/c system we plan to install. But for now, the only part of this plan that we can afford is the heating and oil tank replacement. Which is over $5,000. - not cheap, and definitely not good for our financial situation.

To make matters worse, Paul is having a horrendous season lobstering, as are the other fishermen in this area, so we are struggling at present money-wise. But we'll work it out in the end.

Other than that, we are all fine and shuffling through our daily lives as usual.

Not sure a trip to England is in our near-future, though. Home maintenance comes first, trips to England come second.

Happy Independence Day, Friends.

Don't get too close to any firecrackers!

Bex

7:34 am - 04 July 2005

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