A SADLY SOGGY STORY

BEN AND CALEB SNOWBLOW OUR DRIVE

Monday evening I was sitting on the couch in the living room of our lovely 1920 Arts and Crafts bungalow watching “24” with Ben, son #4. Suddenly I noticed that my pants were feeling a little wet. I moved a little bit and reached down to touch the couch and found a puddle of some sort of fluid there. Rats! Had old age caught up with me at last? Had my bladder finally failed me? I was suddenly stricken with a far worse thought. Was I bleeding rectally? At that moment, God reassured me as a falling drop of water hit my hand. At least I wasn’t bleeding out right then and there. Still, my stomach dropped and put a new pressure on my bladder! Where was the water coming from?

There is attic space immediately above the living room. Ben and I dashed upstairs and ran into the attic and flipped on the light. I looked over to the left side of the attic and there it was, a big pool of water surrounding the boxes containing my still packed up library! Panic struck! I dove through all the other boxes and started pitching boxes of books to Ben like I was a younger me. My socks were soaked and soon my pants were soaked as well. Ben ran down to the basement and started collecting buckets, plastic storage bins and old towels. We arranged the water receptacles and soaked up as much water as possible. It seemed like we caught it in time.

Yesterday afternoon Anne of the House and I were sitting in the dining room when one of the tiles from the drop ceiling in the living room (that drop ceiling has to be removed soon!) came crashing down on the Persian rug along with a large volume of water and the plaster from the original ceiling. Anne, who comes from a long line of blue collar type folks, started laughing at the mishap while I, a completely non-handy type of white collar guy, felt sick to my stomach. She chuckled the whole time she was up on the ladder poking holes in the plaster to relieve the water pressure. My stomach churned. All I could see were dollar signs. Sadly, all I have are dollar signs. No dollars to go along with them!

We knew we needed a new roof when we bought the place. I had just hoped to get through one more winter. Guess we didn’t make it. The culprit was ice dams on the roof. It warmed up this week. All the snow on the roof started to melt but before it could come off the roof it refroze during the night. Thus, all the new melting snow had no place to go except through my aged roof, attic, and living room ceiling. Ah, the adventures of buying an old house! Can you identify with me, OG? I refer you to Anne’s post of January 13.

I know there’s nothing you can do so thanks for listening.

NEWS FROM FINCHWORLD

It’s been awhile since I have updated you on the flock of finches at the Wooden House. You may remember that we were having babies like crazy around here for awhile. We had two clutches of four birds, one of which was Charlie, the hand-raised finch who kept falling out (getting kicked out?) of the nest.

I tried hard to sell off the babies as Christmas presents. I thought maybe our friends would like to buy them as unique gifts for their kids or something. Boy, was I wrong about that! We finally resorted to giving them away. One Shiloh family, the Williams, took four, two males and two females. (We know what’s going on at their house about now!) Aunt Bonnie took two. That left us with two, a male, and Charlie, the human finch.

I guess the big news is that Charlie isn’t a “he.” Charlie turned out to be Charlene. We kept her in a separate cage with the leftover male. As she matured we came to the realization that all her coloring was female. At first I just thought it was because she was a “late bloomer.” Then I noticed he cage companion was spending a lot of time cuddling with her. I finally had to admit it, he’s a she!

More big news. Charlene is laying eggs. The two of them are acting very parental, taking turns sitting in the nest and sharing the nest at night. I guess it won’t be long now. I’m kind of hoping these first eggs are just duds. She seems too young to be having baby birds already. She just hatched in November herself! But she turned out to be a lovely finch and her partner may be the most handsome male in our entire flock!

Oh, by the way, Charlene won’t come out of the cage and sit on our hands anymore. She’s lost all her human characteristics and has regressed to being all bird all the time. I know you’ll all be holding your breath waiting to hear the glad tidings of great joy. I’ll be sure to let you know. Little tiny finch cigars for everyone!

THE LITTLE RED SHOES (CONCLUSION)

Having arrived in New York, William Guiler commenced his search for his wife Elizabeth and their young daughter. He walked the streets before and after work every day. He visited a different church every Sunday. New York had no bureau of missing persons in 1806 so he was entirely on his own. He went to the markets. He frequented the docks. He walked into hundreds of shops hoping to find Elizabeth in one of them. No one had heard of a woman who was looking for her husband who had been left behind on the dock in Liverpool.

