Still Standing

For those of you who may have heard/read/seen the news about the big storm ( possibly a tornado) in Atlanta, I just thought I'd let you know that we're okay! We got some heavy downpours - and maybe some hail- and thunder and lightning and the power went out for a second, but our roof is still on and our house is intact, thank the Lord. The worst of the storm passed by to the north of us.

The circus in my yard

I was in my kitchen just now, making dinner, and looked out my window to watch a good old fashioned fracas unfold over the space of about ten minutes: four adults, seven children, and three dogs rushing around madly. One of the neighborhood dogs escaped his leash and got a little cocky, attacking a much bigger dog who was on a walk under the control of his master... and then there was another little yapper who was just dancing around on the periphery enjoying the chaos. Anyway- all those people were trying to stop the fight and catch the little troublemaking mutt. This all happened in my backyard - in the general area of the firepit, for those of you who are familiar with the layout...There is a trail that goes through the bottom of our backyard and some of the neighbors walk across there with their dogs.

People just look so funny running after animals... men diving into piles of leaves... children running in circles...It provided quite the little tableau of chaos and amused me no end. I almost ran upstairs to get the videocamera but I didn't want to miss a minute of it...and I figured it would all be over by the time I got back to record it.

A comedy of errors, without the comedy - and then, to conclude, a comedy

For almost a week, one thing after another blew up in my face. From trying -and failing- to get Aiden's social security number ( we finally did get it, but after much tribulation), to "losing" my cell phone ( I'm 99.9% sure I put it on the roof of my car and drove off, so it is most likely smashed to smithereens) and then waiting TWO HOURS to be seen at the doctor's office on Monday morning just to get my blood drawn, and never actually getting to see the doctor b/c there was a misunderstanding between receptionists and they thought I wasn't there. It's a long and tangled tale that I will not attempt to fully explain... It makes me mad all over again, just thinking about it. I ended up in tears b/c I called home and heard Aiden crying to be fed in the background and I hadn't left anything for him to eat b/c I thought I would be back in plenty of time.

There was more drama in between the lines of all these incidents, but I will not burden you with excess grousing. In short, it seemed that I was the anti-Midas: everything I touched turned to ashes. I really felt like there was some sort of curse on me. (At one point, I complained to Grandpa that EVERYTHING was going wrong. He replied philosophically and with characteristic calm, that surely there must be SOMETHING, SOMEWHERE that wasn't going wrong. ) At the absolute nadir of this string of catastrophes, my father assured me that it would all make a great blog post someday. What faith! Who am I to naysay him... but it doesn't seem that I can even try to be funny about it, even now, days later, when my luck has apparently turned for the better. Sorry, Daddy; I tried to make it into an interesting post, but I have failed at that too. So to salvage this dreary entry, I will switch gears abruptly and tell a story.

This is a story of a certain sheriff's deputy, who works at a jail in Anytown, USA. This deputy was working in the tower security post one evening- I think that's what it's called- where he was alone - if I am remembering this right. He had access to all the intercoms/loudspeakers which go into the cell-blocks and feeling mischievious ( and probably a little bored), he decided to mess with the inmates. He had figured out how to broadcast himself without sending the initial beep that would let inmates know that an announcement was coming... and so he quietly meowed into the intercom. Several times. Finally, one of the inmates responded, telling the deputy that he was hearing a cat. ( I wonder how much courage it took to make such a strange claim. Some people claim to hear voices... How crazy must you feel if you think you are hearing a CAT... inside a JAIL....) The deputy feigned ignorance, telling the inmate that it must be another inmate who had somehow gotten illegal access to the intercom and was trying to send a secret message to his compatriots...

This true story, relayed to me by a reliable source, made me laugh uproariously. So all's well that ends well. As long as there are such people in the world as this meowing deputy to cheer me upon my troublesome way, I guess I can wade through the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.