We had a snow day at the Bailey house.
Melinda stayed home from work, and our granddaughter came over to spend the day with us because her mother didn’t.
In fairness, there wasn’t all that much snow, but there was bitter cold and ice. Not as cold as other places, heck I’ve been to Rapid City in February, but bitter cold for us here in the Seattle area, where our normally damp weather is rarely extreme.
I hauled loads of firewood into the house, got the woodstove roaring, and kept feeding it, ensuring it ran fast and hot the whole day and evening long.
I fed the birds of course. I’ve read the birds need to eat twice as much food in harsh weather to survive, so I made sure that they were covered. This of course also means feeding the squirrels, for where there is birdseed…
Having grown up on a farm, figuring I would someday be a farmer, but leaving that work and life long ago; now my brothers and uncles and cousins operate our farm, but I’ve recently declared the city lot my house sits upon my Ranch, the squirrels my Livestock. In doing so, I’m simply following the old adage, ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’ because I assure you, if you have birdseed, you aren’t going to beat the squirrels.
But, that leads to the big, and perhaps often overlooked thing. Birds don’t just need food, they need water.
The way I figure it, they do have it fairly easy. They can take off from my yard, fly over the beautiful college campus grounds, and hit the creek that runs through it. Water applenty.
But the squirrels, the little creatures who have taken my yard and my trees as their home don’t have it so easy. It’s a mighty long walk from here to the creek when your legs are only half an inch long. So, my Livestock, birds and squirrels, get a nice birdbath (made by my granddaughter for a school project) continually filled with fresh water.
But alas, the thing was frozen solid, and destined to remain so for days. So, I spent part of my snow day hauling shallow pans of water from the kitchen to the front yard, ensuring that the little critters could belly up to the bar. Hopefully they got it while the getting was good, because those pans froze up pretty quick, and one can’t spend all of one’s time carrying water from the kitchen.
We did make a brief outing, to the grocery store just a small handful of blocks from our home. Melinda wanted a couple of things. Our granddaughter wanted to bake cookies, so that necessitated a couple more things, and I of course wanted to grab a bit more than we needed, just in case our little city lost power and the kids moved in with us because their house is impossible to heat without electricity while ours offers other options.
So, we wandered around grabbing those few things.
But, of course, there is so much goodness on every shelf, my granddaughter and I had to fill the entire cart! At some point, I did tell her that our impulse buying everything in sight is the reason that Melinda generally shops alone.
Our selections made, we eyeballed the checkout lines. Found the shortest one.
We were next in line when the power went out.
Now that was interesting. The second time in my life that I’ve been in a supermarket without power. I don’t much remember the first time as it was many years ago, but this one was interesting because while there was no electricity in the store, our cashier’s station continued to work. She kept right on ringing up the people in front of us, while assuring us that the emergency generator would kick on soon. Must be some kind of battery backup system to those checkstands nowadays.
They did close the store the moment power was lost. With someone standing in the doorway, turning potential shoppers away. After a couple minutes, the generators did kick on. But only to power a bit of the store. Lights just over the checkout stands, and I presume the refrigeration units. The rest of the store remained dark.
It became our turn, and the checker let us know that she only had about ten minutes to get everyone checked out. I guess, but didn’t ask, that is all the time the battery backup system was good for.
So, we made it out. Wondering if we would have power at our house. We did, but barely. The outage was a single block away.
I was supposed to be standing in the East, for a Lodge meeting on Saturday afternoon. I canceled it the evening before, using the only provision in the Washington Masonic Code that allows for the cancelation of a Stated Meeting. Inclimate Weather. Good thing I did, for the Masonic Temple lost power while we would have been meeting. How’s that for a bit of prophecy? Call me Nostradamus!
It’s cold and white outside. We watch the birds, Goldfinches to Doves, munching away, the squirrels too. But we see the cold more than feel it, for our fire roars in the hearth.
Family, together, nothing at all pressing, for Western Washington traditionally paralyzes itself with mass panic at the sight of a single snowflake.
Taking a snow day. Being together. Laughing and Loving.
Is that not what we live for? Is it not the experience that gives life meaning?
The Hat
I recognize that this post has just about nothing at all to do with Freemasonry, and that you are here because you want to read about Masonry, so I’ll finish with a story…
Once upon a time (2022), in a land far away (Wisconsin), I bought a hat. Now admittedly, it was the world’s most butt ugly hat. An ‘Elmer Fudd’ hat, with earflaps and all!
But, it had the Square & Compasses embroidered on it, and it was being sold by the Brothers of Wisconsin, so how could I resist!
Our Grand Secretary, sadistic tyrant that he is, had made us dinner reservations blocks and blocks, miles and miles from our hotel. With an eye towards walking.
So I confidently placed my new butt ugly hat on my head.
My junior officers, those mean ol’ jerks, they all had a good laugh at my expense. I rightly should have expelled them all from the Craft, but I was a benevolent Grand Master and let their mockery pass.
We leave the hotel, we walk across the frozen, dystopian hellscape that is Milwaukee in February during a cold snap. For what must have been miles. Following our Grand Secretary as he lead us on this march of frozen death.
Somehow, by some miracle, we all survived.
Another day passed.
It was once again time to follow our Grand Secretary through the frozen waste to whatever restaurant he had selected on this night.
We met in the lobby.
I couldn’t help but notice that those who had laughed at their wise and benevolent Grand Master the night before were now in hats to match his, earflaps and all!
I’m reminded of this little true story, for when this Snow Day began, said butt ugly hat came out of the closet once again.
I will attest to the fact that you were indeed a benevolent Grand Master
Dorothy puts out birdseed in our squirrel proof feeders for the birds, squirrel food in squirrel feeders for the squirrels (and crows) so they stay away from the squirrel proof bird feeders, and a hummingbird feeder under a brooding lamp to prevent freezing. It’s like a Disney movie here in Ballard.