Monday, December 13, 2010

The Winter Wind

It's 36 degrees in Charleston and do you know what? I couldn't care less. Do you know why? Because where I used to live they are having a snow storm. It rarely snows in Charleston, and for that, I'm eternally happy!

Sure, it's pretty to look out the window of a cozy log cabin in the mountains while sipping hot cocoa with marshmallows, but really... how often are you in that scenario?

Um, never!

I'll spare you my snow rant because it's no longer something I have to deal with. So, when I finally go to Ohio to pick up my belongings I'll be leaving my ergonomically correct snow shovel that dug my car out of a heap of snow that the city of Dayton plowed onto my poor little car on many a cold, cold morning. Yep. They can have my shovel.

Last night we did have a blustery blast of Winter wind, though! Around 7pm I noticed that the dining room (well, it should be a dining room but right now it has a couch and desk in it!) curtain was slightly open. The wind had been howling for a couple of hours so I peeked out the window and saw this...

What the hell?

Robin was luckily visiting with her parent's or else her little Miata would have been toast! I sent her a photo of it and just said "We have a situation..."

24-hours later the tree is still there. I'm sure the neighbors are saying bad things about us! I called my sister today who is borrowing a chainsaw from a co-worker. I'm afraid my Dad's chainsaw looks just a bit too scary to use - especially since it has been sitting there rusting away since 2003. I'm not even going to think about Robin and Traci out there cutting that limb up... oh my! These are the times when I wish I was a tenant and had a landlord who I could call to take care of these things!

So, the weather all weekend was awful. Cold, miserable and rainy. My plan was to go out and maybe do some geocaching and then go attempt to find the remains of The Elms Plantation. I've only been able to find a couple photos of the ruins in recent years and sadly, not much remains. The ruins are in the woods near Charleston Southern University and after many attempts to figure out where exactly the ruins are, I had to call Mayor Heitzler for some hints on how to find it. I figured that if anyone knows where it is, he would!

After playing phone tag we finally chatted and he gave me general directions on how to get there. He offered to personally take me out there if I couldn't find it, which I thought was nice. When we chatted on the phone he told me to say hello to my husband, which made me laugh out loud after we hung up. The last time the Mayor and I met up I was with Robin and my friend Patrick, who the Mayor thinks I'm married to. I guess one day I'll have to break it to him that this is not the case!

Later, the Mayor sent me an email of a plat map that he found recently. I want to say that he found it at the State archives, but I'm not positive.

I think it's so amazing that these massive plantations with their beautiful gardens existed and now there's nothing. The roads, the avenue of oaks, the sunken garden, the plantation house... it's all gone! I went to Google maps and tried to pin-point the general area that I thought the ruins would be with info gathered from my conversations with Mayor Heitzler. Now I just need for the weather to cooperate so I can go exploring!

Ahhhh, urban development!

Last weekend we ventured downtown for the Charleston Christmas Parade. I have never attended the parade so I wanted to see what it was all about.

It was, um... interesting! As my friend Devin would say:

"Nothing says Christmas like..."

Roller Derby Girls

Basset Hounds

Pirates

King Tut

Bagpipe Players

and Belly Dancers!

You've Gotta Love Charleston!


3 comments:

Heather Price said...

Pam-

I just wanted to leave you a little note and tell you that I really enjoy reading your blog. I wish I had the courage to do all the things you do, like moving to a new place and fully appreciating what that new place has to offer. I think it is so cool that you help people find ancestors with the find a grave website. I just think it is so cool. Just wanted to tell you that! :)

Clytie said...

I love the parade - especially the pirates! Jack Sparrow is SO my hero!

I hope you got the limb taken care of - so glad the Miata escaped any damage! Wow. What a close call!

Pamela said...

@Heather - Awww - That is sweet - thanks girl! I really appreciate it :)

@Clytie - The parade was definitely something different. If you click on the link you can see all the pictures on my Flickr page... In that picture the pirate was pointing at my friends dog and saying he was going to eat it for dinner! Haha!

As for the limb, Robin came home from work last night at 9pm and got the chainsaw out(which still worked!) and cut it up. I told her that she was crazy for doing that alone in the dark!