Ice Storms Galore
The first couple of months as homeowners really tested our mettle.
“Drive” by Incubus
Snow and ice storms hammered us, peppered with downpours and quick thaws that filled the basement water wells and caused concern of ground water seepage.
The constant onslaught of bad weather made it seem as if spring would never happen. Wind kept us up at night, and ice encrusted the pine trees out front to the point of bending the boughs. Maintenance came around with pumps to clear the water wells at times. It was a harsh winter. John spent a few dark days indoors honing a new hobby, brewing beer.
Taking advantage of the crappy weather, we also set to making some cosmetic improvements in the house, starting with the master bedroom and bath.
The previous owners had apparently been moored sometime around 1980 so we really needed to update certain things: painted the bedroom, replaced carpeting and window treatments; in the bath, we replaced the wallpaper with help from Al G.
We did the work ourselves, except for the carpet installation. The result was plush and cozy.
Eventually, over the 7 ½ years we were there, we made many improvements to that house. We would paint the living room and upstairs hallway (with help from Paul), redecorate the second bedroom, upgrade the window treatments, replace the windows and doors throughout, and have ceramic tiling installed in the kitchen. The privacy fence out back was also replaced.
That winter, I began the first of two terms as Church Council Secretary, and logged the meeting Minutes using our new 386 PC (John had by that time upgraded).
All files were typed in WordPerfect, printed on our dot-matrix printer, copied and distributed to the members. Eventually, the 386 would end up in my study/loft upstairs, and John would build a computer with a 486 tower.
That would be the time we joined America Online and had our first taste of messaging. We would also surf the Web using Netscape.
“Here We Go Again” by Stakka Bo
Taking a Tumble
Spring that year was most welcome. April 25th brought a scare and financial glitch. I was in a freak accident while driving back to the office on a winding road in Somerset.
The steering veered to the left during a routine passing maneuver, I felt a loss of rear traction, and before I knew it, the Mustang was bumper-over-bumper in a repeated flip. I’ll never forget the horrifying sounds of crashing and crunching of metal. Only wearing my seat belt saved me.
I had been thrown about with bruises on my head and what I think was a whiplash. I found myself hanging upside-down by the belt, and unclasped myself, and crawled out the driver side window.
A woman from across the road ran to see if I was OK. She called the ambulance, and I contacted John, whose supervisor brought him right over. Upon exiting the car, I’d urged someone to make sure John’s acoustic guitar in the back seat was undamaged, and it survived about as well as I did.
I was rushed to Somerset Medical Center, where Dad met us, and sent home with no serious injuries, but with no foam cervical collar (we had to buy this ourselves at the drugstore).
The irony? The 5-year lease on this car was just ending, and we’d been agonizing about whether to go for a buyout (at grossly inflated cost beyond the value of the car) or pay depreciation and mileage and roll it into another lease. Both were cost-prohibitive. The totaling of the car was a strange but timely resolution to that predicament. We never leased again.
John joked, “I’m glad God helped us out … but did He have to do it so violently?!”
Now, we had to get a car in a hurry. I lay in bed in the foam collar on Percocet for a couple of days, dealing with the insurance company, New Jersey Manufacturers. They were efficient and wonderful in the crisis. John had to rent a vehicle, a jumbo Dodge Ram pickup. He then got a referral to a car dealership. I returned to work and gingerly resumed my normal activities.
We drove a new 1994 Chevrolet Beretta Z26 off the lot a few days later. It was a great car that gave us reliable service for over a decade. Unfortunately, the accident also brought an unfounded summons for “careless driving,” which was overturned in court the following fall. I always had a clean record, and intended to keep it that way.
Audio clip: “I Can See Clearly Now (remake)” by Jimmy Cliff
Jimmy Cliff – I Can See Clearly Now
With the arrival of warmer, brighter weather, I decided the three white pine trees right in front of the house just had to go, as they were an eyesore and a hazard.
We could barely see outside our bedroom windows, and the room was darker than necessary, plus the sap dripped down on our cars parked below, and the pine needles were quite slippery.
Many letters to the President of the Condo Board as well as the management company were sent. I fought their lame protest “The condo spent money to plant these trees” to which I replied, “Why would they spend good money to plant cumbersome trees on a narrow median directly between a house and parking lot?”
One Friday afternoon, they were gone. What a difference it made.
John and I began attending minor-league baseball games down at Trenton’s Waterfront Park, for their inaugural season. It was so much fun. I bought a foam #1 finger. We usually stopped at BK on Route 130 on the way down to the games.
Dad also installed the new doorbell, and we now had a bright, resonating “ding-dong!” alert us to visitors.
As 1995 approached, our 5th wedding anniversary now on the horizon, we had been planning to take a week and fly out to the Pacific-Northwest and see Seattle and Vancouver to celebrate.
“This Is How We Do It” by Montell Jordan
Montell Jordan – This is How We Do It
Second Honeymoon at Disney
Though I made many calls to Triple-A regarding affordable flights out west, it turned out to be way too expensive for a non-stop jaunt, and we did not want a layover at O’Hare.
So, we booked a package at Disney World in Florida, and we’d stay at the brand-new All-Star Music Resort, right in the park. This would be our first real week’s vacation since our honeymoon!
Our hotel was Calypso, one of several themes. I thought the giant vibraphone by the entrance was cool.
John and I spent a week running all over Disney World, including the iconic Magic Kingdom, EPCOT and (what was then known as) MGM Studios.
I was disappointed to see how they’d redesigned Tomorrowland. Its original clean lines had been so much better than the current “Buck Rogers-ized” version. The Carousel of Progress was still wonderful, though its sponsorship and musical theme had been changed to “It’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” from “Now Is the Time.”
We also enjoyed special a 5-star dinner on our anniversary at the Grand Floridian’s restaurant, Victoria and Albert’s. Each day was an exhausting blast. We were up around 7 AM and devoured the Disney empire until late at night, returning to our hotel close to midnight.
It was all about the latest release Pocahontas, the theme song of which was heard on the radio and throughout the park. A parade with the Aladdin genie snaked through the MGM Studios park several times daily.
We had breakfast with the Disney characters, were serenaded by a guy with a mandolin during a morning meal on Main Street USA, and got a “Happy Anniversary” card in our room signed by the Mouse himself.
We soaked up the Disney experience. We also ran down our camcorder battery in an effort to record the entire It’s a Small World ride for my dad. And just as I had as a kid, I got to ride in the front of the Monorail. It was just as exciting as ever, and gliding through the Contemporary Resort Hotel was still a rush. What a wonderful vacation to celebrate five years of marriage.
