Sometimes the best laid plans - we had a little storm in Maine

2 years ago

Somewhere between 2-6 inches of rain and 40-60 mph heavy wind gusts. Wide spread flooding and outages. Trees down everywhere. Bridges closed all over. Several friends had trees land on or near their homes. Or had their homes flooded. My SBIL had his car totaled by a piece of the school roof when picking up his son.

I have been inconvenienced and cranky but very lucky. My powers has been off for 4 days - just back on in the last hour. I have wood heat. I can cook outside but not in without electricity. No running water.

So my plans for baking gifts were set way back. Tonight I will clean my kitchen and try to winnow down my plans. And start tomorrow. I had planned to make about 6-8 kinds of cookies, Cointreau chocolate truffles, candied citrus slices…. I also usually make focaccia. I have two main family gatherings I attend - one on Christmas eve and the other on Christmas day. Plus a few small gatherings with friends.

I am thinking of trying to make 3 kinds of cookies - biscotti, tortas de aceite, walnut shortbread (meltaways). Possibly chocolate chip for kiddos. Still trying the truffles. And maybe the orange slices. I had imagined a lot of citrus flavor notes. Mostly I want to make something nice without getting too frazzled.

Note: The first photo is the Kennebec River in Skowhegan - the local town where I do most shopping. The second is the seasonal stream near my house well over it’s banks - usually a trickle this time of year.

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plllog

2 years ago

Good grief! It's finally stopped raining here. There were a few places where it stalled that were flooded, but most fine. I just stayed in. Too overwhelmed to do my baking, and no loss of services.

Do what you can to make you happy! Perhaps portion out some ”kits”, to streamline the process. Get out the pans and scrapers, etc. I find even simple things like baking cookies can feel overwheling when ”stuff” happens. I was planning to make hazelnut cookies today, but too much has been going on. New goal is to just roast and skin the nuts today.

I hope all your people are okay and everything dries out soon, that you make enough to be happy about your product, and little enough that doing it is fun and full of love, and have a very happy Christmas with your people.

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Comments (8)

Olychick
2 years ago
yikes, that's a lot of rain! Not having power (and esp not water) is SO hard. This close to Christmas, I might take the opportunity to opt out of all the baking and have the excuse that I didn't have power or water. People will understand!
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Since my DH's first wife died in October 2003, through our marriage in 2006 and even today, DH has piddled with getting rid of his stash of tools up north. Now he is getting down to business, and has made inroads--because I told him I was through waiting on him to get his house ready to sell, and I would NOT go up there any more. So I am surprised and mostly pleased by his activity in that direction. He is an engineer with a tool for every purpose. He also confiscated my PERSONAL tools here in Mobile, and I found them among his out in his garden shed. THAT was a nono, and I started bringing them back. Some of those I kept in a Snoopy yellow plastic lunch box for 30 years, and I depend on them being available quickly when I need a screwdriver or a Vicegrip or a small drill bit. I miss the Snoopy tool box. I think his first wife must have left all tool-associated chores to him, and he does not quite know how to deal with my very independent take-hold do-it-myself history. Heck, when I tore out the bathroom, he should have known I did not wait for anyone to do what I could do for myself! Southern woman I am, but not the helpless variety. More like Steel Magnolia! (one of my favorite movies) So pleased that MamaGoose is on board these days, and Jay, and now that the fall is almost upon us again, maybe there will be a surge of activity on the forum. I really look forward to catching up with what's been going on while I was out gardening for about 4 months. Sometimes we all need to take a break to come back refreshed.
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I'm seeing what looks like a girdling wire just above the soil line (someone thinking about layering the top off the plant?). If it IS a wire, it's not yet tight enough to restrict xylem flow of water and nutrients to the top of the plant, but it would be tight enough to be shutting off some of the flow of photosynthate and other bio-compounds in the phloem stream to the root system. Still, I don't think it's tight enough yet to be blamed for the poor health and shedding of branches. When plants are struggling and there is no evidence of insects or obvious cultural limitations like too cold, too hot, too much or too little of something the plant absorbs, root health becomes a prime suspect. I notice you're growing in a bonsai (training?) pot, and it's not very full. If your soil supports perched water, the shallower the pot, the higher the % of saturated soil after a good watering. I don't know anything about your plant's history, except that you pruned it a while back. If the plant's vitality level was low at the time you pruned it, it may have simply run out of the energy it needs to push a new flush of growth. A plant's energy reserves are finite, so if the plant is out of gas, and since plants are organisms that shed parts to keep a balance between the top of the plant and the bottom (especially in the case of extreme disparity), you might be seeing the plant discarding what it can't support. Also, many fungal infections that start with the roots become systemic and incrementally destroy the plants plumbing (vasculature), also a possibility. I'd lift the plant and check the roots - see what's going on there, and if there's a remnant of a tourniquet or former anchor wire girdling the stem, I'd be sure to get that off. After you find out about the roots and report - maybe something will come to light that indicates a plan worth following. I'd also think about using a fungicide on the roots if they are in bad shape, and think seriously about repotting into a very airy and fast-draining soil that allows plenty of air exchange in the root zone. A good share of the time, isolating a cause involves eliminating everything on the list of possibilities until you come down to the factor you can't eliminate. Al
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John Liu
2 years ago
Wow, what a mess. Make an extra batch of cookies for any first responders or soggy neighbors who need cheering up?
User
2 years ago
Forget the kiddos...bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies for the adults and stand back...! :0) My favorite! Sorry about the weather...I'm in Colorado, sitting in the middle of a white out snow storm. Hope ALL is well in your part of the country...and your baking gets done.
porkchop_z5b_MI
2 years ago
Oh no, that is a lot of rain! That is good you finally got your power back on. How did everything turn out in the end with the baking?
ninasmom
2 years ago
I can commiserate; it was a nasty storm! We had 2 trees fall (one on the house), no power; heat or water for days, plus a basement flooded with 30”. Thankfully no-one was hurt.
sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
2 years ago
It has been devatating in the NorthEast with all the rain. Another a few nights ago. Could not sleep being 'water-boarded' all night with a slow drip from a skylight over our bed. Does not happen often unless it is a heavy down pour in a certain wind direction.

Nothing like those suffering floods.

A couple weeks ago our hot water heater exploded flooding the basement. Still nothing compared to having 3+feet of water in your home and no power.

We canceled holiday travel plans for many reasons. Under the sink started a small drip leak, then a heavy misting spray. Shut off the water to the reverse osmosis filtered water. I caught it just in time. Just a quart of water on the kitchen floor.

Had we been out of town through the NewYear it would have flooded the entire kitchen, living room, bedrooms, etc. Probably a couple gallons an hour. (when they repaired the filter system, the water pressure loosened a important valve). They repaired at no cost under their warranty.

Usually we turn off the water to the whole house when out of town but often forget. Yikes.

Not sure colder temps and snow would have been a better senario but we are better prepared for snow. Snow against the home is insulating and no flooding.
ninasmom
2 years ago
It has been bad, but could’ve been worse!

So glad you caught the leak in time sleevendog,and the water scenario is a good reminder.

I had water pouring from the ceiling fan onto my bed for ~3hrs before we discovered that.

New furnace, appliances, treework, etc etc.

Sometimes the best laid plans - we had a little storm in Maine

plllog

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Olychick

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