On Weird Cats And Power Outages

Fortunately for my sanity, the power finally came back about 9:30 last night after being out for 2 1/2 days. When I returned to the house, I discovered this surprise waiting for me on the kitchen counter.  In case it isn’t clear from the picture, this is a perfectly unoffending loaf of sandwich bread that has been viciously attacked by a cat.

 Cats are obligate carnivores. Neither of my two should be remotely interested in bread! Darcy understands that he’s a cat, but we are not nearly so sure about Bingley. He appears to think he’s a dog and begs for everything that our dog wants.  I believe I’ve mentioned before that he absolutely loves marshmallows, which has our vet just shaking her head. Unfortunately, unlike the dog, he can jump up on the counters, so I guess we now have to start putting the bread in the refrigerator. *headslap*

Why It Rocks To Have Friends When You Live In The Sticks, Part Zillion

 Our house has been without power since Monday morning sometime. You may recall that when my house has no electricity, it is basically a nonfunctional shell because the water pump, the heat and air conditioning and the stove all run on electricity.  The power company that serves our lines has the distinction of being probably the worst for competence and communication in the entire continental US. If you think yours is worse, you’re wrong. I would bet you.  I live on the main county road for our town. Our road has been closed for three straight days because just north of our house, three powerline poles snapped off at the base in high winds on Monday and fell into the road.  Local people have been managing to detour around the road closure, even though it’s a pain. However, last night, a house not too far from us burned to the ground partly because fire trucks from other towns couldn’t get around the detours fast enough.

 The children and I stayed in hotels the last two nights. My husband, bless his heart, stayed at the house to take care of the pets. It’s cold. It hasn’t been fun for anybody. But this is where the friend thing comes in.

One of my fellow school board members heard me mention at last night’s meeting that I was taking my daughter back to a hotel and offered me his generator on the spot. I mentioned to the three guys we carpool with to Thing One’s soccer that he might not be at practice tonight because he might not be able to shower afterward.  All three of them texted me back within five minutes, one offering me a generator and the other two offering their homes to charge devices or shower or get warm, whatever is needed.  Two other friends have been texting me for the last couple days offering help with anything necessary. I just dropped a bag of laundry off at my best girlfriend’s house around the corner, because she got her power back today and offered to do laundry for the kids while I’m out running around tonight.   I’m not sure what I did to deserve this tribe, but I am one lucky lady and I am grateful.

Oh, and the people who run our power company? You guys can kiss my lily white butt. Your linemen are awesome. They work outside in freezing conditions all night long and they get the job done. Whomever didn’t see the storm coming and plan ahead for it, however, or organize the response once it hit, you’re dead to me.

New One On Me

I was in line at the grocery store yesterday and the lady behind me said something to me about her “carriage,” meaning her shopping cart.  Then I was talking to a friend on the phone last night, and he said something about a “buggy,” by which he also meant a shopping cart. I have heard the term buggy used that way before, although not often and not around here, but “carriage” was a new one.  Wondering if these are regional linguistic things.

So, out of curiosity, anyone reading this: where are you from and what do you call the thing you push around a grocery store to hold the food items you are buying?

Oh, and while you are at it, what do you call the thing that women carry around to hold their wallet, makeup and keys, etc?  Purse, pocketbook, handbag, or something else??  I’m not sure if that term is generational or regional or both but I have always called it a purse.

From The Mouths of Babes

Or teenagers, at least.

Thing One’s club soccer team played a tournament in Las Vegas last weekend, and he and I made the trip together.  My parents were able to meet us there, but the rest of my immediate family had to stay home because the other kids had sports and birthday parties and such going on.  Thing One has never been to Vegas before, so the whole experience was mind-blowing for him.  We took him to a Cirque de Soleil show and the Hoover Dam while we were out there (kind of like making sure he got to see Niagara Falls when they played in upstate NY last year), but what made the strongest impression on him was the Luxor, the casino in which our team was staying.  He was absolutely fascinated by the slot machines, the haze of cigarette smoke hanging in the air, the people who were visibly drunk at 9 o’clock on Sunday morning while gambling, the clouds of pot everywhere, and the signs on the Strip and in the casino regarding all manner of sex-related stuff.

As he put it, “This building represents everything that’s wrong with America.”

Pretty funny that that was his summary, but I guess it beats him deciding that UNLV is now at the top of his college choice list!