Hurricanes, generators, mice, and a sweet new year

Snows In Orleans was the only purveyor of propane who was interested in our problem and prompt to respond to our loss of propane for our generator in the heart of hurricane system. They came, looked it all over and came up with a solution. Woody had to dig a long deep trench from the generator to the place behind our little greenhouse where the tanks could be installed and the hose on their truck could reach from the head of our driveway to the tanks. Anyhow woody dug the trench, they installed the tanks. The obstacle was getting the plumbing inspector who is also the gas inspector here so things could be turned on. He doesn't live in Wellfleet and is only reachable from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.Woody went to his office when it opened on Tuesday and gave him a sob story about me and our situation. He insisted that Snows had to call him before he would inspect. Well, Snows called him at once and he finally came over for perhaps a minute. After the okay, Snows came the same day and finished the installation. I called Fugate, who service our generator, and they examined the connections and said it was fine. So we now finally have a working generator again.Wednesday we went ahead with our annual Rosh Hashonah dinner with friends. We had everyone call in between 3 and 4 to make sure we had power. We lost it four times this summer. Our sector of Wellfleet has been losing power every time there’s a palpable wind or a sprinkle, thanks to wonderful service by Eversource. Every time what was long ago a local utility gets bought by a huge corporation farther and farther away, the service sucks more and more. For our Rosh Hashonah celegration, I have a short program that is mostly poetry I’ve written and tinker with.Then Melenie arrived Friday and that evening we also had Peter Manso and his wife Anna over. Melenie spent the night and as I write this is still sleeping downstairs. Yesterday the wind was very strong but today it’s gone back to sleep. It’s been grey all week and until today, either raining or drizzling. We can’t complain if Jose, hanging around causing our gloom, can steer Maria away from us. Jose was not bad here at all. Maria could be really bad. We went through Hurricane Bob, a cat 2, and remember the roads blocked, power out for a week and even more for some Wellfleetians, trees down, roofs damaged, a friend dead.Tonight Jay, Melenie’s spouse, is coming and will be here for supper. I have to make my new year’s vows and do tashlich. it was too windy until today. We’ll see when we do it. Tashlich is a custom where you go to a stream or river and cast bits of bread that are your ‘sins’ – the parts of yourself you truly want to change. I have to do the meditation perhaps tomorrow about my true intentions. What I can really hope to change. I have some strong ideas about that.Every year I swear to be more patient, and every year I fail. But at least I’ll keep trying.Last night I woke at 4:30. Xena was calling me. I had to pee anyhow so I got up and went to the bathroom. Xena came running in with a mouse in her mouth and climbed into the bathtub with it. it’s a confined space for the mouse where she planned to kill and eat it But Schwartzie had followed her. As soon as she put the mouse down, he pounced, grabbed it and ran off, followed by a very angry Xena. I was too exhausted to follow them so I don’t know what happened. But no dead mouse this morning – evidence Xena [who had lived on the street whereas Schwartzie was born in a great shelter] got it back. Then this morning early, Willow caught another mouse and killed it in the kitchen and Schwartzie tried unsuccessfully to get it from her. The girls do all the work and he watches and tries to take their prizes away. The second mouse was smaller than the first, so I know it wasn’t the same.We live in the woods. I am not squeamish about the cats killing mice as years ago when I had two elderly cats, we had mice in the cabinets, in the walls, in our food. There’s nothing like sitting down to our breakfast ereal and finding it laden with mouse turds.