Battle stations

A little bit of trivia for you - this is the longest I have ever lived in the same house.

I like this house. And I hope we actually get to own it before we have to leave it. But I'm also realizing that the challenge with living in the same house for an extended period of time is that you get to live with your decisions - landscaping mistakes (who knew roses could get so big), agreeing to paint your own trim to save a few dollars (most of it's done) and buying your own carpet cleaner (sigh). And I've learned that houses will eventually need some of those repairs that go beyond routine maintenance.

Our kitchen tap has, off and on during our time here, dripped. It usually starts slow and accelerates towards the end of my husband's patience when he replaces some part I can't name and it stops dripping for a time.

So today, he replaced that part once again.

But this time, instead of stopping the drip, it created a water feature. Right under the kitchen counter where I've always NOT wanted a water feature. After several attempts to figure out what was happening and mopping up each time, we decided we don't have a clue what's happening and will have to call a plumber.

But not 'til Monday. I'm not paying weekend rates again.

In the meantime, I wanted to do dishes (and that, my friend, does not happen often). Apart from needing some of those dishes, I don't want the plumber seeing the mountain of dishes sitting there in various stages of decay.

Solution?

The utility sink in the laundry room, of course. Fortunately, I had taken the old fish tank out and disinfected the sink just the day before. (Part of the souring towel incident, but again, that's for another time.)

So we put an assembly line together - someone to wash (me, of course), someone to dry, run dishes up and down the hall, etc. And we got them done.

And apparently we get to do it again tomorrow. And Monday, if the plumber can't come right away.

Ahh, the joys of home ownership.

Apocolypse ... now?

I had one of those weird experiences today. I had to run to the grocery store (it involved a bath towel with sour milk on it, but that's for another time) and noticed as I got to the south end of town that the traffic lights were out. Not just blinking red, or blinking green but out. The first intersection I thought, "Hmmm, that's odd" but I was turning right so didn't hang around to notice what the rest of traffic was doing. But then the next one was out. And the next one too. SIX traffic lights in a row - NOTHING.

I will say I experienced a moment of community pride. People adapted very quickly and everyone took their turn getting through the multi-lane intersections. Nobody panicked, everyone just slowed down enough to evaluate what was going on and went about their business.

Then I pulled into the grocery store parking lot and experienced a moment of community weird. Hmmm, not many cars here for a Friday afternoon. And, look, the stores are looking kind of dark too. Maybe I should come back later. But I really don't want to go back home to terry cloth souring on my laundry room floor. Well, can't hurt to ask.

Turns out the store was still open but anything refrigerated or frozen was now swathed in cardboard that would NOT be moved, "NO EXCEPTIONS", reminded the staff member at the door.

Can I still pay?

Of course! Nothing wrong with the phone lines, and the tills are running on emergency generator power. You just can't pay for milk or eggs because remember NO EXCEPTIONS to the cardboard cozy rule. Oh, but you can go into the beer cooler.

Huh?

There have been a lot of strange predictions about the coming cold and flu season. Apparently my government has the right to quarantine and vaccinate the population however it sees fit once a health emergency is declared. People are being advised to stock up on groceries and medicines just in case this swine flu gets out of hand. It can sound kind of alarmist.

I think today gave me a bit of a sense of what that might look like. Or what Hurricane (fill-in-the-blank) survivors might have faced. Actually, I enjoyed grocery shopping today. You never realize how much background noise is in your day until it all goes away. And the soft lighting and unhurried people gave it a sense of canned-goods-zen. I think most people will still look out for others as best they can.

But maybe I should get a couple chickens if they're going to keep locking up the eggs. Or a cow. I'm not sure beer would be quite the same on my Cheerios.

Guess who's birthday?

Guess who's birthday it is today?

Yep - Agatha Christie's!!

Now, as SG so rightly pointed out, the Queen of Crime is probably not celebrating too much so it falls to the rest of us to do it for her. And one of the places I found is a "How Well Do You Know Agatha Christie" quiz. I only got 8 out of 11. I had to guess at the number of cups of tea she drank.

Apparently, she's such a prolific writer that she'll still be publishing a couple new stories after she's dead. (More details here and here.) Can you believe she did all that in longhand and on a manual typewriter? She must have had wrists of steel. Or a secretary. With wrists of steel.

I read my first Agatha Christie story many moons ago when I had run out of things to do while babysitting on a goat farm (I wasn't baby sitting the goats, mind you. It was a different sort of kid.) I pulled And Then There Were None off the shelf and we've been the best of friends ever since. I thought I had every story she'd had published but now I see I'll have a couple new ones to add to the collection.

In the meantime, it's actually Agatha Christie WEEK, so dig out a classic and celebrate with a little murder and mayhem!

9:09:09 9/9/09

Did you miss it? That big historic moment yesterday when the clock clicked over to 9:09:09, September 9,2009?

Yep. Me too.

September 8, 2009

I was accused a few days ago of being a little over eager about today.

I don't think so!!!

Must be love

I read a saying by a child the other day that went,

"You know it's love when you say you like their shirt and they wear it every day."

I was following a discussion today about an industry issue (one relevant to my industry) and I must confess it made me a little - no, make that a lot - frustrated. And by the time I went out to the kitchen to make supper, I was a little riled. Can you be frosted and steamed all at the same time? My poor hubby, that I hadn't really talked with all day, stepped right into the line of fire with a possibly innocent question and then just stood back as I went off. At least I wasn't waving a knife.

I spouted and spewed and generally behaved like a shrew and he just watched.

Then he decided to talk about baseball.

So on that note, here's a link to some great baseball commercials by the Mariners. (Yes, I know, but it's the only sports channel we get and I'm starting to like them.)

I highly recommend the one called "Sorry."

Now I've got to see if I can find a shirt he likes ...

The Butterfly Circus

This short film is 20 minutes long and well worth every second of your time: