Mother Goose Revisited

Rock-A-Bye Baby in the Treetop
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock
When the bough breaks…….
The branches come crashing on the Renter’s Car!!

1, 2, Buckle your shoe
3, 4, Slam the door
5, 6, Pick up sticks
7, 8, Lay them straight (on the trailer)
Repeat 3rd and 4th lines MANY times
9, 10 A big fat Motrin Backache !

The Chugach winds of Alaska have been in full force a couple of times this year. Our house in Chugiak has had lots of branches break off and one tree break. That does not compare to the Eagle River house. The last storm broke two large branches off the tree on the corner of our back yard. They crashed onto the roof of our tenant’s already wrecked car; but the tree itself was leaning very close to our neighbor’s house (the red one) as well. Our renter was really good about the situation; all he was saving the car for was the engine and transmission, the rest was to be sold for the metal.
We spent about 7 hours systematically tying off the tree parts and sawing off sections. It was a tight fit, so Fred could not use the chain saw. God certainly blessed us – one near miss when he sawed and section and it broke off just missing me! 1,060 later, off we go to the landfill.

“The Eagle has landed.” Those words have a new meaning here. There were around 250-300 eagles at the landfill. About half of them were immature, but just as beautiful as the adults. We have to go back to the Eagle River house and take out another tree. With the freeze/thaw cycle here, the tree has cracked from the ground up to the 12 foot mark or more. It’s good for another couple of weeks. We just need to get back there while the ground is still frozen; it just makes it easier to pull out pieces with the
4-wheeler.

There was an old Woman who lived in a shoe
She had so many daughters she didn’t know what to do
She fed them some broth without any bread
Then spanked them all soundly – and she went off to the Theatre!

In another 25 years, my daughters may understand this musical. Last Thursday a group of about 17 of us from work went to the Atwood Center where “Menopause the Musical” was playing. Of course this was preceded by a warm-up dinner at Bennihanas. The movie was 95 minutes of non-stop singing (tunes were from the 60s and 70s) but all the works were words for us older ladies – Hot flashes, night sweats, weight gains, mood swings, you get the message. We laughed so hard our cheeks hurt for hours after we left. If it plays in a theatre near you, it is worth the cost of the ticket.

The only other excitement is our life is the celebration of having filed our taxes last weekend. I am sure that we are the last ones in the family to do this. We put it off as long as we could because we had to calculate all of the taxes on the investments we used as the down payment on the house. We feel somewhat like Robin Hood – we have robbed from the rich and given to the government.

The North wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow
And what will the “Lehmans” do then?

As I look at Bear Mountain, it is shrouded in a snow storm. It’s melting on the driveway now, but that won’t last long. The Northern Lights have started making early morning appearances. I missed them on Thursday when they were really dancing; but ADN caught them just over the LDS temple. (Yes, Jennifer, I saved the picture for you.) Fred was mad ‘cause I did not call and tell him to look out the window. With the snow fall this evening, I am sure we will see them tomorrow!