At this moment Pat is in our backyard digging down to the sewar line, which has apparently collapsed, causing icky stuff to backup into the bathtub when I run the washing machine or flush one of the toilets (apparently the other toilet is on the safe side of the collapse.)
He’s saving us around $900 by digging it himself, but risking having to work on his upcoming days off as well as getting hurt.
Men :idunno:.
Sometimes the power goes out, just briefly, but it pops back on so fast I don’t think anything of it.
But today I found out that I should probably be mourning some poor fried squirrel.
Although they are largely tree- dwelling, squirrels are just as happy to use overhead utility wires as a route of travel. They’ve been known to gnaw on transformers, electric cables and substation equipment, and sometimes go on suicide missions to bring down the local power grid.
There is no evidence to support the theory that squirrels use wires like dental floss to remove nut particles trapped between their incisors. But squirrels’ teeth do grow constantly and need to be filed down by gnawing daily on hard materials.
In a typical squirrel power outage, chewing is not at issue. Electricity travels through power lines in a steady flow following the path of least resistance. A squirrel traveling down a single strand of line doesn’t offer a shorter route than the wire itself.
But when the squirrel bridges a gap between one line and another, or between a transformer and a power line, electricity seeks the shorter path. The result is the classic “short circuit,” which fries the squirrel to a crisp and can either cut the power to nearby homes or cause a massive power surge.
heh, I googled “fried squirrel” and found this: 
I’ve been meaning to post this for awhile. We got a phone message a couple weeks ago that would have freaked me out had I not already seen this flash cartoon (contains graphic language and possible pop-ups, be warned…).
The cold I’ve been fighting for almost a week has settled into my larynx. Now I sound like this (wav file.)
Been sick since the weekend. Today I’m feeling a bit better but if I say more than two words my voice disappears.
Visited the middle school for lunch with Nick (open house today) and Pat met us there as well. We sat with 3 of his friends, always fun to spend time with 4 eleven year olds. Especially in a loud cafeteria with slightly clogged ears. I have no idea what they were talking about.
I went to Tim’s class last week to help out and had to quickly cut out 20 paper bag vests while the kids waited to decorate them. When I finished his teacher said “You’re never coming back, are you?” I assured her I’d be back and she said “Great, how about next Tuesday?” So in a few minutes I’m heading over there. Hopefully she didn’t tell the other first grade teachers how good I got at quickly making those vests…
Later it’s off to CCD, karate, maybe even the HS PTO meeting (that one’s unlikely.)
Aren’t you glad you visited today for this exciting post :eh: ?
I’ve got my iTunes just playing random songs from my library. I’d been listening to the same stuff over and over and I wanted to dig deeper. Some of what’s popped up- Tusk by Fleetwood Mac, What a Good Boy by Barenaked Ladies, ABC by The Jackson Five, Code of Silence by Bruce Springsteen, Vertigo by U2, Angry White Boy Polka by Weird Al, Are You Happy Now by Michelle Branch and currently, the song known to my son Nick as “the Cadillac song” :huh: , Rock and Roll by Led Zeppelin.
Depending on the amount of people blogexploded here, I should hit 2000 visitors very soon. The counter’s at the bottom of the page- if it’s you, leave a comment and say hi!