Shiver Me Timbers!

Shiver Me timbers!
Originally uploaded by rcoss2001.

The fallen silver maple took out the upstairs porch rail, a small part of the back porch and squished a plastic trash can.

If A Tree Falls In The Backyard, Will Roger Hear It?

If A Tree Falls In The Backyard, Will Roger Hear It?
Originally uploaded by rcoss2001.

Storm damage from 10-128-06. The silver maple main trunk gave way.

A Crappy Day!

I started off sleeping fairly well yesterday and awoke to a storm being predicted. As Friday was not payday in the new system(Tuesday will be) and Betsy had to work. I had a day of minor chores planned and some computer time. I am running low on my meds and skipped them till later in the day. The first thing to go wrong was the letter from OPERS. Betsy had opened it and filled out part but was having a problem with the rest of it. She said it needed notarized and that was true. What she had missed was it also said it had to be signed by the payroll officer of her last job, clear over at Metro. Damn! That means mailing it to them and waiting till it comes back, since Betsy is now working full time. That means it will be all the longer till we can get that money, something which could have helped us out a long time ago. My mood dropped. We also figured out that the pharmacy had been trying to reach her to tell her they could not fill her thyroid Rx as her doctor is no longer with the place they were trying to reach. So Betsy has only one of her regular strength pills left and is going to have to use the old lesser strength till a new Rx can be written. (She took her first today and we can already tell the difference.) I got Betsy off to work on time and while the weather was not great it was not terrible, though it began to sleet shortly after she left. I was glad I had brought Thorissa the Wild One in Friday night. It also began to lightning and thunder, which is okay by me. The wind began to pick up. Betsy called, and it turned out she was not scheduled to work,though she did meet a work friend of hers who she was glad to see. She called me and asked about coming home but I suggested she go to the "Y' since she had the opportunity to exercise. I was on the computer a while and finally went down to eat, only to step in cat crap. Thorissa, being mad just used the floor, not the litterbox in the kitchen. In her defense, Lindy does attack her if she goes to the basement to use the main litter boxes. I cleaned up, ate and came upstairs. I figured I would read. I fell asleep though. While I was sleeping something did happen, which Betsy spotted when she came in and came upstairs. I woke just as she came upstairs, and she told me a large part of the trunk to the old silver maple in our back yard had come down. She asked if I had heard it. Nope! We had wind gusts of up to 60 MPH and the old tree, which we knew was having problems , just couldn't take it. Some damage to the upstairs gutter, sleeping porch(rail down) and the back porch. Se my Flickr posts.
Betsy had gone shopping so she brought in the groceries while I kept the boys in.
She then fixed dinner and afterwards started the dishwasher, which commenced to leak all over. Betsy thought it was due to the disposal being clogged. I tried to temporarily clean the water up. Later we noticed it was getting too warm even for such a chilly night. The leaking water ran into the floor and the basement, shorting the furnace, keeping it from shutting off. This has happen a couple of times in the past, once long ago and once this spring, so I told Betsy where the master switch for the furnace was, as she wanted to shut it down since had never done so. Still it was toasty warm and we were happy watching TV, "The Horse Whisperer". Though Thorissa had begged to be let out, she then wanted to come in; but when I would try to bring her in :jumping up, going to the door, stopping the boys, going out into the wind and rain, she would not come in. She pulled this twice, and I said enough. We stayed up a bit latter than we normally would, knowing we had an extra hour, watching Monty Python-including the "Cheese Shop" one of my favorite bits, and then a second episode that was not as good. Just before midnight the power went out! We lit candles, found flashlights and went to bed. Power came back on this AM about 1000, so with the added hour of Standard Time, it had been off 11 hours. Betsy was going to try to clean today, skipped church, but her thyroid is already messing her moods up, and she wasn't in that good a mood to start. The weather has been chilly but pretty today, but I found the leak is still there so it was not the disposal being clogged. An attempt to bring in Thorissa today failed as she struggled mightily. So that was my day.

A Vision of A Black Cat

A Vision of A Black Cat
Originally uploaded by rcoss2001.

Great for this past Friday the 13th or Halloween coming up.

