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| Thanksgiving Morning, around 0800 OAFS Photo |
Plans had been tossed about in the early days of autumn as to what The Missus Herself and Your Humble Scribe might be planning for the Thanksgiving holiday. LUSH, of course, wanted us in California. The Nuke was hoping we'd amble down to the Old Line State to spend Thanksgiving on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay.
As The Missus Herself had been in California not that long ago and was rather hoping not to make that long trip again for a while (back being in not so good shape but getting better), California was ruled out rather early on. We were sorta leaning towards Maryland, but as plans were already on the books to go there to celebrate the Birth of the Savior, I proposed New Hampshire for Thanksgiving at my Mom's house.
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| Thanksgiving Evening, around 1800 OAFS Photo |
Well ...
As The Missus Herself pointed out, there was literally no place to stay at my Mom's, her spare bedroom being given over, as it were, to my kid brother's living area, as he, The Musician, had moved in with Mom back in the spring.
He, being retired, and Mom, unable to safely be on her own any more, it seemed a good idea. And it was, is, and remains so. So, where would we stay if New Hampshire was chosen?
My other kid brother, Ye Olde Vermonter proposed a solution. As my nephew, his son, The Young Vermonter, runs a rather nice and rather underused inn in my hometown, he might see his way clear to comping us a room. In fact, he insisted.
I tried to end run that by reserving a room and planning to pay, nephew canceled that and gave us a better room. I mean, the place is virtually empty, the owner seems to be maintaining its upkeep as a tax write-off, and why not take care of us along the way?
So yeah, we had a nice place to stay for two nights (the first three pictures are from our room) and we had a lovely time with my Mom and my two brothers.
The Musician had ordered a full up Thanksgiving feast from a local grocery emporium which came pre-cooked (so all that was needed was to warm everything up, then eat). Lodgings, check. Food, check.
So how about the weather?
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| The Morning after Thanksgiving, around 0800 OAFS Photo |
We had a nice drive up on Wednesday, spent some time at Mom's after checking in to the inn, and pigged out on food which we'd brought up with us. Light fare, a charcuterie board, an ocean-load of shrimp cocktail, and some spring rolls and potstickers which The Missus Herself had prepped on Tuesday.
We pigged out and headed back to try and get some sleep after our three hours on the road. We sort of slept. Comfortable bed but first night in a strange place is always restless.
Thanksgiving dawned with a couple of inches of snow on the ground and snow still falling rather heavily. It was pretty heavy stuff and was falling fast.
Road maintenance in my hometown, where there is almost no industry and virtually no jobs to be had, has gone way downhill since my childhood. Back in my day the plows would have been out almost as soon as the white stuff began to accumulate. These days it seems they wait until it stops.
Ye Olde Vermonter swears that the town is now run by a bunch of 14-year olds with scarcely any talent at running anything, and the state of the roads on the way to Mom's on Thanksgiving was shameful.
The state had plowed their roads, just the town decided "to hell with it."
Thank the Lord for All Wheel Drive and Honda's very efficient Anti-lock Braking System. Going down the hill to the town square (a rather steep hill I must say) I pressed the brakes at the top and felt the vehicle just keep going. I could feel the brake pedal doing a jitterbug under the toe of my shoe and realized that the vehicle was "taking care of business."
We did stop when we wanted to, you just had to kind of anticipate that event. Steady pressure on the brake pedal and ABS did the rest.
It was though, a bit sporty.
We headed back to the inn before sunset to avoid driving back in an icy rut-laden nightmare. We made it back through the accumulated slush which had yet to freeze.
I heard the town out plowing at 0300 Friday morning. "'Bout time!" grumbles I before going back to sleep.
Friday morn, we checked out of the inn, stopped off at Mom's for a brief "Hello!" before heading back to the south upon roads which were nicely bare by that time (the temperature was climbing as well).
Thirty miles south of my homeland we discovered that they'd received barely a dusting in that area, I calculated six to eight in the homeland.
