This morning I was ironing and the overhead light flickered, got brighter, then went out. The iron also stopped working. The particular overhead light/ceiling fan in that bedroom has done this several times, and DH has checked it repeatedly, never has found any kind of electrical problem. However, when I found that the fridge and half the house lights didn't work, I called him and he came home. He thought it was a breaker, but when he changed that and still had trouble, he was puzzled. The breaker would flash a spark, then hum and have to be turned off.
DH finally called an electrician, and when he got here, he looked at the light/ceiling fan, could find no problem. Then he tried the breaker, and darn if it didn't work! DH was stunned, for he'd tried it repeatedly, changed it and still couldn't get it to work. After a lot more investigation, the electrician announced he could find "no problem."
I told DH as he was leaving to return to work, "See, I told you we had a ghost." :=)
This is only ONE of the several weird electrical problems we've had since moving in, although we had an electrician do extensive upgrading to the whole house electrical system before we ever moved in. I think this qualifies as "ghostly" interference, or at least it does in my mind. I'm not afraid of our "ghost"...but it was somewhat costly today, and I can do without wasted funds.
The beat goes on with Hurricane Katrina's aftermath; it is very sad to see the horrific devastation in New Orleans, which was one of my favorite cities visited in the past. I recognized lots of familiar sections of the city as the cameras panned over water-logged streets, buildings, and it is truly awful.
I don't think I could return there if I was a resident, and lost my home. I believe I'd just take my insurance money and relocate elsewhere. I can't imagine what the final toll will be, in lives lost, and the national/international economy, on and on. And even IF the coastal areas are rebuilt, none will EVER be the same. Frankly, I don't think I'd want to live below sea level, and I also have to wonder how wise it is to rebuild housing/businesses in such a region. Another hurricane could hit, and they'd be sunk again. And I'm not even going to get started on the potential of rising sea levels over time, which can happen as a result of global warming.
I heard that in Alabama last night there were some long lines at gas stations, and short supplies, which created short tempers. There may indeed be shortages in gasoline supplies due to transport of gas as well as refining problems with oil in the Gulf Coast. Mainly in the northeast and southeast regions, I read on the news. And so it goes...
Not to worry though, our fearless leader has FINALLY returned to his job and all will soon be well. NOT.
Here's some links to firsthand personal blogs by those who are LIVING through the disaster along the coastal areas:
Metroblog New Orleans
Broken Windows
With that, I'm outta here.
My Novels
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
About those oil prices...
There's an old humorous saying that applies to what is about to happen to gas prices at the pump:
"Bend over and grab your a@@ and kiss it goodbye."
Folks, you ain't seen nothing yet. I sure hope a few of you explored those links I posted yesterday. If not, just scroll down and read more about the future we're about to inherit.
Yesterday I mentioned returning to the city, but forget it. We're in much better shape HERE to deal with rising gas prices: we have 5 acres of land at our disposal. We can have food from a garden, transportation by bike or horse (for necessary supplies), install a wood burning heater if push comes to shove, and devise other ways and means of survival. Laugh if you must, but if you thought the 70s oil scare was bad, you better get ready for a worse version coming soon to the pumps near you.
Here's a good link for credible information on the oil situation during this time of Hurricane Katrina damage:
The Oil Drum
And dontcha know this all must be truly bad if Bushie is cutting his loooong vacation short. Really, he IS.
Oh, there's this one excerpt that might interest some of us:
Some 6,000 National Guard personnel from Louisiana and Mississippi who would otherwise be available to help deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are in Iraq.
IF there should be ANOTHER hurricane spawned and head toward the same Gulf Coast region, I would suggest you head for the hills...walking or on bike or horseback, cause buying gas is going to drain your wallet quickly.
And I really have no confidence that our inept and fearless leader will save the day! Nor do I have any faith in our U.S. "oil reserves" reversing what has started to occur: we're about to head down the downslope of the oil peak, and bandaids and quick fixes will not work in the long run.
By the way, we had a lot of hard wind and rain last night. I was surprised to see some downed tree limbs this morning, various debris in the yard, and took some photos I'll try to post soon. However, since we needed the rain, I'm NOT complaining. The folks in Louisiana, Mississippi and coastal Alabama DO have my sympathy; it will be quite a long time before they recover from this disaster.
