Simply Devastated

Just before midnight, as Wednesday night became Thursday, May 17, 2018, the home of our neighbors and friends became engulfed in a devastating fire.

We ran towards the home to make sure that Astrid af Klinteberg and Fred Day had escaped and were warned away from the house by another neighbor due to power lines starting to fall.

We were assured that they had made it out, along with their dog Amelia but were down the street on the opposite side of the fire.

The Fire Department and Police arrived shortly and began to attack the fire. During the initial part of the battle, we were asked to stay outside of our house in case the fire spread. The following images were taken after the blaze was extinguished.

Eventually, we were able to meet up with Astrid and Fred. Fred had detected the smell of smoke in the house and awoke Astrid and both of them, along with their dog evacuated immediately with only the clothes on their back. He said that minutes later, the fire just exploded through the old home.

The house was deemed a total loss and was razed later on Thursday morning.

Astrid and Fred are now staying with family members but have lost all of their belongings. The community has come together to comfort them and help them recover.

Two GoFundMe sites (see Fire Destroys Everything and Astrid and Fred Mass Defenders Fund) are raising donations to help them.

Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Simply Devastated

C_A_B

Simply Deer!

Six deer came foraging for food on Valentine's Day.
The pictures are not very crisp being shot through
windows and screens so as not to startle the deer.

Simply Deer!

C_A_B

Simply Got Snow!

Another two days of snow in West Gloucester and the snow
banks around the driveway are as tall as I have ever seen them.

Here's a picture of the snow on the deck.
There are 14 inches between each horizontal muntin.
You do the math!

Simply Got Snow!

C_A_B

Simply A Luge Track

Despite the appearance, we are not building a luge track.
Just the snow banks surrounding my driveway.

Here's the weather forecast for the next few days....

Tuesday...Snow. Snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches. Cold with highs in the mid 20s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 90 percent.

Tuesday Night...Snow. Not as cool. Near steady temperature in the mid 20s. North winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of snow 90 percent.

Wednesday...Snow and sleet. Highs in the upper 20s. Northeast winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

Wednesday Night...Snow. Lows 15 to 20. Chance of snow 90 percent.

Thursday...Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of snow showers. Cold with highs in the mid 20s.

Key West, anyone?

Simply A Luge Track

C_A_B

Simply Winter

Winter came with full force over night. The snow started here in West Gloucester around 3 PM Sunday afternoon with very strong and building winds. On Monday morning, the snow and wind continue.

Look! There's still a little color on that tree. (Brown is a color, right?)

Simply Winter

C_A_B

Simply Honest

I could have used the title "Simply Stupid" but I'm trying to focus on the positive note.

Last night, my son went out with a few of his friends and ended up going swimming. He was carrying his cell phone and wallet in his hand since "his pockets were wet from swimming". Upon returning to his car, he placed them on the trunk and ... you guessed it, drove off with them still on the trunk of the car. I'm sure we've all seen others driving down the road with coffee cups, shopping bags, etc. setting on the top of the car. (This was the "Simply Stupid" part.)

He realized that he didn't have his wallet or cellphone about 20 minutes later when he had reached home. We hopped in my car and drove back to where he had parked and started the search. No luck. Couldn't find them. We tried calling his cellphone to see if we could hear it ring but he had left it on the vibrate setting.

Suddenly, my phone is ringing. A person in West Gloucester had found his wallet. They were driving around the rotary, saw what looked like a wallet, so drove around the rotary again, stopped and picked it up. They then took the time to find our home phone number and called the home to let us know they had found it, along with directions to their home so that we could pick it up.

With all the stories of "identity theft" and "identity theft protection systems" circulating in the news these days, it just put a nice ending on what could have been a bad experience. We still haven't found his cellphone but that can be replaced.

It just makes me happy (again) to live in this special Gloucester place with such simply honest people.

Thank you!

C_A_B