First snow, ill-timed, but we survived and had a nice visit. And doggone, it was pretty, if nasty to navigate.
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| The Road Behind the Inn OAFS Photo |
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| The Wood Behind the Inn OAFS Photo |
How was your Thanksgiving?
Now it's on to retirement (in three weeks!) and Christmas in Maryland.
Time, it doth fly.
I live in Columbia County, and Sauk County is just across the Wisconsin River. Both counties are pretty good about plowing, but the cities in those two counties seem to believe that it's just gonna melt in June, so why bother.
ReplyDeleteNot doubt a question of budget, perhaps money ill-spent on other things.
DeleteDepending on viewpoint, the weather was either uncomfortably cool or shorts and T-shirts. Temp was in the thirties, but the wind chill was in the teens. Vis was clear and a million though. MBD, The Rev and the two Grand kids drove over on Wednesday. Leon’ is walking with a lot of velocity. The vector part is improving also. He and the Hounds from Hell came to a pact. If he wouldn’t try to ride them, they wouldn’t get up in his face. Turkey dinner was a new one. I decided to smoke the bird on the BBQ with hickory. Highly recommend. Not much maintenance required and MAN ! did the smoke make it tasty. The low heat also kept it moist. Definitely a keeper.
ReplyDeleteThe gang RTB’d successfully yesterday evening and things are back to normal at Rancho Juvat. Hope y’All’s Thanksgiving went well also. Very thankful for the events the first week of November!
Juvat
Texas weather!
DeleteGood thing you didn't want to stop half way down that hill! I don't miss real winters... Glad your Thanksgiving went well.
ReplyDeleteIndeed!
DeleteA lot to be said for a quiet Thanksgiving Sarge once in awhile, six to eight inches is a fair amount for this time of year. Three weeks.....then every day is the weekend......... :)
ReplyDeleteQuiet is good!
DeleteClear and cold here, about 1/4" of ice on the bird bath.Which is good as we are still drying out from the drenching we got the week of the 18th - something like 14" of rain in 3 days. Might not sound like much to some of you, but that's about 1/3 of our annual rainfall.
ReplyDelete6 to 8 inches of the white stuff is, to this California Native, a lot more than a "dusting."
Sounds as if a good time was had by all.
Fourteen inches of rain in three days! Did anyone think to build an ark? That is a lot of rain!
DeleteSend some of that down here. Grass is a sad shade of brown. Not much rain lately, maybe a inch or so.
Deletejuvat
Colorado was that color this time of year when I lived there.
DeleteSarge, sounds like you had a very quiet Thanksgiving, which I have come to appreciated over the years. The driving in snow sounds...terrifying (I say that. I am reliably informed that here in New Home 2.0 there is usually one or two snow storms that last for a bit. Considering the last time I drove on snow regularly was 40 years ago, I await it with not too bated breath).
ReplyDeleteWe had a lovely overcast Thanksgiving here, which I am reliably informed is the weather (when not raining) between the end of October and April). The Ravishing Mrs. TB and my two younger daughters came out for the holiday. Other than about a 50% drop in daily temperature from New Home, I think they enjoyed themselves. We had a very quiet Thanksgiving Day of charcuterie for lunch and Salmon and twice baked potatoes for dinner with Brussel sprouts and pumpkin pie) and went to see Gladiator II (it was okay, but probably can wait to video/streaming).
And, bonus round, I still have two days of vacation before I restart work.
Copy that on the "wait for video/streaming." Advice I shall take.
DeleteWith impending retirement, do you still get the two week off as usual, or working till New Years?
ReplyDeleteI still get the time off. Which is nice.
DeleteOut here on the western frontier, mostly pleasant seasonal wx. Several inches in the mountains, but only about 2 in on me grass on Wed-Thurs, and mostly sunny but colder since.
ReplyDeleteSarge’s retirement will probably coincide with horrendous winter storms out here, but he will disclaim responsibility. He will be too busy writing, drumming and researching new old conflicts to bother with weather.
JB
There might be some truth to that. 😎
Delete