On a lighter note (because, after all, how long can you dwell on the apocalypse and not go insane?) you must check out this link if you have a cat and it has ever enjoyed your sink. Cats in Sinks
"Bend over and grab your a@@ and kiss it goodbye."
Folks, you ain't seen nothing yet. I sure hope a few of you explored those links I posted yesterday. If not, just scroll down and read more about the future we're about to inherit.
Yesterday I mentioned returning to the city, but forget it. We're in much better shape HERE to deal with rising gas prices: we have 5 acres of land at our disposal. We can have food from a garden, transportation by bike or horse (for necessary supplies), install a wood burning heater if push comes to shove, and devise other ways and means of survival. Laugh if you must, but if you thought the 70s oil scare was bad, you better get ready for a worse version coming soon to the pumps near you.
Here's a good link for credible information on the oil situation during this time of Hurricane Katrina damage:
The Oil Drum
And dontcha know this all must be truly bad if Bushie is cutting his loooong vacation short. Really, he IS.
Oh, there's this one excerpt that might interest some of us:
Some 6,000 National Guard personnel from Louisiana and Mississippi who would otherwise be available to help deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are in Iraq.
IF there should be ANOTHER hurricane spawned and head toward the same Gulf Coast region, I would suggest you head for the hills...walking or on bike or horseback, cause buying gas is going to drain your wallet quickly.
And I really have no confidence that our inept and fearless leader will save the day! Nor do I have any faith in our U.S. "oil reserves" reversing what has started to occur: we're about to head down the downslope of the oil peak, and bandaids and quick fixes will not work in the long run.
By the way, we had a lot of hard wind and rain last night. I was surprised to see some downed tree limbs this morning, various debris in the yard, and took some photos I'll try to post soon. However, since we needed the rain, I'm NOT complaining. The folks in Louisiana, Mississippi and coastal Alabama DO have my sympathy; it will be quite a long time before they recover from this disaster.
On a lighter note (because, after all, how long can you dwell on the apocalypse and not go insane?) you must check out this link if you have a cat and it has ever enjoyed your sink. Cats in Sinks
Monday, August 29, 2005
Hurricane & Gas Prices
Wow, the hurricane is FINALLY dumping some rain on us. While this is NOT exciting news (like most of the media hasn't gone nuts over the potential ruin of New Orleans!) it is welcome here. We've been so dry, parched really, that a day or so of steady rain will truly help us recoup some much-needed moisture. And right now, it IS raining. There has been some wind, but nothing serious or damaging, so far.
The hurricane may seem the most important news event in the USA, but there's another one that is not getting as much attention: gas prices. Waaaay back in this blog I mentioned the dwindling world's gas supplies and the havoc this would eventually wreak with our way of life. I guess no one was paying attention though, and now that it is actually happening (gas prices rising steadily, NEVER to return to prior 2005 levels), most people seem genuinely shocked. I wonder why?
If you missed that entry, you can take a quick refresher course at this URL:
Life After the Oil Crash
Or for the truly uninitiated:
Wolf at the Door --The Beginner's Guide to Oil Depletion
Not a happy report, but very, very close to what you can expect in the coming years. If you have a long drive to commute to work, or just like the convenience of having a car to get you around, then your lifestyle is going to change. Biking may look good (though I can hardly see a bunch of fat Americans peddling to work!), or some alternate transportation...but don't expect that kind of amazing invention any time soon. No, this isn't "Chicken Little Saying the Sky is Falling," ... it really is slowly happening. Gas prices will rise, and as such, our lives will change. Some for the better, some for the worse.
I believe it was President Carter who TRIED to warn about this impending problem, but no one listened. I did. We moved to the city, and still have a house there; if we need to, we can move back. But even if we don't, we live within 2 miles of a mall where we can get necessary supplies -- though I do wonder how anyone will survive as inflation takes its toll. I think for most of us the idea of our way of life being based on petrochemicals is astonishing, but soon, we will all get a lesson in it.
Awww shucks, I guess I'm just a pessimistic person...but then again, I'm also a realist.
The hurricane may seem the most important news event in the USA, but there's another one that is not getting as much attention: gas prices. Waaaay back in this blog I mentioned the dwindling world's gas supplies and the havoc this would eventually wreak with our way of life. I guess no one was paying attention though, and now that it is actually happening (gas prices rising steadily, NEVER to return to prior 2005 levels), most people seem genuinely shocked. I wonder why?
