A wreath and a storm

Sunday, 3:31 pm

By Kate

Dec

09

2007

I went out in search of a large wreath, yesterday, to hang in the center of the second storey, out front. It had to be a large wreath and I did find one at Tendercrop Farm. That’s a place on the outside of town (wayyyy on the other side of town). If it wasn’t so far, I’d probably go there more often because they do have beautiful produce and raise their own meat and even have a small buffalo herd. All organically grown and no growth hormones or antibiotics in the meat. The funny thing about this place is that I can never remember the name of it. Even after 15 years, I still draw a blank just about every time Tendercrop comes up in conversation. And then the name comes to me in the middle of the night or in the middle of doing dishes...things like that. It’s like a persistent effort, on my brain’s part, to excise the place from my memory. Kind of makes me wonder why.

Anyway. I found a lush pine wreath...and the sign under one huge pile said 24” wreaths. I think that is the diameter of the center. The entire wreath is about 36” from edge to edge. It’s just the right size and it didn’t cost a fortune, either. Now the problem is getting on the porch roof to hang it.

When I came home, I stood sizing up the roof situation and decided I might want to wait for the ice to melt up there. I have visions of me losing my footing and sliding right over the edge of the roof. It’s slick with ice up there and it wouldn’t take much for me to go flying. And there’s not enough snow on the ground to make a soft landing. I figured I’d give it a couple of days since the weather has warmed up above freezing. This morning I heard water running down the gutter drain spout at a pretty brisk clip.

Then my neighbor called again and said, “Have you heard about the storm coming?”

“What storm?” I asked. Again.

Looks as if we’re having a repeat of last weekend and I hadn’t heard about this storm, either. Only, this time—more ice, sleet, and freezing rain than snow. There is enough ice in the forecast that we’re threatened with relatively thick glazing and power outages. Oh wonderful. At this rate, the new wreath will still be in the trunk of my car on Christmas Eve.

I plan to be prepared for tomorrow morning, though. I’m hauling wood in the house and cleaning the stove and the ash bin out this evening rather than in the morning. And, of course, the washer works, so I won’t have drippy laundry hanging in the shower.

I also have the darnedest urge to run to the grocery store to get bread and milk, too. It’s embedded in the genes, I swear.

Now, if I could figure out a safe way to hang the wreath, everything would be just about perfect, ice and power outages notwithstanding.