This is apparently the week of really weird and destructive shit happening to us.

We were sitting both on our computers when we heard a very strange noise. Looked around the basement, didn’t see anything. Went upstairs, didn’t see anything. I went out the kitchen door and saw the yard beside the house was full of smoke. I called Michael to get a flashlight and come out to see if he could figure out what the hell was going on and whether it was dangerous.

I go back outside and try and figure out where the smoke is coming from. The answer was nowhere that I could see. Then I see Michael on the other side of the house looking at the car. The rear windshield was completely shattered.

Mind you, we back into the driveway, so it’s not like a rock from the road accidentally got thrown onto the car.

This is really weird.

ADDENDUM the First:
For all the good it’ll do us, we know what happened.

One of the students in the house across the street spun his wheels and kicked gravel across the length of the house and into the driveway where the car was sitting. The smoke was a combination of burned rubber and gravel dust.

When we went to the two houses across the alley to find out what happened, it was completely obvious that the guy who answered the door was lying, and was very uncomfortable about doing so. And we got independent but anonymous verification of this. So, although a police report was filed, I don’t think there’s anything we can do about it. I’m hoping it won’t be too expensive. Unfortunately, since it’s the rear windshield, it almost certainly will be expensive.  But I suppose that’s why we have insurance.

Ya know, I’m starting to think the world is doing it’s best to convince me that people suck.

So, although in many ways we’ve been set for years for power outages (wood stove, oil lamp, alarm clock that works on batteries, lots of flashlights) after this latest outage we realized that we still had some needs that weren’t being met. A trip to Target and a purchase from Amazon has now taken care of those needs.

First up was a power pack. We ordered a Xantrex Powerpack 600 Watt Jumpstarter, Power Inverter and Backup Power Source. This turned out to be far more useful than the UPS we had been considering. A battery that can be recharged on an AC (house) current or using the DC current in the car.

Now we’ll have hot water (our gas water heater has a blower motor that runs on electricity. Stupid idea.) and can run the refrigerator short periods of time. It’s supposed to last for several hours, is supposed to quick charge on DC power, and has enough juice to jump start a car (something that would have been very useful this summer when the switch on the trunk light went bad.)

I’ve got high hopes for this product.

The other thing we got were two Coleman lights, the Coleman Rugged Battery Powered Lantern. The oil lamp we had was okay, but it was somewhat hot and smoky. These lamps are as bright as some of the lamps in our house. Bright enough that my grandmother and I could sit in the living room and read.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s the perfect lamp.

Of course I also spent a fair amount on batteries, but hey, that’s just something you have to live with when you have transformers arc and blow up on the power lines just out side your house twice in two years. (Let me tell you, if you want exciting, an arcing power line is all KINDS of exciting. When the first one blew Michael and I thought there was an insane amount of lightening (for at least a minute) because we couldn’t see anything but white light when we looked out the window. This one, my grandmother thought the house was on fire. That kind of exciting.)

Things are going better than they were Friday.

We (read: Michael) replaced the light today, so I don’t have the swath of destruction in the yard reminding me how much people suck.

Additionally, when we drove my grandmother to Hagerstown to meet my Aunt for the Grandmom trade-off. (She she can see her new great-grandchildren.) On the way, we stopped at the fruit market in Hancock (anyone who’s driven 68/70 knows where this is.). I got three different kinds of fresh apples, local made apple butter, and apple cider.

Now all I need is time to bake…

Does anyone know if you can freeze apple cider? I’d like to freeze “individual” serving sizes for when I need them for cooking, since apple cider is hard to find at other times of the year.

Also, this is a good time to get Buckwheat flour, for everyone who missed the Buckwheat Festival last weekend. (That would be me.)

Apparently, this is secretly Monday.

I knew I was going to have to spend the evening emptying out the refrigerator, and wasn’t looking forward to it. What caught me completely off guard was coming home to discover that some jackass had gone off the road and destroyed the light at the end of our walk.

(more…)

At 5:30 this morning.

Got me evening all mapped out: listen to the game and clean out the fridge and freezer!

On the bright side, I’ll get rid of all those freeze dried veggies that have probably been buried in the back of the freezer for years.

Is it Murphy’s Law or some other for of karma that decided that the power outage (17 hours and counting) should occur on Trash day–i.e. my trash went out this morning, while I have a refrigerator/freezer full of food that may now be garbage.

Ugh.

There’s your warning. Avoid my driveway for the next week, cuz that’s where the trash can is.

YARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s the death of a thousand paper cuts kinda day.

There’s only one solution to this!

CHOCOLATE!

Today’s goal:

Explain football to Grandmom.

Michael (reading ingredients): Sugar, artificial and natural flavors, aaaah…aaah..zeesssss.
Michelle: AZIZ! LIGHT!
Michael: Dork.

“I’m trying to download this file of images, and it says it’s going to take 20 hours. Can you make it go faster?”

Happy Birthday to the Constitution!

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Here are some of my favorite amendments:

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment XIII

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Amendment XIX

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

Amendment XXI

Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

Section 2. The transportation or importation into any state, territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

Babies are here!

Helena Everett (not sure about the spelling of the second name) 4 pounds 6 ounces
and
James Ezra  5 lbs 1.7 ounces

Still no lengths.

Both have big blue eyes.

Yay! New cousins for me!

Labor Day in the United States exists to rights that workers in the United States have achieved in the past century, and to give us time to allow those who keep the power on and the trains running and all those other jobs that require you to get your hands dirty, a day to be recognized for their work.

And we should remember the past, and some of the incidents that made labor unions so critical:
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Child Labor in the United States

And we should also consider the state of Unions in the US, and the status of laborers. By this I don’t mean lawyers and CEOs, but the people who do the work in the service and manufacturing industries: slaughterhouses, commercial farms, coal mines.

And realize that for those at the bottom, wages have remained stagnant or decreased with inflation, rates of health insurance coverage are falling (while health costs rise), and workplace safety is again becoming an increasing problem.

Bureau of Labor Statistics
National Agricultural Workers Survey
US Department of Labor

So while many of us (especially those of us who have computers and time to read weblogs) are enjoying our day of leisure, we should also consider those whose jobs are much harder, and much more dangerous. We’ve seen several industrial disasters this year, so today is a good day to remember those who have lost their lives and their health doing nothing more than trying to make living.

It’s almost amazing how one thing can change a situation from horrible to pleasant.

I had to get downtown to pick up our car (the battery kept dying because the trunk light wouldn’t go out) and on the way to the PRT, ran into a friend I hadn’t talked to in a couple of years. She also needed to go downtown, so we went together.

Long story short–the PRT was down due to lightening, so a trip that should have taken 20 minutes ended up taking and hour and a half.

Normally, this would be incredibly frustrating, but we spent the entire time talking and catching up, so the whole trip ended up being rather pleasant. Of course I would have preferred not standing around or walking in the heat and humidity, but it was very good to talk and catch up.

So here’s for having the right frame of mind.