If you missed that entry, you can take a quick refresher course at this URL:
Life After the Oil Crash
Or for the truly uninitiated:
Wolf at the Door --The Beginner's Guide to Oil Depletion
Not a happy report, but very, very close to what you can expect in the coming years. If you have a long drive to commute to work, or just like the convenience of having a car to get you around, then your lifestyle is going to change. Biking may look good (though I can hardly see a bunch of fat Americans peddling to work!), or some alternate transportation...but don't expect that kind of amazing invention any time soon. No, this isn't "Chicken Little Saying the Sky is Falling," ... it really is slowly happening. Gas prices will rise, and as such, our lives will change. Some for the better, some for the worse.
I believe it was President Carter who TRIED to warn about this impending problem, but no one listened. I did. We moved to the city, and still have a house there; if we need to, we can move back. But even if we don't, we live within 2 miles of a mall where we can get necessary supplies -- though I do wonder how anyone will survive as inflation takes its toll. I think for most of us the idea of our way of life being based on petrochemicals is astonishing, but soon, we will all get a lesson in it.
Awww shucks, I guess I'm just a pessimistic person...but then again, I'm also a realist.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
The Economy, Supernova and Religion
Sooo, life moves along as always here. DH is working on the barn this hot August Saturday. It's difficult to believe August is almost over, but as usual, I'm looking forward to Autumn and cooler weather.
My "season of discontent" continues, and I still feel unable to settle down to a writing project. When DH takes his week of vacation the first week of September we have several upkeep jobs on this house/property as well random stuff to do. That should give me plenty to do! Not happy stuff, but necessary.
Reading some news articles online, I wondered if any of us needs an economy lesson? If you're interested at all in the looming economic disaster Bush has created, here's a link to read more about that:
Experts Warn Debt May Threaten Economy
Aug 27, 12:01 PM (ET)
By ROBERT TANNER
You owe $145,000. And the bill is rising every day. That's how much it would cost every American man, woman and child to pay the tab for the long-term promises the U.S. government has made to creditors, retirees, veterans and the poor.
And it's not even taking into account credit card bills, mortgages - all the debt we've racked up personally. Savings? The average American puts away barely $1 of every $100 earned.
Our profligate ways at home are mirrored in Washington and in the global marketplace, where as a society America spends $1.9 billion more a day on imported clothes and cars and gadgets than the entire rest of the world spends on its goods and services.
~~~~~
Fortunately for us, we have NO debt at all. And save quite a lot, having now almost as much in our savings as we did when we bought this place cash. That isn't counting the amount being accumulated every week DH continues to work, delaying his retirement; he got a whopping incentive for staying a few more years. Still, I worry about medical care in our retirement years...but heck, I believe if we realized a serious illness was going to threaten us within six months, we'd just spend all we've saved, have fun at it! Otherwise, the darn medical profession would get it and I hope that won't happen.
The way I see retirement medical care shaping up for us: if you're desperately POOR, you will get care via government. If you're extremely wealthy, you'll manage fine. But if you (like most of us) are in the middle-class, you are genuinely screwed. :-(
Here's another little ditty to cheer you up about human's insignificant existence in the cosmos:
Question posed for an astronomer at: Astronomy.com
If we lived on a planet circling a star about to go supernova, would we know it was going to happen? --DEE SHARPLES, HONEOYE FALLS, NEW YORK
Astronomer's Answer: The seeds of catastrophe that will destroy a star in a supernova are buried deep in the star's heart, but all we can see easily is the surface, buffered by the stellar mass in between. There were images of SK –69°202, the star that blew up as SN 1987A, but no clue in those images of an impending eruption.
I'm going to assume you know this means that IF a star near enough to earth went supernova unexpectedly, you and I would be INSTANTLY toast! That should put our everyday mundane lives in perspective!
I'll close with a great quote about women and the "christian" religion:
Ernestine L. Rose
Atheist & America's first woman's rights canvasser
January 13, 1810 - August 4, 1892
I was a rebel at the age of five.
