Adventure on the Home Front

Who says staying home can't be an adventure? Forewarned by predictions of snow and ice, we weren't surprised to wake up at 4 a.m. on Monday morning to a loss of power. We WERE surprised, to say the least, a few minutes later, when we heard some loud cracks and then a HUGE crack followed by an even huger "THUD!" right outside our window. Upon investigation, we found that half of a giant oak had fallen under the weight of the ice, landing across our front yard, and taking a very small bit of the roof/eave with it. Boy, we were lucky! It seems like it could just as well have fallen into the house, although we do a pretty good inspection job every year to see that there aren't dead branches destined for such a fate.

When we learned later Monday morning that we wouldn't have power until Tuesday night, we spent a few minutes bemoaning the fact that our fabulous generator, installed in preparation for Y2K, hadn't been running for a number of years. Then we did the wise thing and called for a hotel room in town! Not to worry, we figured, we would call and get someone to come out and fix our generator. After a great try of several hours in the cold and snow, the technician declared that the machine was a goner! Later in the day, after calling every possible store in the area, we realized that there was nary a non-electric heater in sight that might help us keep pipes from freezing. So, we went back home to keep the fireplace going overnight.

We've always said that we could make a party out of most any situation, and we proved it to ourselves once again last night! We picked up a pizza, stoked the fire, snuggled up under every quilt in the house on mattresses in front of the fire, and watched a movie on Dave's new Mac. Somewhere in the middle of the movie we got a call from the generator folks, saying that they could install a new one at 8:30 in the morning! We set the alarm to feed the fire once every hour or so and made it through the night!

The technicians arrived right on time, installed the new generator and fired it up! It ran for all of 5 minutes, when our power came back on! So, now we have power from our electric coop, back up from the generator, and glorious, glorious sunshine. The whole place looks like a fairy tale today, with the sun on the trees and the lake. We are truly blessed today and always.

However, we are also feeling so very deeply saddened today by the news from Christchurch in New Zealand. If you haven't been following the news, an earthquake right in the middle of this beautiful and historic city has taken the lives of at least 65 people, and dozens are still missing in the rubble. New Zealand is the next stop on our sabbatical tour, as well as a magical place where we have spent many wonderful months, and the home of many dear friends. It is simply unimaginable to think about experiencing such a tragedy and it happens so often to so many people around the world.

We're still planning on New Zealand, followed by Australia and South Africa, and then (we think) on to Cambodia (where we have an old friend and brilliant development practitioner/consultant), and then India. We are blessed every day by the connections friends and family and colleagues are helping us make as we explore Dave's interests in "management and leadership practices around the world with the potential for transforming our workplaces, communities and societies." Ideas about who we should visit and interview? Send them along, PLEASE!

One final note: a great big "thank you" to Dave and Bailey for assembling my Costa Rica "peace chair" that now sits happily in our living room!