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Stress Test

Category: bethie's world | Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:44 pm

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Yesterday at 11:30 it started to rain, no thunder so I was on the computer. Suddenly there was the dreaded straightline wind. A weird whump hit the roof. I jumped up and yanked the computer cord out of the outlet. Another whump. Went to the utility room and sparks shot out of this plug (our burglar alarm is plugged there) and black smoke is coming out!
Shut door and went to kitchen window, big limb down and all wires off the pole. Call 911! Hubby is on job with no phone. Luckily get Cindy(husband's cousin and our good friend) and she is coming right over in case I and dogs have to bail. Police come. I have to physically shove dogs in living room closet because I need them close for exit and police won't come in. Police says firetruck on the way and they will go into attic to make sure there's no more fire. Big storm erupts now. 4 fireman,1 police, 2 electric guys (to turn off electricity quick) and Cindy arrive. Things check out ok. Fire and police leave. Now need electrician before power guys feel safe to turn power back on. HOT. Mr. bethie makes the scene. He has just come from mex restraunt to get surprise "friday food". Surprise is on him! Gets electrican on the phone but he is already at another storm victims house. Walks hubby through checkpoints. Hubby is handy as a shirt pocket. If wires behind this outlet are melted we are screwed but mercifully we are unscrewed. Get power back on at 2. Meanwhile they have had to take down power lines to our shop. They are hooked up illegally! Not by us of course. Not because of size of shop but distance from house, shop is deemed "commercial" and has to have its own meter and be rewired to it etc. Not doing this anytime soon. Cost $900 for firetruck service. Hopefully insurance will pay that. Not sure since like all of them they keep cutting benefits. Possibly lost burglar alarm system, have to get the guy out. Lost koi pond pump, 1 tv, vcr and microwave. Still happy house didn't burn. Got to "meet new people". Cindy blew off work and stayed. Ate well and had a drink-phew! Kosmo sure looks happy about it all.

Zeb(my other dog)celebrated when all the excitement was over by puking 3 times on the already wet and muddy lr rug. We'll be steamcleaning it tomorrow. Got badly needed inch of rain! Up early this morning to get started with cleanup. Trellis shattered, about 10 potted petunias destroyed, limb fell directly on 5 butterfly bushes so may have to drastically cut them. Good hubby is chain sawing right now. In typical "US" fashion we're "not too worried about it" More worried about crazed back to school shoppers when replacing appliances at Wal-Mart.
My beloved came tapping on the door a little bit ago to have me come out. He had his hands cupped and this beautiful freshly emerged Polyphemus moth in them.
Ants were attacking it so he brushed it off and we admired it a bit and let it go. NOW all is right with the world.

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Dead Pet Society

Category: bethie's world | Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 4:09 pm

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Several years ago my beloved German Shepherd "Champ" died. We decided to make him a little memorial stone. It was a little heart shaped stone with his name and a paw print in stained glass embedded in it. My husband decided to take it and show it to the vet the next time he went as the vet is a big dog lover. Well the stone never did get back here. Between the two of them they decided to leave it up there with our phone number on it in case someone else would like one. So from time to time we get a call from a grieving pet owner who wants one. They get their choice of glass color and it's fairly simple. Sometimes the circumstances are quite distressing. We got a call once from some people just a few miles from here that were loading their horse in the trailer (with their 2 kids right there) and a tragic accident happened (I've managed to block that part out) and the vet had to come out and put down the horse right then and there. They called for a stone and said how much it would mean to the kiddies. We made them a nice big stone with two horseshoes and the horses name. When we went to make it we didn't know if the horshoes should point up or down and had to make several calls to find out. We didn't want to bother the owner. They got the stone and with the kids made a little flowerbed in their yard.
Sometimes months go by and sometimes we have several to make at once. We recently got a call for a rabbit and a dog and decided to make our dog Lucy that died of old age this winter her stone at the same time. We usually put a paw print on it but the rabbit print was so underwhelming I decided to make a little profile instead.

They were pleased. Then right after that we got a call for a cat stone. We had went up on the price since materials have gone up so much. We gave her a price and then found out her cat's name only had four letters so we decided to make a cat profile too.

I was glad we went to the extra effort because when hubby delivered it (he always does the people part) she told him her grown son had died several years ago and this had been his cat. Just so sad. I made my pets a little memorial spot on the way to my garden.

They are buried in a different spot in the yard but I wanted to see this everyday when I go back to the veg garden. We made my big Rottie "Max" a caricature stone since everyone was always afraid of him for some reason. I took this picture yesterday and you can see how dry it is here. I love how my Sheppie "Zeb" chose that exact moment to lay his toy down on the stone. So the Dead Pet Society goes on and I hope that someday my Champ stone will find its way back home.

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