Tonight, All Is Well

Our time on Earth is never guaranteed.

Tonight, All Is Well

A week ago we went to the covered bridge festival in Ashtabula. Today we went to see "Monster House" and then "World Trade Center" at the cheap seats. Both movies have Maggie Gylllenhaal oddly enough.
Betsy and I got home, and I broght Thorissa in as it was getting bad out. Later while we were watching TV, Lindy came home after four days away. This is the first night all five cats are in together. So for tonight all is well, which is all one can ask for, as the WTC movie reminds us.

The Bolt Wasn't In Use

If the bolt wasn't in use what was it doing up there? Was it a random spare? Do gremlins just toss bolts off planes now and then? Did it indeed fall from a plane? Might we have a Fortean fall here? Or just the usual human carelessness.

Cleveland Wants To Spend $1 Million To Kill Cats!

One million bucks to "round up" and "euthanize" stray cats. Mandatory ID chips. Right. Hmm...
Do we have a rabies epidemic I don't know about? Is there some other problem with "stray" cats that is worth a million bucks? It's bad enough they go after dogs. Watch out "homeless" people! As strays your next!

FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH !!!!!!!

I am not a superstitious person. Oh, I believe in synchronicity and ghosts(sort of) but not in unlucky 13 or black cats. After all, I have some wonderfull black cat luck. Merlin and Thorissa being my best examples. And Spencer asked me to pose on a Friday the 13th in 2004. Years ago I did have someone who was drunk total my Fiat station wagon on Friday 13th but no one was hurt, and since he had his niece and nephew in the car that was lucky.
So this Fiday when I woke up at 0700 a few minutes before the alarm was supposed to go off I considered my self to have had a good night and turned off the alarm. Fifteen minutes later while Betsy and I were talking the alarm went off! I thought that was odd and reached over to turn it off. It wouldn't shut down! I had to hunt down the plug and pull it. This took a good ten minutes of digging under and behind furniture. Yikes! I was fully awake after that needless to say. The day was uneventfull, though my mind was in a fog after noon time. Then Betsy came and picked me up and we stopped for food and then on to home. A strangely chilly home. A dark home. Hey! No power! Since about 1400 (according to the kitcen clock, an old fashioned analog) the power had been out. We got home about 1830 and the power came back on about 1930 or so. Happy Friday 13th!

A Vision of A Black Cat

A Vision of A Black Cat
Originally uploaded by rcoss2001.

Happy Friday the 13th! Here is a black cat you can pet for luck.

Difflewuz Says Hello

100_6364
Originally uploaded by rcoss2001.

Diffy in a very relaxed moment.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

DON'T MOURN FOR ANNA POLITKOVSKAYA, GET THE STORY OUT.

Anna Politkovskaya died for freedom of the press, something we take far too much for granted here and are in constant danger of losing. That this took place in Russia is not a sign we should ignore it.It could be here if things were as they were in Joe Hill's time, not so long ago here.

"Don't Mourn For Me. Organize!"

JOE HILL
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you and me
Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead"
"I never died" says he. "I never died" says he

"In Salt Lake, Joe, by God" says I,
Him standing by my bed
"They framed you on a murder charge"
Says Joe "But I ain't dead." Says Joe "But I ain't dead"

"The copper bosses killed you Joe,
They shot you Joe" says I
"Takes more than guns to kill a man" Says Joe "I didn't die." Says Joe "I didn't die"

And standing there as big as life,
And smiling with his eyes
Joe says "What they forgot to kill, Went on to organise."
"Joe Hill ain't dead" he says to me,
"Joe Hill ain't never died
Where workingmen are out on strike
Joe Hill is at their side."
From San Diego up to Maine,
In every mine and mill,
Where workers strike and organise,
Says he, "You'll find Joe Hill."


Remembering Joe Hill, the day after his birthday. Every time you use sick time or health care or take a vacation day think of what you owe this man and the thousands like him. We forget, America,
what made us great.

Thorissa, On the Roof Refusing to Come In

Thorissa, On the Roof Refusing to Come In
Originally uploaded by rcoss2001.

Thorissa followed Tippy up on this beautiful first day of October, but refused to come in and in fact climbed back down.