She's gone 'round the bend methinks

Okay, i know this is a bit silly, but it caught my fancy. A local weekly paper ran the ad that at a nearby museum, a car will be raffled a week before my birthday. The car looks like this:

I know it's insane. I'm mechanically retarded so i do not belong even *thinking* about having an MG, but i've always loved them, ever since my dad had a 1955 or was it a 1958 MG hardtop. A little red two seater with a miniscule back seat. How i cried when he sold that car. My brother and i were getting too big to squish ourselves in the back.

I was going to buy one ticket and opted instead for two.

Just one of those flight of fancy moments, but it looks like such FUN and who wouldn't want tool around in this 1951 MG TD roadster?

Lost and found

A friend of mine works at a humane society about an hour from where I live. I visited with her last Friday, met some of the cats, and if it weren’t for Phoebe being such a curmudgeon, I’d have undoubtedly come home with some new furfriends.

My friend shared on facebook how two of the workers, sisters, stayed after hours because as they were getting ready to leave, an animal control officer arrived with a lost/stray dog. One of the sisters recognized the dog as one gone missing and its picture was posted on facebook. She got the contact information, phoned the owners, and the sisters will wait at the shelter until the family can arrive and collect their lost pooch.

That reminded me of a time nearly 20 years ago now, when Himself and I were on our way to church one Easter morning. Actually, the day before that, we had an older, black dog lumber into our yard. He looked friendly enough, tongue was hanging out a mile, so we gave him some water. We looked at his collar, and it had a New York dog tag, no name and number to call. I bristled at the thought of someone simply dumping him, which sadly happened all too often in that then remote part of Pennsylvania (we were then “discovered” and became part of exurbia, but that’s a separate tale).

I had given up red meat that Lent and wanted to find something to feed the dog. Zerbe, our black and white cat who had run away from next door when she was 12 to come live us, was very used to dogs, having lived with them for so long. She didn’t get her hackles up when she saw him, was perfectly all right when we gave him a drink, and didn’t mind, even, when he flopped down on the deck to nap. But, when she saw me getting out some cubed beef, she was more curious. I browned the meat, making a bit of gravy to go with. I saved some for her and gave the rest to the dog. We called the SPCA because Himself can’t breathe really at all around dogs (terribly allergic) and we hadn’t seen the dog before so didn’t know where he lived. The dog tags were of no use, either. The dog happily ate the beef, Zerbe was glad I gave some of it to her, and it didn’t take long for the animal control officer to show up.

We guessed the dog was at least 10 years old. He got up into the truck with only a little trouble, and wagged his tail. Clearly he had been someone’s pet and was a good natured fellow.

Zerbe was relieved to see the canine guest wasn’t staying, Himself and I said a few prayers that it would end happily, and we went about our business.

So, next day, early in the morning, we were on our way to church when we saw huge yellow signs with green lettering. LOST DOG, followed by a phone number. We turned around immediately and went home to call the number, as this was in the age before cell phones. They answered on the second ring. They had just called the SPCA to find out they had their dog. Older, black, long tail. We told them we had fed their dog some stewed beef cubes the day before and called the SPCA because the dog tags were from New York.

Yes, they admitted. They had moved recently and hadn’t gotten around to updating the tags. They had a fenced in yard the dog had never shown interest in leaving, but apparently, they got careless, left the gate open enough so the dog went wandering. They lived about ¼ mile away. The dog, as it turned out, was 13.

I spoke to the wife on the phone. The husband was already en route to the SPCA to collect the dog. He stopped by our house a few days later to give us a thank you gift. Zerbe greeted him and quickly saw he was not a cat person so left the room. The man’s voice broke as he told us about the dog, how frantic he’d been when he wandered off, how he’d never done anything like this before, how very grateful he was. He gave us a thank you gift. A calendar and something else I can’t remember now what it was, just that it was something we’d never use, but the thought was so sweet, it was easy to thank him most sincerely. He berated himself for not updating the dog tags right away. We shrugged. It all ended well, that’s what mattered.