. . . Sisters, . . . I entreat you, if you have an hour to spare, a dollar to give, or a word to utter--spare it, give it, and utter it, for the elevation of woman! And when your minister asks you for money for missionary purposes, tell him there are higher, and holier, and nobler missions to be performed at home. When he asks for colleges to educate ministers, tell him you must educate woman, that she may do away with the necessity of ministers, so that they may be able to go to some useful employment. If he asks you to give to the churches (which means to himself) then ask him what he has done for the salvation of woman. When he speaks to you of leading a virtuous life, ask him whether he understands the causes that have prevented so many of your sisters from being virtuous, and have driven them to degradation, sin, and wretchedness. When he speaks to you of a hereafter, tell him to help to educate woman, to enable her to live a life of intelligence, independence, virtue, and happiness here, as the best preparatory step for any other life. And if he has not told you from the pulpit of all these things; if he does not know them; it is high time you inform him, and teach him his duty here in this life. (Seventh National Woman's Rights Convention, New York, Nov. 25 - 26, 1856)
My "season of discontent" continues, and I still feel unable to settle down to a writing project. When DH takes his week of vacation the first week of September we have several upkeep jobs on this house/property as well random stuff to do. That should give me plenty to do! Not happy stuff, but necessary.
Reading some news articles online, I wondered if any of us needs an economy lesson? If you're interested at all in the looming economic disaster Bush has created, here's a link to read more about that:
Experts Warn Debt May Threaten Economy
Aug 27, 12:01 PM (ET)
By ROBERT TANNER
You owe $145,000. And the bill is rising every day. That's how much it would cost every American man, woman and child to pay the tab for the long-term promises the U.S. government has made to creditors, retirees, veterans and the poor.
And it's not even taking into account credit card bills, mortgages - all the debt we've racked up personally. Savings? The average American puts away barely $1 of every $100 earned.
Our profligate ways at home are mirrored in Washington and in the global marketplace, where as a society America spends $1.9 billion more a day on imported clothes and cars and gadgets than the entire rest of the world spends on its goods and services.
~~~~~
Fortunately for us, we have NO debt at all. And save quite a lot, having now almost as much in our savings as we did when we bought this place cash. That isn't counting the amount being accumulated every week DH continues to work, delaying his retirement; he got a whopping incentive for staying a few more years. Still, I worry about medical care in our retirement years...but heck, I believe if we realized a serious illness was going to threaten us within six months, we'd just spend all we've saved, have fun at it! Otherwise, the darn medical profession would get it and I hope that won't happen.
The way I see retirement medical care shaping up for us: if you're desperately POOR, you will get care via government. If you're extremely wealthy, you'll manage fine. But if you (like most of us) are in the middle-class, you are genuinely screwed. :-(
Here's another little ditty to cheer you up about human's insignificant existence in the cosmos:
Question posed for an astronomer at: Astronomy.com
If we lived on a planet circling a star about to go supernova, would we know it was going to happen? --DEE SHARPLES, HONEOYE FALLS, NEW YORK
Astronomer's Answer: The seeds of catastrophe that will destroy a star in a supernova are buried deep in the star's heart, but all we can see easily is the surface, buffered by the stellar mass in between. There were images of SK –69°202, the star that blew up as SN 1987A, but no clue in those images of an impending eruption.
I'm going to assume you know this means that IF a star near enough to earth went supernova unexpectedly, you and I would be INSTANTLY toast! That should put our everyday mundane lives in perspective!
I'll close with a great quote about women and the "christian" religion:
Ernestine L. Rose
Atheist & America's first woman's rights canvasser
January 13, 1810 - August 4, 1892
I was a rebel at the age of five.
. . . Sisters, . . . I entreat you, if you have an hour to spare, a dollar to give, or a word to utter--spare it, give it, and utter it, for the elevation of woman! And when your minister asks you for money for missionary purposes, tell him there are higher, and holier, and nobler missions to be performed at home. When he asks for colleges to educate ministers, tell him you must educate woman, that she may do away with the necessity of ministers, so that they may be able to go to some useful employment. If he asks you to give to the churches (which means to himself) then ask him what he has done for the salvation of woman. When he speaks to you of leading a virtuous life, ask him whether he understands the causes that have prevented so many of your sisters from being virtuous, and have driven them to degradation, sin, and wretchedness. When he speaks to you of a hereafter, tell him to help to educate woman, to enable her to live a life of intelligence, independence, virtue, and happiness here, as the best preparatory step for any other life. And if he has not told you from the pulpit of all these things; if he does not know them; it is high time you inform him, and teach him his duty here in this life. (Seventh National Woman's Rights Convention, New York, Nov. 25 - 26, 1856)
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