A Night In The Life

What a night!
A winter storm was predicted to hit us and all of Belen scoffed at the report as we were enjoying the past week’s temperatures that were in the high 60’s.

Dang! Were we wrong!

I couldn’t get out of work soon enough yesterday, but got moved along even faster when the fire alarms started screeching at 2:40, ten minutes after school was over. I figured it was ‘a sign’ to get out NOW. So I did.
I zoom, zoom, zoomed home and could barely get BB’s (the new Jeep) door open the winds were blowing so hard. Hopefully the high winds weren’t going to last too long.

Wrong again!

It blew until about 11 pm, well over 30 mph, non-stop. I would’ve played the soundtrack to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ but since my G4 laptop is certified as dead I’m still in the mode of setting up preferences on the new Mac Air laptop I was FORCED to get as a replacement. I’ve got to get my iTunes account transferred to this computer now. What a chore.

So, I rocked and rolled with the wind and caught the sundry items that got knocked down hither and yon as the night went on—when I wasn’t catching a nap as my way to avoid the tumult. Somewhere around 10:30 pm this monster gust whacked The Tin Can but good. My gills went green and I began planning how I’d have to fill the insurance claim forms out, and if I could even do it since I haven’t inventoried all that I have in TTC with me. There’s no point in doing in inventory, I decided, since I would probably be knocked unconscious and be bleeding from some wheres and would be rendered stupid so that I couldn’t even fill out a damn insurance claim form even if I had to. I feigned ignorance to my environment and delved into my current bibliographic read: Dead Beat. (It’s about specialty journalists who write obituaries and the intrigue, style and trend changes in the world of obit writing. Not bad, actually.)

When I headed outside to see what was salting and peppering TTC I was blasted with 30 mph snowflakes. Luverly. I cruised around the house looking for errant construction materials and was headed back into TTTC when something looked quite amiss in two perimeter locations. AH SHIT! would pretty much sum it up. The Porta Jane had blown over (the second time since it was installed), and so had the pressure tank for the water well. Criminey. NOW what?It’s around freezing, there’s snow being surgically implanted into my exposed orifices and skin pores, the moon and its light has been obliterated and to heft these two…appliances…I’m going to need both hands so a flashlight is no good ‘cept for making it so I can see all that is wrought and wrong. (Say! That’s a pretty good line, ain’t it?) Screw it. I’m going inside. And…I did. It’s not like there was much I could do to make any of it right with the wind working against me. A zen-Murphy’s-Law Combo-moment for me.

The winds finally died down and I was able to go to sleep. This morning found my world pretty much as I had left it. Hmmmm. Neighbor Ed came to help me heft the water tank back to vertical. No damage to the pipes or tank. I’m hoping it stays that way. I chased down my garbage can and tied it back down to its support stakes, then popped the Porta Jane back to vertical. It hadn’t been pumped in awhile, given what I found splashed all over the inside of it. ~sigh~ This is my world, Y’all—welcome!

KJ is driving down from CO today with Lego and Monster. That’ll be nice.



The house, which seems to be taking a backseat to the rest of my daily events of late, has been pretty much at a standstill since the weather’s been too nice, I guess, to make lava block.

The loan officer at the bank almost caused me to spontaneously combust on Thursday. He wanted to know if the walls were up and the windows were in. He wouldn’t transfer any money until they were. I didn’t calm down until about 5 hours later, just before he emailed and said that the money had been placed in my account and to have a wonderful weekend. That just set me off again. I’m considering going to Kohls and buying some size 64 underwear for the banker and mailing them to him with a note that says he might find happiness in his world if he tried these on, vs. the obviously waaay too tight tightie-whities he must be wearing now. I could make it anonymous, she says meekly and with pure innocence.

The good news about the house is that the fabrication of the kiva doors is complete. Rex brought a door up yesterday to show me how they turned out. They’re quite cool. I’ll post a pic of ‘em once they’re put in place.

During one of my ventures into the winds outside last night I was catching many glimmers of shining eyes across the property and wondering if I was going to be ‘on the menu’. Then, much to my amusement, I barely caught the movement of the baby bunny that lives under TTC boppin’ across the dirt not too far away from me. No, it wasn’t I that was going to be on the menu tonight, and I’d be damned if Little Bun was going to be, either. I got some stale bread and tossed it under TTC so the lil’ un would have some food and wouldn’t have to stay out and be the hor d’ouvre for those skulking coyotes.

There it is.
Mucho mananas from now….Enjoy the pics!