Fire Fighting

 It seems as if we have been fighting fires this entire year:  Covid-19, quarantining, finding toilet paper, adjusting to unusual cold and hot spells.  This is certainly a memorable year, made more so by an incident that happened at the cabin.

On August 20, while Don was outside the cabin talking with a neighbor, I took Jordy and Nelson out onto the flagstone deck.  I looked up across the hill, and amazingly, I saw a large puff of smoke emanating from the ground.  I knew immediately it was a fire.  I yelled at Don to look at it, and we immediately began to scramble.

I raced inside and first tried calling Huie - but I only got his voicemail.  Then Chris - same result.  No one answered at the fire department, nor at the Ranger Station. I was very frustrated, but then I saw Chris go racing down the driveway in his truck.  He had been at the neighbor's house, and when he heard there was a fire, he jumped into action.

In the meantime, Don began to collect a rake, a hoe, and a shovel . . . and then he filled two water bottles.  We raced to the car and drove up to the Noel's compound.  After figuring out where Chris was, Don and I hiked as fast as we could (we're old, you know), found Chris, and immediately took instruction from him on how to "cut line."  He had surrounded quite a bit of the fire before we got there, but there were still flaming logs and plenty more to do.  Within about 30 minutes, the fire was completely contained, though it was still puffing quite a bit.  We took a drink of water, poured the rest on the fire, and left.

Once we were home, I called the Forest Service in Santa Fe, and they sent a crew out to mop up.  They had water bladders that they poured on the remains, and soon it was completely out.

Grateful.  That is the best way to define my feelings.  Grateful that I had to take Jordy outside and was able to see the fire.  Grateful that Chris was in the area so that he could get right on the fire.  Grateful that Don and I were in good enough shape that we could help.  Grateful that we saw the fire at its very beginnings - it could have been VERY bad, but instead, it was easily contained and a non-issue.

TIMBER!!!!

 July 31, 2020.  A day that shall live in our minds forever - not exactly momentous for many, but for us - well, interesting.

A storm blew in as I was cooking dinner.  The lights blinked, and I looked outside to see the electric wires convulsing in the wind.  The lights went out . . . and then I saw the power line laying on the ground 3 feet from the wall.  My first thought was that it was live, but some further inspection showed that the fuse in the transformer across the river had blown, and the line was dead.

As I was trying to call the Mora Coop (which was not possible with our rotary phone), Don determined what the problem was.  The very large tree at the propane tank had died, and I had mentioned to Don that it looked like it was leaning.  Indeed it was, and the big gust of wind had snapped it off about twenty feet up, crashing it on the road below us.  This was the second time a tree has fallen over the road right before we were preparing to leave.

In this case, we got very lucky.  Some people were going to be staying at the cabin above us, and they arrived about 5 minutes after the tree had fallen.  Yikes!  Don grabbed his reticulating saw, and with the help of the people who were to go up the hill, they had cleared the slash off the trunk and cars could pass up and down again.

It took about two hours for the linemen to arrive - they had driven from Mora to help us.  They arrived nearly at dark, but they had us hooked up in no time.  We were very grateful they were able to get to us so quickly.

We decided to leave the trunk where it is, as it will prevent people from parking there and camping.  And we are mourning the loss of our beautiful tree.

A Pandemic Reception a la Zoom

When we arrived back at the condo, I could not stand the thought that we were done.  A cake was awaiting us (red velvet with cream cheese frosting, no less), but we had to do something special.  So enter Zoom again!  We dialed up the siblings, and it was once again, a Zoom extravaganza!

First, on the grass outside, we announced Mr. and Dr. Stucky, then we had some confetti to shoot at them, and then Daniel had to carry Di across the threshold.  He seemed a little perplexed by that, but hey - why not?  I think the video is too long to post here . . . too bad, because it was really fun!

Then they opened some champagne glasses, Daniel miraculously opened the champagne without any sort of bubbly explosion, they cut the cake, and then they gave each other a piece.  We all agreed that smashing the cake in each other's faces is not a good look . . . so they were very sweet in how they gave each other their cake!

Tia and James joined us for cake and champagne, and then it was over.  It certainly was not the big event most young people have at their wedding, but we all toasted - and roasted - and had a nice time.  Unfortunately, all things must come to an end, and everyone left, leaving us to our reception dinner of ribs.  We were supposed to have corn, also, but oh yes . . . it was in Wichita in the refrigerator.

Despite a few missteps, we had a wonderful day, and Di and Daniel are happily married.  They went back to their hotel, and they confessed that they were exhausted!  That means a good time was had by all!

Pure Joy

Di is a dancer, and she was really looking forward to dancing at the reception.  Well, that was not to be, but she found her own way to celebrate - at least for a minute or two.

A little after the wedding, she and Daniel were standing in the grass when she started to twirl her dress.

The spontaneity and joy they expressed was a pleasure to behold!

