Braxton Citizens' News, Opinion

A downturn…

After the enjoyment created by my and Jeanine’s anniversary celebration this week has been a downturn. Like any family there are aways personal issues to deal with. We have had more than our share this past week. To make matters worse, we are remodeling, by necessity, one of the two bathrooms in our house.

I realize that this is probably way too much information but… I cherish my time in that room. Now I have to compete with two full-time women living there and the endless line of grandchildren that frequent. It’s tough on an old guy that must go quite often. Fortunately, the project should be nearing an end and hopefully the household can get back in order. In the meantime, I must “suck it up” because I would-n’t trade any of them for their weight in gold.

We normally head to the boat midafternoon most Fridays. After the sweltering heat we experienced last week, I was really looking forward to the peace and quiet of the lake. I was running behind Friday and was unable to keep my normal schedule. I got home a little after 3. Jeanine was busy with her errands and getting packed for the lake. I got my stuff ready and about the time I was ready to go out the door… the sky opened up and, well if you live in central West Virginia, you know what happened then. During the storm the power went out. I understand the same was true in most of the county.

We waited out the storm and then headed to the boat. The power wasn’t back on, but I knew we had a generator at the lake. When we arrived, power at the lake was also non-existent. When we got to the boat, I promptly fired up the trusty ole Honda and we had electricity.

The rain had helped the temperature some, but with the high humidity, we still needed the fans that keep things cool at the lake. Probably the best two hours of the week were then spent sitting on the porch, under the fan, drinking a cold iced tea.

The power wasn’t off very long and things returned to normal. I certainly thank and appreciate the electricians who gave us back our normal lives which we take for granted until Mother Nature shows us who really is boss.

We had a good lake weekend. I managed to complete another project or two. We came home rather early on Sunday to prepare for the coming week. All-in-all, it was an enjoyable weekend.

The weatherman says we are going to get a break for the heat. But can we ever trust the weatherman to get it right? I’ll take my changes this week and hope for the best. I’ll do the same with our family drama.

On a final note, we lost a true friend this week. Lucille Thayer passed away at the age of 75. Lucille and her husband Delbert were key to the success of both of our papers in the early years. Del served as editor for decades before he passed away unexpectedly. Lucille was always a kindhearted person. One of the smartest and hardest working people I ever had the pleasure of knowing. Due to her declining health and my work schedule, we didn’t see much of one another in recent years and I regret that. She was one of the great ones… as I see it!