Post Tropical Storm Arthur made its way through Nova Scotia on Saturday. Here in Halifax, the power flickered a couple of times, and we lost power for maybe 45 seconds. That's it.
In the Valley, however, at my mother's actually, the power went out Saturday morning and has remained out ever since. That sucks, but not as much as the beef in her freezer thawing out would.
It the power had come on within 36 hours or so, that would have been fine. My sister went to the house on Monday morning and put blankets over the freezer to keep the cold in. But by Tuesday morning, a full 3 days into it, we knew something would have to be done. Gayle had liberated 20 pounds of hamburger from the freezer this morning but reported that much of the rest of the meat was thawing out.
I decided to take a half day off work to deal with the situation. My bosses kindly let me take a sudden half vacation day. Patricia did the same thing. We left work around 12:30 and went back to the house, there to try to free up some space in the freezers to make room for the stuff we would be bringing back. Also, a woman at my work indicated some interest in purchasing any meat that I might want to sell.
We got to my mother's around 3:30. We loaded up 3 coolers with the meat. Several pieces of meat were pretty much thawed out and would have to be cooked and consumed as soon as possible.
There were many trees down. One tree, in the back yard, split in half. If the wind had been blowing the other way, it would have smashed into the garage, exposing the contents to the elements and causing untold damage. I didn't have a chance to go downstairs to see if there had been any problems there, but the main level and the garage were both fine. Very lucky.
My biggest chore this weekend will be to set all of the clock radios in the house so that they are more-or-less synchronized. Not far behind will be to toss out the contents of the refrigerator. Everything other than the condiments will have to go. There is not much in there. Just what I consume when I am up there on weekends.
After I spoke with the neighbour about their situation I returned to the house. We loaded up the car with the coolers and drove to Dartmouth, there to sell the meat to the woman at my work.
Among the items was a piece of brisket. When I ordered the side of beef last year, I specifically requested a piece of brisket. It had remained in that freezer all these months. It was one of the pieces of meat that had thawed, so it would have to be cooked and consumed very soon. I elected to sell it. I figure that there will be many more such prime cuts of beef in my life, and I will order one of them.
On the way back to work, I got a text that the carpenter would be able to go to the house this evening and resume work on the front deck. By the time we got home he and Rhea were hard at it. When the time they called it a night at 9pm, the spindles were up on the front deck, and the little space between the two right railings was ready to hold the things like snow shovels.
They will be back on Saturday and Sunday to finish the job. I can hardly wait. Getting really excited. I must be getting old if I am getting my jollies from wood.
Very long day. Have to turn in.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
No comments:
Post a Comment