Spring and summer passed. It was autumn in New York and the leaves were already falling as William walked the streets of the city. One evening he was shuffling through the fallen leaves, kicking the leaves out ahead of him, and lost in thought. He almost collided with another pedestrian who passed him. He walked on a few more paces before something caused him to stop and turn around. Astonishingly, the other person had also turned to look back! William’s eyes rested on a woman leading a little girl by the hand! Incredulous with delight, William and Elizabeth flew into one another’s arms! The long and cruel separation was over!

What had happened to Elizabeth and little Elizabeth Margaret? They had arrived in New York with no money because William had kept their travel money on his person. Elizabeth found employment with a milliner near the harbor where the ships from Britain arrived. Month after month she went to the docks every day to see if a ship arrived. She carefully watched every passenger disembark hoping to spy her husband. In the meantime she heard stories of ships lost at sea in storms and ships destroyed in combat. She heard about young men being impressed into British naval service. She feared her William had been lost at sea but she never gave up hope.

That evening that she met William she had set out with little Elizabeth Margaret, just as she did every evening, hoping to hear some news or find someone who might be able to help her in her search. By God’s providence she met her long-lost William walking on the streets of New York.

William and Elizabeth had more children together. Their great-great granddaughter was Eliza Faye Guiler. She was born in 1899 and married William Bright Moorhead. Their son is Charles David Moorhead and he is my father.

THE LITTLE RED SHOES (PART FOUR)

William Guiler, following a light from a window, barely made it to the cabin before collapsing unconscious against the door. The family heard him fall and carried him inside their home. They used all the medical knowledge they had to try to bring William back from the brink of death. He was delirious for a number of days. He continually asked, “Where are the others?” William clung to life and after a long time he recovered to tell his story.

By this time it was the dead of winter. Travel was impossible. William was stranded for the rest of the season with the family that had saved his life. The man of the house was a lumberman. There were other cabins and other families scattered across the countryside. Occasionally these families visited in one another’s cabins for some social respite. William’s host owned a violin and William would entertain the families with his playing. He was a well-known fiddler back in Ireland who used to play at county fairs. He even tried to pay for some of his stay by teaching the lumberman’s daughter violin lessons!

Eventually the Nova Scotian winter broke and the weather changed. William was anxious to travel south and resume his search for his lost wife and daughter. He checked the coastline for boats and finally found one bound for Boston. He was able to get aboard that boat and bid his new friends a fond farewell.

William sailed to Boston and then finally made his way down to New York. He was able to secure work at a tailor shop. He began his search for Elizabeth and his daughter. He walked the streets every morning and every evening. He asked everywhere he could think of. Every Sunday he attended a different church hoping to find Elizabeth in the congregation. But there was no word of a young woman with a small daughter waiting for a husband from Northern Ireland.

THE LITTLE RED SHOES (PART THREE)

William Guiler and five young Irishmen stood on the shore of Nova Scotia. They had escaped from a British man-of-war onto which they had been impressed into service months before. Much to their surprise and chagrin they discovered neither town nor people. The dock at which the ship had taken on supplies was a lone naval supply dock to which goods had to be shipped a long distance. The six men had no idea where they were or which direction they should go. They had to do something! Their clothes were fast freezing solid on their bodies and they were in danger of dying quickly.

The group split up. Four men went in one direction while two went in another. William was one of the two. After walking a long distance they had still found nothing. William’s partner began to weaken. He refused to hurry as they sought shelter. Soon he began to complain of exhaustion and insisted that they lie down to rest for awhile. William urged him to keep moving. He tried to carry his friend but soon realized he was too weak to do so. William rubbed the man’s face and hands trying to keep him from freezing to death. Nothing worked. Finally, the man would go no further. William knew he had to leave him.

He pressed on, looking in every direction and calling out, hoping someone might hear him. His clothes were now rigid on his arms and legs and he was having difficulty moving. Suddenly, he saw a light in the distance. He had heard rumors about Indians and knew they hated white men. He wondered if the light he saw was an Indian campfire. But William was freezing to death and he was convinced the light was his only hope to survive. If he was ever to find his wife and daughter who had sailed to New York many months before, he would have to risk it.

William made his way toward the distant light. He stumbled and fell many times. Over and over he struggled to his feet. He was calling and crawling, trying to reach safety and warmth. He struggled as far as he could and then collapsed and lost consciousness.

The light William had seen came from a cabin window. The family inside the cabin heard a dull thud against their door and went to investigate. When they opened the door they were astonished to find a man, apparently frozen to death, lying on their threshold.