A little too rural

We lost power last Thursday, just before midnight. New England was hit with an epic ice storm, and we were right in the middle of it. Our area made national news. Or so I heard. We didn't get news for five days because there was no television, no Internet, no radio, and not even the newspaper was delivered. We hauled water from the brook so we could flush our toilets and wash dishes. We cut down trees to get wood to burn in our fireplace. It was as if we'd been plopped back in time to the Middle Ages. Every action had to be thought out so that we conserved heat, matches, water, food. Our living room became the central hall of our medieval fortress, where wood smoke continually drifted through the air. Pillows, blankets, candles, flashlights, batteries, bottled water, and the dog were all piled into what is normally an ample space. We wore hats to bed. Each day I'd wake up and take a look at the thermometer inside the house. The first day I woke up to a living room at 56F. The second day it was 50F. The third morning it was at 42F. On Monday with still no sign of the power crews in our area, the girls had to get a hotel room so they could get their homework done. When I visited them that night, the parking lot of the hotel was crowded with the bucket trucks of tree service crews. Burly men in Carhartts and toting six packs of beer waited in line to get rooms. The next day we cleared out the freezers and put all the thawed food out onto the deck. Later in the afternoon I looked out the window and saw four CVPS guys across the street drop a hemlock into our neighbor's lawn. A few minutes later our power came back on. The crew chief drove up to our house to make sure "those electrons made it over here". He'd been putting in 16 hour days and looked pretty weary. I thanked him for all the hard work, and he left to tackle the next project. Now it was time to clean up.

Is it something the cat threw up?

No, it's turducken! Learn how to make it here. Yum?

Breaking News - Broad Brook Grange installs new water line

As I write this a work crew is at the Broad Brook Grange installing a new water line. I was there earlier this morning clearing trees and brush with my chain saw while others used tractors, backhoes, and a Ditch Witch to dig a 1,100 ft. trench for the line. The source of the water is a spring and cistern at the top of a steep hill across Guilford Center Rd. Water is no longer flowing through the existing line, and it's virtually impossible to figure out where the break or blockage could be. So a brand new line must be installed. The weather today is not too nice, pretty damp and rainy. But the crew is determined to at least get the ditch out to the foot of the hill by the end of the day. I took a few snaps.

Classmates.com phone number is 425-917-5000

At least according to the Better Business Bureau, which this article sites. I figured if I put it into the headline, Google will index it and all those customers looking for a phone number just might find it. Apparently, Classmates.com has not been a very consumer-friendly service and there are many complaints against them. The lack of a listed phone number anywhere on their site seems to validate their deceptive practices. Anyway...hope this helps someone.

Gay marriage bans

With the historic election of Barack Obama dominating the news, it seems another story has been overshadowed. Bans on gay marriage have passed in California, Arizona, and Florida. It's a bit of a paradox, where voters overcame racial intolerance nationally, but at the state level discriminated against a group of people who happen to be in a same sex relationship. Religious organizations (primarily evangelicals and the Mormon church) had been instrumental in getting measures against gay marriage on ballots. And it seems a majority of people in this country oppose gay marriage

For me it's difficult to comprehend the problem: two people of the same sex simply wish to enjoy the same rights as heterosexual couples who commit to each other. I understand that there is a sacred aspect to marriage, and to some people whatever is sacred must not be tampered with. But in this case there must be a separation between what one happens to believe religiously or morally and how the state administers to its citizens.

Unfortunately, marriage has a foot in both religious and state affairs, and that's partially where the problem lies. Some might argue that the issue is semantic: many of those who oppose gay marriage do support "civil unions". But a civil union is not recognized across state lines and does not offer the the complete set of rights and acknowledgement that marriage does to a heterosexual couple.

The issue, I fear, is more than semantic. Witness the passage of a ban in Arkansas this past week where both gay and heterosexual couples who are not married have been denied the right to adopt children. From the article in the Times:

"We believe that the best place for a child to grow up is in a stable home with a married mother and father," said Jerry Cox, president of Family Council Action Committee, which obtained 95,000 signatures to place the proposal on state ballots. "But we also believe in blunting a gay agenda that we see at work in other states with regard to marriage and adoption issues."

This is blatant discrimination. If you replace the word "gay" with the word "black" in the last sentence, people would be up in arms. Even worse, this particular ban shortchanges children who need foster care or adoption.

Yes, attitudes in this country have changed much for the better. But they must change even more to afford all people equal treatment.