So, it has been snowing all day here today. I don’t remember this much snow since we had Snowmageddon 3 or 4 years ago. It started snowing like mad around noon back then, and they let out all the schools and businesses and government offices at once. The roads were icy and there was a traffic jam-up like you could not believe. Judy was driving back from her volunteer work at the cat shelter and got about 3 miles from the house when everything came to a halt. She progressed less than 200 feet over the next hour. She called Mike at the office who told her to park the car and walk home. She did so and said that she made better progress than the cars on the road. Mike didn’t even try to come home that night from the office. He had enough heat and some food and a couch to lie on, so he was fine. One of his doctor colleagues decided to try to get home at about 9:30 or so. He left the office and was fortunate to be able to get back to the office at all because he certainly couldn’t get home. That little trip took him about 6 hours. That was the night that Mike finally took the opportunity to read the Narcotics Anonymous basic recovery text. It was a good read. The city was still shut down the next day, but Mike was able to get home around noon. Mike has been home all day today as he was not scheduled to work, so I don’t know what the roads are like but they couldn’t be good. Michelle came over around noon and said that they were starting to get slippery. I guess she’ll spend the night and not try to go back to her own place tonight. We had a power failure for about 45 minutes this afternoon but we have our lights on again. None of this has that much of an effect on me. I’m just letting you know in case you’re interested. Mike was doing something on the computer and he lost all the work when the power failed. He doesn’t seem too put out about it though. If I had been writing when it happened I would’ve been very annoyed. I get into that creative moment that I don’t think I can replicate. So if I lose it, it’s gone and I have to come up with something else that’s equally interesting and clever. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. But about the snow, I have to tell you it’s really beautiful. Mike took some pictures that we might be able to post. We will give it a shot.
It wasn’t easy but we did it. Mike needs the computer to dictate another report, so I’ll get back to you later. Maybe it will have stopped snowing by then. I think I’ll stay indoors this evening. If you live around here you might want to do the same thing.
Well, that was a while ago. Some people had up to a foot of snow and I think we probably had 8 to 10 inches. A lot of people had no power for over 2 days. That can be a real hardship when you’re old or sick. We probably lost power about twice for 5 to 6 hours each time. Michelle stayed at the house for a week because she had lost power when the electrical wires pulled off the side of the house and were dangling from the meter. That wasn’t too safe. A couple of huge oak limbs fell around her house but nothing landed on top of it. The snow finally melted about a week later. Mike still has some branches that he has to cut up and clear. His neighbor David was very helpful to him with his chainsaw. They had a lot of fun. It was a good day for me to stay inside.
So a few days ago Mike got a letter from the city of Marietta. It had some pictures and writing on it. The picture as far as I could tell was of his little hamstermobile in the foreground at a traffic intersection with the Marietta Confederate Cemetery in the background. The cemetery is at the corner of Powder Springs Street and the South Marietta Loop. It’s a nice place to hang out if you’re a cat, but it’s a little bit too far from the house for me to visit. There are over 3000 soldiers from all 12 Confederate states buried there. I understand it’s the only Confederate Cemetery where white soldiers are buried on the same property as black slaves. There are also free Blacks that are buried there. That area is called the Slave Lot. If you want to read more about this go to www.mariettaconfederatecemetery.org. You might find it interesting.
If you read my grandfather’s book, Autobiography of a Georgia Cat, you might recall that my grandfather Black Jack, used to hang out with other cats at the Marietta National Cemetery on Washington Street and tell stories. (The National Cemetery is not really that far from the Confederate Cemetery, maybe a half mile or so.) They would particularly enjoy listening to a wise old cat, Talks with Wolves, who was very knowledgeable about feline mythology. There was good energy there to tell these kinds of stories. There are over 10,000 fallen Union soldiers buried there. There are also veterans from subsequent foreign wars buried there. In fact, Judy’s grandfather is buried at the cemetery. If you look around at the monuments you’ll see that high on a concrete obelisk sort of thing is a carving of a badger, of all things. This is the Wisconsin monument. I understand that the property that this cemetery sits on was sought by the Confederate authorities as a possible site for the capital of the Confederacy. However, Henry Cole, the owner of the property, was a union loyalist and said that he wanted the property to go for a “better purpose”. Eventually he was able to donate the land when the Union army came through, for the burial of the Union dead. Cole Street, which runs by the west side of the cemetery, is named for Henry Cole.
But back to this mail with a picture of Mike’s car and the cemetery. Mike seemed quite annoyed when he got this picture in the mail and I saw him grumbling as he was writing a check. He tore off part of the picture and put it in an envelope along with the check. I wonder what that was all about.
If you go back to my post last year called “Tis the Season” published on December 26, 2016, you’ll see that we didn’t have a Christmas tree last year. I’m happy to report that the tree is up this year with lots of pretty lights and cat toys on it. Thankfully, we haven’t had any workmen tearing up the house for a long time. You may also note that I said in that post that there were 3 things that Mike thought would never happen in his lifetime that had in fact already happened. I said that one was the Cubs winning the World Series; and another one was him getting a hole-in-one. The 3rd one I couldn’t remember at the time but I now remember that it’s America electing a black president. He never thought that would have happened, maybe in 500 years. It seems to have generated quite a backlash, and the next guy that was elected was racially, politically, personally, intellectually,and philosophically the polar opposite. You might think that this is either a bad thing or a good thing. But it certainly is a thing. It will be interesting to see what happens. Either it’s a momentary retreat from traditional American values of decency and liberty, or it’s the beginning of the end of America as a defender of freedom and carrier of the moral standard in the world. You may agree or disagree. In any case, the main thing is, the cats will be fine. Here’s wishing you all a Merry Christmas, happy Kwanzaa, or other greeting of the season as may apply to your particular situation. I understand it is too late to wish you a happy Hanukkah this year but my hope to all my Jewish friends is that your latkes were delicious and all your dreidels spun in a clockwise direction. Farewell until my next communication from Happy Meadows, and be safe, y’all.
Good history to know and great catsup. Best wishes for this holiday season and peace in 2018.
Powell