Category: Life

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

In this area, one usually expects thunderstorms to be over fairly quickly. Last night, we apparently had bands of thunderstorms going by. One time the thunder was so loud that the house shook. I kept expecting to lose our electricity, though Mountain View Electrical Coop has been pretty reliable the past two years.

However, by 8:45 pm the thunder had stopped, though it was still raining. So I was surprised when the door bell rang. Sometimes loud noises will trigger our doorbell. Then there was the sound of a knock.

Our house is not very approachable in daylight, let alone in the rain and dark, so knocks at night are unprecedented. I told Jack to get the door since I was already in my pajamas, then started putting on my robe. All I could think was one of the horses had gotten out or hurt, or the barn was on fire, and one of our neighbors had seen it.

Instead, it was a Monument police officer, asking if anyone here had dialed 911. Jack and I both went “Duh…” and replied no. I looked at the dogs, who were happily checking out the visitor. The officer said that was what the last six places he had checked had said. Evidently the electrical storm caused some spurious 911 calls, and when they tried to call our house they couldn’t get through. I check our line (lots of static) and the emergency operator tried our number again and was able to get through.

This morning I can see the barn, and two damp looking horses, and a lot of drenched looking ground.  And we are supposed to get more rain and storms today.  I am surprised not to see flash flood warnings.

New Deck

Full Size 1200×798
For over a decade, we had an outdoor spa. However, it had become increasingly leaky over the years, making it hard to keep the water level where it should be, and last summer we decided to decommission it. Two weeks ago, we paid someone to haul away the old spa, and this week a contractor from Handyman Connection built this lower level to fill in the gaping hole. He said we could stain it in a month. We are very pleased with the job that he did.

Go Pet Friendly

The web site GoPetFriendly.com Pet Travel allows you to find hotels and other accommodations that allow pets.  Ideally, I think vacations are to give me a break from taking care of critters, but not everyone feels that way.  I did find Red Roof’s policy of allowing pets very handy when I drove three cats and an elderly Golden Retriever from Plano, TX to Colorado Springs.  Dairy Queens were also very useful, because they were spaced about every sixty miles in Texas, allowing me a break from driving, a refill of coffee, a bathroom (needed after all the coffee) and a chance to walk the dog.