Jiggity Jig

Another eight hour road trip, and 

we
are
home
again.

We had planned to leave around 10:30, but in the final stages of loading the car the rear hatch stopped opening, offering only three short beeps when I squeezed the button, and finally just silence. It occurred to me then that it might be the battery, and sure enough when I punched the ignition, nothing happened. The automatic locks wouldn't even work when I tried to secure everything before dashing into the house to breathlessly report the misfortune.

We had been using our car for the whole time we were in Buffalo, mostly because it was already out of the garage and in the driveway, and it has all wheel drive and enough seating for the five of us. It's an unfamiliar vehicle to Heidi's folks, though, and we used the dome lights more than we ever do, plus the doors have a soft close that makes it easy to overlook an open or ajar door. I'm not pointing any fingers, but it was definitely user error that killed our battery.

So there we were, stranded, except that Heidi's dad has one of those plug-in chargers that are supposed to be able to jumpstart a dead battery. We eagerly rummaged through the garage to find the gadget, only to discover that it was pouring rain when we opened the door. The weather app predicted the precipitation would last half an hour, so we occupied ourselves with extension cords and the like, and miraculously when we were ready, the rain stopped. 

The directions said to charge the battery for three minutes before trying to start the car, and we did just that, but there was literally no reaction when I hit the ignition. Undaunted, we charged for five more minutes, but there was no more than a bit of clicking. We tried once more, and then left it plugged in and went inside to call AAA, who promised to be there in two hours.

At that point, I made us some grilled sandwiches, and kept trying the car every ten minutes or so. It seemed like a lot more lights were coming on every time, and about 15 minutes later? The car roared to life! 

Here's what didn't happen. The rear hatch never opened again. Those three plaintive beeps were all we ever got. Fortunately, we were able to load the rest of our stuff from the back seat. In fact, folding the rear seat down and pushing things back turned out to be a handy strategy that I will definitely use in the future. That rear gate complained all the way home though-- beeping constantly for one minute any time we started from a full stop.

The car's manual says there's a fix, but that's a project for tomorrow

It Would Be So Nice

In a bit of a reversal of my usual 100 day challenge, where I try to cultivate a new habit or awareness by doing something very day from March 1 to June 8, this year I'm 99% sold on trying not to do something for each month of 2023. In an effort to phrase the effort more positively, I'm calling each challenge a "holiday" from whatever it is I'm trying to avoid doing that month.

So far I have a list of options and a plan for January, which is to hop on the "Dry January" bandwagon. After that, I need to strategically schedule each of my holidays. 

Here's my tentative list for the other eleven months, in no particular order:

Shopping holiday 
Amazon holiday 
Added sugar holiday
Single-use plastic holiday
Cussing holiday
Meat and fish holiday
Gluten holiday
Google holiday
Social media holiday
Clutter holiday
Restaurant holiday

Do you dare me?

Walking on Snow

The the trees were dripping when I got up this morning. Because of the wind, the snow had drifted unevenly, and there was even grass peeking through here and there. I knew my window of opportunity was perhaps literally melting away, and so I laced up my boots and strapped on my snowshoes. My first foray was to simply tramp through the backyard, but when that went well, Heidi and I walked with the dogs down to the elementary school. There the back field was a pristine snowscape, and I got my fill of walking over the top of the 18 inch pack. My cheeks were rosy and I was warm when my watch dinged to tell me that my exercise ring was closed. Heidi and the dogs were a bit chilly, though, so I stepped out of the bindings, threaded the snowshoes onto the poles, and slung them over my shoulder, determined to find a way to do this more often.

(Step one will definitely have to be to get Heidi a pair of her own!)

Christmastime

We pulled into Heidi's parents' driveway just before five this evening. Despite all the weather-related drama that had occupied our last few days, the trip was uneventful. 

We picked her brother up from the train station at 9:30, crammed his stuff in the back of the Subaru and set off around the beltway, up 295, around 695, up 83, and then along the Susquehanna River through Pennsylvania. There was little more than a dusting of snow until we turned west from the 390 in New York. Then we began to see some drifts of a foot or more, but the roads remained clear and dry. 

In Batavia, with an hour to go, tiny flakes began to dampen the windshield, and by the time we hit the Thruway, it was snowing, but there was no accumulation. Arriving in Buffalo, the city streets were a bit slushy, and the neighborhood streets were still packed powder. The Subaru slid just a little, but the traction of the AWD made it kind of fun.

The three of us stamped the driveway snow off our boots and tramped into the house with Lucy in tow. It didn't matter at all that the calendar read December 27. For us? It was Christmas.

5 Days Left

Since we aren't driving to Buffalo until tomorrow (cross your fingers and toes), I took some time today to review my 22 for 2022 list and start working on my 23 for 2023. 

This is the first year I have tried the ritual, and I give myself a load of grace, both because it's a new experience AND because doing anything on such a list seems better to me than not making one at all. My near final tally? Is 8. I celebrated my birthday in a beautiful place with my family, threw a dinner party, solved my aunt's DNA mystery, grew Hatch chilis in my garden, read 24 books, reinstated our Oscar weekend, spent Thanksgiving at the beach, and saw my dear friend Pauly for the first time in too many years.

"What are some things you didn't get to?" my sister-in-law asked this afternoon.

"I didn't clean out the attic," I sighed, "or take a class. I also didn't go away for a spa week or weekend, but I put that back on my list for 2023. And I wanted to travel internationally, but that didn't happen; although there is a chance we might go to Canada if we ever get to Buffalo."

"Does that even count?" asked my nephew's wife. She lives in Iceland.

"Kind of?" I shrugged. "Oh, and I also wanted to go cross country skiing or snowshoeing."

"It's definitely not too late for that," noted my sister-in-law, and I realized how right she was.

As soon as we got home, I climbed to the attic and fetched my snowshoes, feeling ever more prepared for our trip north.

The Blizzard

Our original plan for Act II of this upside down inside out Yule was to rise at 4:30 as usual on Christmas morning and, instead of flying to Atlanta from Buffalo, hit the road for Buffalo from home. Such an itinerary would place us at Heidi's folks right around lunchtime, and close to her brother's scheduled arrival from, wait for it, Atlanta. 

But the great Christmas Blizzard of '22 had other plans for all of us, and even now, 2 days on into the historic storm, Heidi's parents have 3 feet of snow in their driveway, their street hasn't been touched by a plow, the NY State Thruway is closed from Rochester to the PA line, there is a travel ban for all but emergency vehicles in Erie County, and the airport is closed at least until Tuesday noon. At present the death toll stands at 12, but officials are expecting it to rise as the storm subsides and they find the many missing cars and people.

As late as yesterday evening, we still planned to drive as far north as we could get today and spend a night, if necessary, in a hotel an hour or so away, but that plan was iced, literally and figuratively, by the possibility that it could be a few days, not hours, until we could actually get to their house. Heidi's brother's flight has been canceled and rebooked twice, and now the earliest he can fly in is the 29th. Heidi's mom's reaction to the news was right on point. "Boy oh boy. What a revolting development," she texted while taking a break from the snow blower.

Even now, we're not quite sure the best course of action, although we are ever hopeful that tomorrow will offer some clarity. Rumor has it the travel ban will be lifted at 7 am tomorrow, but who knows how long after that it will be until the neighborhood is passable?

There's also a chance that Heidi's brother can make it here in time for the three of us to venture north together. I'm on board for that! Surely we can make it there before the 29th.

And Don't Forget to Hang Up Your Sock

Our upside-down Christmas did a few more somersaults today. At 3:30, we gathered at Bill and Emily's to open gifts and do stockings before heading out to dinner. Our stockings are in Atlanta, though, and so we all designed and decorated a plain white gift bag to stand in for the handcrafted stockings my mom made years ago.

The results were phenomenal!

(More on the blizzard in Buffalo tomorrow...)