The Mini-mony

Plans change, and our ceremony plans changed, too.  The initial plans were for Aubrey Ramsey to be the Maid-of-Honor, and Tia Butler and Liz Hollingsworth were to be the bridesmaids; Rick Hasner was to be the Best Man, and Andrew Kinkler was to be a groomsman.  Because Aubrey, Liz, and Andrew would have had to fly to be in attendance, the two attendants who were closest to Austin were Tia and Rick . . . so they were the two involved in the ceremony.

We were to have about 125 people in the peanut gallery . . . instead there were 6 of us!  And we were socially distanced and masked.

But that was ok . . . When it was time, Father Billy, Andrew, and Rick walked to the front of the wedding area, and it was time for Di and Don to make their entrance.  And we waited and waited . . . and I turned around to see Don taking a selfie before he started walking Di down the aisle.

Di was radiant as she walked down the aisle.  and even sans music, it was thrilling to watch her and her dad.  I thought he might cry, but he didn't - perhaps only having a short way to walk and no music made it possible for us to keep things together!

Father Billy's casual style worked really well in the atmosphere where we were.  It was quite hot, so he wasted no time with idle chatter.  The service from the Episcopal New Zealand Prayer Book was very pretty, and I especially liked that rather than "Who gives this woman . . . " the parents were asked to bless the couple.  It included both Daniel's parents and us - and I loved that.

The good news is Rick did not lose the rings, and within about 20 minutes, Di and Daniel were pronounced man and wife.  They walked down the aisle to applause from the 6 of us . . . and it was over.

A few fun points:

Rick did not know Daniel had forgotten his suit, but if the suit had not arrived, Rick had brought a second suit, just in case.  Daniel and Rick are the same size, and the suits they wore were the same ones they wore for Rick's wedding 18 months ago . . . so it would have worked.  Isn't that a great best man?

We zoomed the event for a number of people, but Don and I did not know how to keep the picture large, so those in "attendance" could not really see everything!  But they were there, and they even were asked to chime in a "We will" during the ceremony.

After the ceremony, we toasted the couple with some champagne provided by Aubrey, and then we headed back to the condo.  Not exactly what we had planned, but Di said it was perfect, which is really what counts!!

The Big Day - the Pandemic Way!

The first big news of the day was that Daniel's suit arrived by 9:30 a.m.  Don and I hung it in the bathroom, turned on the shower, and let it steam out.  It was as good as new by the time the wedding arrived.

We drove to the hotel to pick up Daniel, and I stayed at the hotel to be with Diana.  I was impressed with the provisions the hotel had made to keep the guests safe - only one person or family in the elevator, no one hanging around the lobby and we met no one in the halls.  I would say it was as safe as possible for us!

At the hotel, Di put on her make-up, we did her hair (not my strength, but she talked me through it!), I gave her a very soft and cute pajama short set, and by noon, Don was there to take us to pick up the dress and go to Barr Mansion.

I had no idea how we were going to get the dress to the Mansion, but the people at the dress shop certainly knew.  Within a few minutes, we had the dress wrapped in a sheet, and since we had the Jeep, it was easy to fold the back seat down to fit the dress.  Then we carried it into the Mansion (though it looked like we were carrying a dead body!).

The Barr Mansion staff made us feel very comfortable in the room, and after we had talked to Father Billy, arranged Diana's flowers in her hair, distributed the boutonnieres and discussed the social distancing, Di was ready to get dressed!

Di put my Kappa Key and my Mom's Kappa Key on the bouquet - something old and blue!  Unfortunately, her key was somewhere in the boxes in her bedroom, not to be found in time for the wedding!

The necklace was my grandmother's, and I wore it when I was married, too.  Something old - and borrowed!

To go with the copper theme of Di's birkenstocks, the boutonniere was wrapped with copper wire.

One rather humorous picture was taken by Don.  He looked outside and saw a person exterminating yellow jackets from the lanterns that were hanging overhead.  He took the picture and sent it to many friends, mentioning that Bill Murray had just shown up to take care of the preparations - a flashback to the movie Caddyshack.  That got quite the reaction from many men!!

And then it was time!

A Zoom Rehearsal Dinner

Once we arrived in Austin, we quickly unloaded and then began thinking about dinner.  Since we did not stop on the way down, except for gas and bathroom breaks (and a Starbucks), we were quite hungry.  We had planned to eat spaghetti, but we forgot the pressure cooker and Di had not left any cookware in the condo, so Daniel went to pick up a pizza from their favorite pizza place.

Unbeknownst to them, I had arranged with Daniel's parents, Kenneth and Melinda, and Daniel's sisters to have a Zoom rehearsal dinner.  The wedding couple was surprised to see their relatives online, and although it would have been better in person, this worked amazingly well.

Becky started out with a very moving toast to Di and Daniel, and we had the appropriate champagne with which to toast.  As we made our way through the group, each person added their well wishes, complete with laughs and tears, which made the impromptu rehearsal dinner a little more real.  Never mind that we were all in our traveling clothes and a bit weary!!!

Afterwards, it was time to get ready for the big day ahead . . . which included meeting with the new condo property manager, awaiting FedEx for the delivery of Daniel's forgotten suit, and the arrival of Daniel's parents, not to mention the wedding.