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~~Someone is Watching Over Us~~

by Nena Smothers-cook

How many of you have seen the movie, "Almost an Angel" with Hogan?
Hes the Aussie dude, good actor...its was an enjoyable film. The best part is when the sister to the handicapped person picks up the remote control Hogan had used to light up the cross on the church, and there were NO batteries in it!...I thought about this film a lot, reflecting back on how many times I really know someone is watching over me! And that we are not just born just to die! So went to bed later and the next morning when I got up, I went into the kitchen to make java..well, I kept hearing this noise and then realized it was my old oven fan on, going like crazy. Well, now you have to realize this. I broke the string on it that turns it on several years ago and in breaking the string, I broke it far enough up inside that I could not get to it to turn it off. My middle son Jary showed up later and he went up into the attic and somehow got it turned off. I later asked and he said there was a switch up there. The other thing you must realize is, I do not particularily enjoy heights or climbing ladders, much less being in airplanes.However, I knew I had to do something to get this fan off.
If Jary said there was a switch up there, there must be so I was going to have to go get the ladder, situate it on the deck so I could climb up to the window, open it and climb in to find the switch. the first attempt, I just shakily climbed up the ladder, barefoot, so by some chance I would not slip and fall...got the door opened, peered in and first thing I saw was what a mess the insulation is up there after the 20 years we put it in there. Jary and I do check the attic usually every fall, but this really caught my eye. I also, in glancing around, noticed that the bat dung was piling up by the chimney. We do have a bat colony in the attic [which never bother us]...I looked around best I could, still on the ladder, and was not really into venturing any further, so shut the door and climbed back down. Thought about this for a couple hours and knew something had to be done, however, as if the fan continued to go, it would burn up or burn up this array of well decayed insulation laying around,possible catch fire. Seems I am always calling Jary to the rescue as he's the main one of the boys that comes to help me and do work around here even unasked.
So finally decided to call him. It had been so long, he could not remember where the switch was or if there was one. He said I would just have to go look, and I say, yeah right! He's aware of my fear of heights, etc...and really does not make fun...but I knew he was right, and told him, I would just force myself to do this. So thought about it a couple more hrs and each time I went into the kitchen, I knew I had to do something to get this fan off. So finally, outside I go again, this time I also took a bucket and shouvel to get the bat dung I saw piled up...and up the ladder I go, encouraging myself all the way. Set the bucket in first, then climbed in.
This time I wore shoes and long pants as I had no idea what I might step on and did not want insulation on my bare skin. I well remember when we put the insullation up there, most of us itched like crazy for days. I found the fan, open on the top, no cover on it, an old sleeping bag next to it and some pieces of wood and insulation piled up all around it. It looked like a real fire hazard to me. There was another pull string that should have turned off the fan...like the one that use to be below the fan in the kitchen that I had broke years ago. I pulled and pulled on it to get the fan to turn off.
It would not turn off. So I began to be fairly frustrated about this and grabbed the bucket and made my way over to the chimney. I did not see any of my little bat friends and began to scoop up the bat dung into the bucket. It was all dried up, like maybe my bats were not there anymore. But I got it all, which filled up my bucket and I was satisfied with that task done. I looked around at what needed to be done up there. Insullation had fallen down in places and I knew it needed to be tacked back up and just basically a good clean up needed to be done up there. However, I was not really into doing it by myself but I knew it would be on my list of priorities and I certainly would have to ask my sons to help get it cleaned up and a bit reorganized next time they come to the ranch.I made my way back to the window, set the bucket down, got myself out back on the ladder first, then grabbed the bucket, got the window shut without falling off, and climbed down. I am sure this is about 12-15' from the window to the deck. The rest of the day, in the back of my mind, I am thinking about this fan churring furiously and frustrated it would not turn off. I even thought, prehaps I could turn the power off, then unscrew the cable to the fan and disconnect it, but opted out on that as I am no electrician and was not into getting myself electrified in the attic! I decided to catch a movie on tv, "Joan of Arc" on was and I had been wanting to see it for some time.
So I am sitting and watching this film, which I never realized before, that she was only 19yrs old when they burned her at a stake in 1431 for "heresay"...she had proclaimed she was a "Messenger of God" sent to free France from English control and see that Louis VII was anointed the new King of France. She did in fact began her military career at 13 yrs old and conquered many English strongholds which eventually France won freedom from English control. Her army totally loved and were devoted to her. Then suddently the power in the house flickered and goes out, it was like only for an instance, though, very strange! This is the middle of the afternoon, no rain, no thunderstorms, no threat of impeading storm, and then the power comes back on. First thing, that popped in my mind, I wonder if that fan is now turned off? With the power back on so quickly and I got up to investigate the fan situation and went into the kitchen to listen to see if the fan was on. My old icebox was on and making its normally high racket so I had to listen closely, but I really did not hear the fan churring! I was not totally sure but I really knew my problem had truly been solved by divine intervention. I went back to finish watching the movie, which, by the way Joan of Arc [Jehanne Darc]or the Maiden of Orleans as she called herself, was cannonized
500 years later by the Pope, after she also had been retried and declared "innocent".
I eventually decided to stroll back into the kitchen when the icebox was finally done with its racket and there was no fan churring! For some reason, someone watching over me saw fit to use a quick power outage to turn off that fan. It was almost as mysterious as why the fan came on in the first place earlier. There is no plausible reason for it to have just turned itself on, except, I obviously was suppose to check out the attic and that was a way to tell me. Now if any of you have any doubts whatsoever that "someone up there is watching over you"...I pray this story disspells that doubt. There is no other explanation for this incident that happened to me, none other than indeed "Someone up there is Watching Over Us".~~~Nena Smothers-cook Copyright 2001.
 

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