Can Mother Nature sign my Absence Slip?

For anyone who has viewed my blog the past six days only to discover I have not added a new post since last Wednesday, there is a reason and I do have a good excuse.  Friends and family who live nearby will know exactly what caused the delay, as they too were dealing with the same issue…the force of nature called Mother Nature. 

We were all tickled to see the first bits of snow when it finally decided to stick.  The words “No School” due to snow always bring on happy faces in my house.  We were then impressed when we received first six inches of snow and then another ten inches the following day.  I don’t recall having to use a measuring tape before but last week it was necessary in order to record an unbelievable 16 inches of snow.  In this neck of the woods, getting more than a foot is a rare treat, or trick, depending on your point of view.

That was the fun part.

I’ve honestly never heard anything like it. 

This all would have been bad enough but Mother Nature had not completed her alterations to the tree line or the hillsides.  Next for our viewing pleasure was a slight thaw.

All of this, in a word, was amazing, sometimes frightening, but most certainly, it was a nuisance.  The storm itself was not so much a nuisance as was the after effects.  The roads were a mess or impassable, power lines and trees were everywhere, and power was out for days and days and days (five and a half days for us).  Offices and businesses had to close, schools were closed, phones and computers were down. 

And that, my friends, is the rub.  It is ironic that at the end of my last post I commented on how thankful I was to have access to current technology, as the very thought of writing, editing and rewriting a book on a manual typewriter is just too much to even contemplate.  Since Mother Nature decided to throw one of her winter tantrums at us, it left me wishing I had some other way to work, where I did not have to function only with items containing wires.  I might have been able to accomplish much more these past six days if I did not rely so heavily on modern technology. 

That said, the power is finally back on, my office is nice and toasty and the computer is warmed up and ready to exert itself at my command.  Rather than continue to focus with regret on what I was not able to accomplish these past six days, I will now take pleasure in the technological wonders available to me because they are what make life and work more manageable.  I won’t deny I very much enjoy the fact that I can now continue with my writing, in the new-fashion way.