"Interesting" weekend . . . well, that's ONE word for it

We have been having a VERY strange electrical problem. We have a big generator that comes on automatically when the power goes out. It powers all the refrigerators and freezers, the central air conditioner, and all the lights in the main living area. It does NOT, however, power everything. The wall outlets upstairs in the office, for instance, don't work so neither does the computer or the cable internet connection. Talk about frustrating!!  AND because hurricanes generally happen when it's hot outside, the A/C works, but the furnace does not. 

  

Well, for some reason when the power flickered on and off on Friday, the generator did NOT come on (the power wasn't out - just flickering), but the electrical switched over to the generator selection.  So since then, the furnace has not been working and the temp last night went down to 28 degrees! Since some of the wall outlets downstairs still work, I plugged a couple of little heaters in, and turned on the gas fireplace.  And luckily, the outlet behind the bed is working and so the heated mattress pad is too!  Yippee!  But the rest of the house is VERY cold.  And there's no lights in my bathroom.  Annoying.

 

And on the plus side, all three horses (yes - I'm just considering Arthur another "horse" these days) have nice new or clean blankets on. Arthur's very first blanket arrived Saturday evening, just as the temperature was dropping into the 30's.  I wasn't the least bit sure he was going to put up with having it put on him. But as it turned out, he didn't object at all.  He seems quite happy to be warm!

 

I hadn't fastened his leg straps yet - but  I did eventually.  ;-D

He stood around for a while, then he laid down and went to sleep! Makes me feel really good about having gotten it for him. And I'm definitely happy with Schneider's Saddlery for getting it here so quickly. They've been in business since 1948 but that was the first time I ever bought anything from them. It WON'T be the last.

As for Lizzie, I put one of Ladybug's blankets that's closed in the front and has a bellyband on her and she seems to like that one fine.  From this picture you can see that she obviously lays down in it a lot -- look how grubby that bellyband is!

And then, because the electrical outlets on the porch were out, the heater I have out there for the cats wasn't working, I had to let the cats who live on the back porch inside.  I had put them out there originally because "someone" (and I wasn't sure which one) kept peeing all over things in the house.  But as it turned out, the two remaining cats behaved just fine this weekend so it must have been Harley who was doing that.  Li'l Guy even "asked" to go out at one point so he could go to the potty outside.  And while he was inside, he insisted on being in my lap the whole time!

NOTE:  I'm only playing cards on that laptop -- the wireless internet access isn't currently working at home either.

 

As for Abigail, though, she has become extremely suspicious - almost feral - since she's been outside and not handled regularly.  So when she first came in, anytime she heard me around she never took her eyes off of me for fear I would try to "handle" her.

 

 

 

But eventually, even she began to enjoy being inside where it was at least reasonably warm.

 

 

 

Jan and Mike came by yesterday.  They went to check out a horse over on the River Road nearby and stopped by on their way back.  Sounds like they found a really nice boy.  He's a Quarter Horse who apparently gets upset about absolutely NOTHING -- what a fine thing!  They're going to bring the two horses they ride most over to the BREC horse park and have the owner bring "Ben" over so they can get together in a space that isn't "home" to any of them just to be sure they all get along okay.  Then they'll decide if he's the one they're looking for. 

 

Torri posted a note on Facebook last night saying that Cory Bourque is coming to St. Gabriel again for a  horsemanship clinic January 19 and 20.  If Jan and Mike get a new horse that should work perfectly!   

Oh - and David got back from his California Christmas vacation and came back over this weekend to go back to work.  He got the base for the new freezer built in the garage, but he needs to pick up some heavy duty plywood for the top of it.  So it'll get done this week sometime.   The ground level garage is a little more than 1 and 1/2 feet lower than the elevated house.  There are steps going up to the back door in there.  So what he did was build a platform at the level of the top step by the back door so that we can open that door going out of the kitchen and the new upright freezer will be right there handy at the same level as the kitchen, right by the door!  AND it will also be perfectly safe that way if the garage should flood.  That's happened once or twice over the last decade or two.  So we keep everything at least a foot up above ground level.  And now that new freezer will be a good 18 or 20 inches higher than the floor.  Excellent!

 

Because I'm out of 2012 PTO time now, and since today is still 2012, I had to come in to work -- even though no one else in our patent group was going to be here.  For that matter, there are only 3 people on this whole floor! I have to tell you, I was NOT happy when I realized I was out of vacation time. But hey -- now I'm GLAD to be here in my office!   There's the building's heat PLUS my personal heater under my desk.  I definitely appreciate all that heat at the moment!  And my computer here is working perfectly -- of course.  I have my Kindle and my Droid both plugged into it to recharge them.  
 
A final 2012 work day just isn't all that bad after all!  But I better get some work done to justify it, I guess.