A Day of Surprises

A break in the clouds to the north.

A pink glow to the west.

Getting interesting!

Wow!

Yesterday, just after I posted the blog bragging about the beautiful sunshine, a big storm rolled in and it poured! The temperature dropped, the winds picked up, and I had to close most of the windows and go inside, leaving my comfortable perch on the porch swing for another day. We even put on our long-sleeved shirts!

We woke up this morning to very cool temperatures, 66 degrees, I think, but dry and clear. As I ventured out onto the deck while Don got the coffee going, I was thrilled to see so many stars, and as I stood there watching, I saw a spectacular shooting star overhead.

Several interesting things happened yesterday. First, our stove decided to quit working, at least we thought it was the stove's fault. I went to light the gas burner yesterday morning and nothing happened. Not even a hiss of gas. Don went down under the house to check the new gas tank and found it empty! Remember, it's only been a few days since we had leaky burners; he sealed one valve and decided the other leak was so slow that it didn't matter, but we did have a full gas tank at that time. Well, not any more. Bone dry. So he brought in the tank from the gas grill and hooked it up in the kitchen and tested for leaks. The stove wasn't leaking at all. The hose didn't seem to be leaking. He couldn't figure it out. Was it the new regulator? Very strange. For the past couple of nights I had noticed that the flame didn't look right - it had a green inner circle surrounded by blue flames, perhaps because the tank was running low.

The afternoon rain was the second surprise, followed by an amazing surprise sunset. I really did not think we would have any kind of visible sunset at all. Don had more faith than I, he saw a break in the clouds to the north around 5 p.m. I was still skeptical, but suddenly, the sun dropped below the heavy cloud bank in the west and put on quite a show. Beautiful.

The last surprise of the day was that the power went off at 4:45 just as Don hopped into the shower, and it stayed off for about 2 1/2 hours. We sat out on the deck, watching the sunset and the increasing darkness. The power stayed off and we began to get hungry. Thank goodness the gas stove was working and that I had already stewed a chicken with vegetables earlier in the afternoon, and that I had the potatoes peeled, ready to cook, the chicken deboned, and the corn ready to cook. We had a fluorescent lamp handy, but when Don turned it on, the bulbs were so weak it was nearly useless. Once again we were thankful that we had brought spare bulbs down with us, and it was not yet too dark to see to change the bulbs. Dinner was saved! We ate by candlelight and lantern light. Just as we got the kitchen cleaned up, the power came back on and we were able to watch a video and then read for awhile before sleeping.

Another beautiful, sunny start to the day, followed by late-morning clouds rolling in. We both went up the hill to check on the cat and to watch the inauguration (we have no t.v. reception, still). We let Moe outside. He clearly wanted Don to follow him around, which he did. When we went back inside to watch the t.v. coverage, Moe came back in too and just went wild! He ran across the room, jumped up on the couch and latched onto my arm with his teeth. I knocked him off and he jumped back up, nipping me again, so I grabbed the obedience bottle just as he launched an attack on Don. I squirted him right in the face. It didn't faze him. He attacked again, so Don scooped him up and put him in time-out! That's right. Shut him up in the bathroom for about 1/2 hour. He was somewhat more subdued when I let him out, curling up in my lap and purring, pretending to be all innocent and cuddly, but pretty soon he was getting frisky and needed to be squirted again! What a stinker. He was happy that we stayed up there with him extra long this morning, but he didn't seem the least bit interested in the awesome inaugural address.

Perhaps he'll find LOST more to his liking tomorrow night. I know I can't wait!