Wow, it’s only 1:15 and what a day it’s been already. It started, actually, last night. We were watching TV when I looked over and realized there was water dripping down under the fairly new heater we’d had installed earlier in the year. So, Karen called the electrician (since we’d had a similar problem last year out in our shop with water dripping down under the breaker box). She left a message. Cut to this morning, 6:33 to be exact. The phone rings, not waking me because I’ve been awake a lot of the night (I’m a tad under the weather), but waking Karen. It’s the electrician and he says, your power into the house would be coming in right over the breaker, it’s dripping down from somewhere else, that’s not a job for an electrician. We are like… Oooookkaaaay… and go back to sleep, or try to anyway. Later, we go outside and look at where the power is coming into the house, and yes, you guessed it, it’s right over where the heater is. So we call him back and leave a message saying that yes, the pole is right there and that we’d had this similar problem in the shop last year. All we need is for someone to come out and re-seal around that pole on the roof. We leave a message and don’t know if they get it or not. Not much time goes by, though it’s enough for me to let my work compadres know this cold has gotten the better of me and I’m staying home today, and for Karen to complete most of a meeting on the phone, when… bam… the power goes out cutting Karen right off her meeting and off her computer. We look at each other and worry it’s out because of the drip, but we don’t panic. Instead we call our neighbor and find out that yes, their power is out too, so we decide it’s not the drip and we try to call the power company. Their line was busy, which doesn’t surprise us knowing we’re not the only house that’s out. At this point Karen gets ready to leave for her office, only she’s worried about me having to sit here in the dark on top of the fact that I don’t feel well at all. I tell her… no problem, you go in, I will just get a book, wrap up in a blanket, and sit by the window, or I’ll nap. Either way, I’ll be fine. So, she leaves. About an hour later, just about the time I’m ready to go to sleep and take a little nap, everything clicks and the power goes on just as the phone starts ringing. We’d plugged in the standard phone when the power went out so I have no idea who’s calling and am a bit out of it anyway. I answer. It’s someone Karen works with and I have to say, oh, I’m just here waiting for the power guy to get here…. yeah, that’s right. I wonder if I was convincing. Probably not. I call Karen and explain what I’d said to her co-worker. After, I decide to microwave some cold coffee, now that I can because the power is on, and settle back into the big chair. I do this, sit down, and then realize… someone is here. It’s the electrician. He hasn’t seen me yet, which is a good thing. I hear him put the ladder up as I go back into the bedroom to put on something besides pajamas, in case I have to talk to him, and by the time I’m done he’s taken the ladder down and is starting up his truck. I’m guessing he was here all of 5-10 minutes. I go outside to see if he’s re-sealed the power pole and yes, he has. At least, I think that’s what all that new goo is all over the bottom of it. Ok, so, he leaves and I never talked to him. I got dressed for nothing. I come back insdie and head back into the bedroom to put my pajamas back on, because who wants to wear jeans when one is feeling under the weather. I get them back on, call Karen and leave a message letting her know the electrician was here and we now have new goo on the roof pole. Then I settle back down in the big chair. Suddenly I realize there’s movement behind me. I can’t see it, just sense it. I turn around and geez, right there by one of the windows, close enough to touch if there was no window, is a deer. It’s eating what’s left of the rose buds. I get up carefully and go in to get the camera and am able to get a couple of shots of them, there are actually two, when suddenly one squats to pee. Yep, right there in our yard. I had to laugh… it seemed fitting, somehow, for how the day had gone to that point. It’s now almost 2:00. I’m back in the big chair, the power is on, the electrician and the deer have come and gone, and it’s quiet. Maybe I should take advantage of this moment and get something to eat… you know, before the fridge blows up or something. bah ha ha ha!!!