Happiest of New Years

To all of you.

And here snow and more snow and now it's blowing a moderate gale. I shoveled this morning. I shovel this afternoon while 'A' got herself ready for work. At 2:30 the three of us headed out to take her. Our road was miserable, of course. We got to Main Street and although conditions were not spectacular, they were acceptable enough to make the trip to Stop & Shop. Since the storm would be over (at least the snow part of it) by early evening, picking 'A' up from work at 8 p.m. would be an okay trip.

Back to the trip out...we made it exactly one half block on Main Street and we came to a stop behind a line of vehicles. There were blue flashing lights ahead and some kind of large semi-stationary object in the middle of the road. Oh yeah, the 'horn' had gone off a short while back. Rockport has a horn system for emergencies (ambulance, volunteer fire, school closings, accidents, etc.). I had heard the ambulance horn (3 blasts) and the traffic emergency (1, 4 or 4,1 I can't remember right now). So with only a few options, those being sit there waiting for whatever to get cleared up, turn around and go the long way with many hills and curves, or turn on to Dodd's Lane and go home, we opted for home. 'A' called work and told them sorry, but we can't get there, there seemed to be a major accident.

Before it went dark, I went out and shoveled again. Tomorrow I'll have to re-shovel the back walk and cellar bulkhead and the deck. Then we'll head to our friend's house, the friend vacationing in the Barbados (how unfair this is becoming) and shovel his place out. I'll probably have to do some clean-up shoveling of our two drives because the darn wind has changed direction and everything is drifting back in - only the opposite way.

Now, tonight is Rockport's New Year's Eve celebration. Lots of music and whatnot at over a dozen locations in town, including one venue that is in a tent in the town parking lot. HAH. It's blowing a gale outside and temperatures are dropping. Quickly. Should be around 9°F by midnight with a windchill of -7°F or below. Needless to say. Well, it's needless but here goes.

I won't be there.

This is the first time I haven't attended in 7 New Years. Oh well, it's really not much fun when you have to freeze alone amid hundreds of people, ya know. So I'll cozy up with my latest reading, maybe until midnight if I can stay awake. I listen to the wind howl from the warmth of my bed.

May you all have a wonderful, peaceful, and prosperous 2009.

(picture is of our garden shed - hibernating!)