And on this Good Friday, I can’t help thinking that those people on the way to the shelter to pick up their lost dog will think this the best of Good Fridays. Will be thankful for the staff who willingly stay after hours to ensure the dog is reunited promptly with his family. And celebrate that which was lost is found with a wagging tail.

Lovely winter we're having this spring

Yes, i saw that on a friend's facebook wall, and it sums up what's been going on here for March. We've had three days so far that are above normal temperatures, one day that's normal temperature for this time of year, and all the rest have been colder than usual.

The ground is still about 75% covered with snow, and we've had snow twice this week. No accumulation, unlike east of me where they got pounded earlier in the week and vicious winds to boot. We got the winds but just missed getting the load of snow. And by just missed, i mean a half hour further east had ploughable snow.

I've had several flocks of turkeys come to the bird feeder, as i strew bird seed on the ground for the ground feeders. Several squirrels nosh there, too, and a each season for the past few years, there seems to be one enterprising one who flings himself from the top of the fence to the bird feeder, lands, and it swings wildly while he reaches down to help himself to the bird seed. The ground feeders like the arrangement very much, giving them easy pickings.

Even the animals seem winter weary as i refill the feeder. I have to think spring is really and truly coming, as i smelled a skunk last night, which is a sure sign. And, at the second to last big snowstorm, i paid to have a man come with a backhoe or skidsteer and move the snowbank back from the driveway to allow for extra snow. That's a sure sign of no more snow, right? Right?

In the meantime, my stablelicers are still on my shoes, we've one more weekend of playing hockey, and i have to hope that when March goes, it takes winter with it. I'm ready for mud season.

Stabilicers® Add tremendous traction in icy conditions. Much cheaper than having to pay for a broken leg.

For John Gray

For those readers who may not recognise the name, John Gray has a lovely blog, Going Gently. He lives with a cat, Albert, his partner, Chris, loads of chickens, some geese and ducks, a turkey named Bingley, and several dogs, Meg, William, George, and Winnifred.

John, maybe Winnie would like to do this next time to go over to the Gop?

Spring cleaning

After a tortuous several weeks at work, i decided to take a few days off. I wanted to spring clean and knew i had to strike while the iron was hot.

Instead of taking a whole week off, which i wanted, i settled for three days. Client ran late with some stuff i needed to do my part. sigh.

I totally forgot Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, and woke up Wednesday morning with a headache and felt grumpy. I looked outside, and it was snowing. It is NOT supposed to snow when i'm spring cleaning.

I moped most of the day. I felt listless and did a few things. I attended my strength training class and found i was just really tired so i did what i could and felt better afterwards.

I woke up this morning a bit sore from my class but brillant sunshine streamed through. It was so nice to see it, even though it was very cold again this morning (3°F/-16°C). And i puttered hither and yon around the house. I could do with an entire week off to do a proper spring cleaning, but there's not much point to washing the walls in my office where the coal stove is, as i still need the coal stove to be fired up.

The kitchen, guest room, and bathrooms are all much cleaner. Sunroom is decluttered. A noisome pile in my bedroom has been properly sorted. I have started on the taxes.

I hope tomorrow i can clean my bedroom, the other upstairs bedroom, the living room and make an inroad in my office. I also want to go through my clothes and shoes. I have too many of both and need to give away what i'm not wearing or shall never wear. I also found out my two favorite pairs of jeans are now too big for me. I'm glad and sad, as i really liked them. Oh well, they can go on to make someone else happy who's a bit larger than i am.

In other news, i won a drawing! It's for a restaurant gift certificate, i get to pick from a list of which restaurant(s) i want. There's one on the list i've enjoyed going to, and one i may want to try, so getting a certficate for each would be nice.

I haven't given anything up for Lent, although i've had no sugar so far, and i don't think i swore all day. So, sugar and swearing can be contenders. I think i ought to stick for the cleaning thing, too; heck, if i did something every day for all of Lent, the house may get a proper spring cleaning after all.

