Here on the Edge of Civilization

When you live on the edge of civilization like we do (i.e. right in the middle of a subdivision, but across the street from the county water supply line that said county won't bring across the street), you have to be prepared for outages in your water supply due to extreme weather conditions, tractor incidents, and rodents chewing through wires.



We're not sure why the wire from the house to the junction (pictured above) went bad at around 11 a.m. yesterday, but we know it wasn't due to extreme weather conditions, tractor incidents, or rodents chewing through the wires. I myself suspect the raccoon of sophisticated sabotage -- he's been very angry with us ever since we moved the trash cans under the house. I'm fairly certain he's responsible for placing that dead mouse in the Rubbermaid storage bin right beside where I was trying to help Joe pull apart wiring insulation last night ("What's that smell? Bleeeeeck! There it is! Aaaagh!").

So the good news is that Flamingo Joe was able to fix the water (my guess is that Flamingo Joe will be "fixing the water" at least 4 times a year for as long as we live in this house). The bad news is that he was not able to fix the upstairs air conditioning, which either has another bad coil or has also been sabotaged by the raccoon. I'm pretty sure I heard the pitter patter of paws in the attic last night, so I'm betting the raccoon was up there chewing holes in the coil.



So the boys camped out in the den. Flamingo Joe slept in Grandma's room (she won't be home until Wednesday -- please note how I have not whined at all about Grandma being gone this time), and I slept on the wicker chaise lounge my aunt gave me -- which also happens to be the same wicker chaise lounge I slept on for several nights in Memphis after my nose job the summer after my junior year in high school.

But that's ABPA (Another Blog Post Altogether) and your "take away" (who's responsible for that stupid made up phrase?) from this post is to never underestimate a raccoon -- because if you make him mad enough, not only will he find a way to turn your house into a sweat lodge, he will also find a way to keep you from showering off the stink.