Coriolanus

Fortunately, the weather didn't play havoc with my plans to see Coriolanus, a National Theatre Live presentation. This is the third one i've seen. I was disappointed to miss the Scottish Play (Macbeth for the nonsuperstitious) last month, because it was rescheduled eight days before Christmas, and on a day where we got quite a bit of snow. I had bought my ticket early, as the local venue where they show National Theatre Live productions offered a discounted price if you bought tickets for Othello, the Scottish Play, and Coriolanus. Because of technical difficulty, the October showing of Macbeth needed to be moved to a later date. I debated with myself about driving to see it, as the snow was just starting before it was time to go. I wondered how bad it would be driving home three hours later, and the answer was "Snowing hard enough that i probably chose wisely to give it a miss," although i was still unhappy about it.

That strengthened my resolve to see Coriolanus all the more, and, i'm happy to report, the weather co-operated. The sets were sparsely furnished, the make-up made Coriolanus's wounds look utterly believable, and it was an engaging watch. I was annoyed by the intermission as i wanted to keep watching the play. I know modern audiences expect an intermission, but Shakespeare didn't write with intermissions in mind, he meant for his plays to run nonstop.

With both Othello and Coriolanus, i found that the actors embraced the lines and made them their own, so they didn't come out sounding stilted. It's a shame Coriolanus doesn't get more press, and once again, i see that over the last four hundred years or so little about human nature has changed. People in a position of power often abuse their position and yield to their baser natures or insecurities. Coriolanus's tendency to speak his mind bluntly and his unwillingness to say something he doesn't feel simply to appease the masses or those who may be regarded as lesser reminded me very much of me.

I know people who drone on and on about Shakespeare, thinking that we should be duly impressed that they watch the Bard's plays, but really, the reason his plays have stood up so well is because they're damn fine plays. He understands the psychology of his characters has them stay true to themselves, and gives them great lines to utter, and THAT's what's so appealing.

We have some live theatre here, and i support my local thespians as i can. I must say, though, seeing these NT Live shows are a real treat, as i'd never see Tom Hiddleston appear in anything nearby. Yes, it's a bit more than the price of a regular film ticket, but worth every penny, and much less than the cost of a ticket were one to see it on Broadway.

How cold is it?

We've gone back to pretty bloody cold. Today's high was 10°F (~-11°C). I awoke to the outside temperature being 0°F/-18°C. It's back to heavy sweaters and wearing thermal underthings. We've been like this pretty much all week and shall stay that way except for Saturday, then back to more of the Really Cold.

I drove the truck yesterday for an errand and had trouble starting it today. I was going to take the car today, but i found the lock frozen. I rarely lock my vehicles here, there just isn't much point, but on occasion one hears of people passing by and looking inside other people's cars to see if there's anything worth taking. One night a few weeks back, at my knitting group, i heard a car door slam, which seemed odd to me, and when i got in the truck to go home, i saw the centre console opened up wide. Nothing was missing, and the only things i had in the centre console were a couple CDs, a pen, and about 55¢. But that spooked me enough to lock my doors for a bit.

The only way i could get into my car today to see if it would start was to unlock the back hatch or the passenger door and crawl over to the driver's seat. The car is small, a first generation Honda Insight, and it's a manual transmission, so the gear shift makes for less space. I also have the seat pulled pretty far up because i'm short.

I finally got into the driver's seat and tried starting the car. Nope, a sad lurching sound. Too cold.

I didn't bother locking it. The driver's side lock will stay frozen for the next few days at least, and between having to climb over, know how to drive a standard, and then jump the car, to get it going at all seems like too much work for anyone to steal it.

Someone on facebook shared a story about two would-be car thieves who held up a pizza delivery guy and wanted to steal his car. Only they couldn't drive a manual transmission, so they took the money and ran. I'm viewing the frigid battery as simply another layer of my anti-theft protection.

We're supposed to get to a high of 30°F/-1°C on Saturday, and perhaps the car will start then.