Happy Turkey Day

Fortunately, the Prez only pardoned Pumkin, leaving Pecan and others like her to the masses.

Sis, Heir I and I will be traveling later this morning to the Darks over in West By God where we'll meet up with John Boy, the Twin Progeny and Heir II, who left yesterday as soon as school was out.

There, the Darks will prepare and we will feast on oysters, a Virginia Salt-cured ham, shrimp, lobster, ribs and maybe even a turkey. Of course, we'll have all the trimmings and trappings too, and later, we will devour Sis's Apple and Pumpkin Pie and then settle down for that old American Futbol standard -- Premier League Soccer.

So for all of my faithful readers (I now have more than Older Sister), may your day be special and remember to give thanks to all the wonderful men and women serving overseas today in foreign lands and especially, have a wonderful

Dark Gets Around

It's amazing how Dark gets around. His slush fund must still be flush or perhaps it's a hit on all the recent overtime he's put it and the trip was part of much needed R-N-R.

CARSON, CA – November 23 - DC United’s once-favorite fanDark Garden joins in the post-game MLS Championship celebration. Joining Dark on the victory podium are Columbus Crew' Guillermo, Barros Schelotto, Ginos Padula and captain Frankie Hejduk, prior to the presentation of the Philip F.

Anschutz Trophy. Columbus defeated the New York Red Bulls 3-1. Dark promises United will be back in 2009, playing the upstart Seattle Sounders in the title game.

VINDICATED

If you've been reading SisIggy's blog, you may recall we had water issues earlier in the week. Specifically, whenever Heir I takes a shower, we run out of water. Our water supply is an underground reservoir and we pay a local company $65 to deliver us 1,500 gallons of chlorinated water on a monthly basis. We also have two downspouts that empty into it providing us with water from God.

During the summer -- the drought -- we were having the tank filled with 3,000 gallons every four weeks. In mid-October I opted to have the tank filled to capacity - 4,500 gallons - because you never know when bad weather will hit and the truck won't be able to deliver right away.

Less than 15 days later Heir I was taking and shower and we heard @#$^*( from the bathroom. I called and had a load delivered and our hauler informed me we must have a leak.

Duh.

Four-and-a-half days later Heir I was taking another shower. You know the drill: @#$^* and %%% for good measure came from the bathroom.

Again we called and water was delivered. I then called our landlord and told him we had a leak.

The reservoir repair company arrived this morning and pumped out all that precious water I had bought. After cleaning it they checked for any nook or cranny that may have been causing the problem.

Two areas were found. One, the size of a pin-prick and the other that would have made Old Faithful proud. That was the one I told them about before they started and that's why I feel I am now vindicated.

New water will arrive this afternoon and Heir I can take another shower to test the repair. If we don't hear @#$^*( escaping from the bathroom we'll know the fix was right.

The landlord also informed me that come spring, he's going to hook this house up to his well. Ordinarily, I would think Great. But I have too many memories about another well I once owned that had pump problems every time the wind chill hit the teens and snow was a foot deep.

At least it will be his problem and not mine.

Afterwards, we will have this nice new space underneath the carport:


Heir I has always said he wanted a private bedroom instead of the open space we now call the basement. It may be a little damp - but so is where he sleeps now. I believe we have answered his prayers.

A morning without power, a day without comfort

I wonder how they did without it in the old days?

Electricity. Can't stand the high cost but can't live without it.

We found that out this morning. Way early this morning.

We awoke to a constant beeping coming from the computer's battery backup. It was still dark outside and SisIggy commented from under the covers: "The electricity must be out. Get up and close the window. We don't want to lose anymore heat from the house."

I did. And noticed it was rather chilly in the house. But not as chilly as it would get.

Heir 2 got up on his own, fumbled in the darkness to dress and wondered aloud why he couldn't run any water from his sink. He wanted to finish a paper he didn't finish last night and wanted to get to school where he could.

I helped him clean the snow off his car (we had about an inch) and then went in search of coffee for Sis. While on the road I saw why we had no power. A crew was replacing a downed pole (I'm blaming it on VDOT who wouldn't sand or salt the road even though the headquarters was less than a stone's throw from the accident scene). I went around it - three miles around it - and got coffee and a donut for my bride.

At 7:30 I called DomVAPower to report the outage and got a recording that all would be fixed by "9:15 am". We waited.

Everything I do is contingent on electricity. Simple things like looking at a clock. Watching Morning Joe or Imus while I drink my coffee (I didn't have any today) and eat my hot breakfast. And, of course, getting on the computer to work, read my three newspapers, check blogs and the weather.

Today of all days I actually had work planned. I needed to research and call in five Ms Utility tickets for work I have planned next week.

And instead, we waited.

I called for an update after 9:15 and found it was now scheduled for 10:15. Additional calls stated 11:15 and 11:45. Power came on around 11:30 -- just long enough to run a liter of water and boot the computer. And then it went dark again. And colder.

Sis was bundled in her sweater, a fleece jacket and her "bum gloves". I had on a jacket and one, two or three pups sitting on my lap.

As soon as the power went out again, I called and found out power would be restored by 1:15pm. Seems the DomVAPower crew broke for lunch. The eat lunch. We can't.

Fortunately, power came back on around 12:30.

I waited 15 minutes just to make sure before I got on the computer to start my day.

First Snowfall

It's not much but I guess you can call it an appreciable snow...

Sicilean Style

When you think you've seen it all, something like this pops up.

A year ago, I wouldn't have thought twice about. Now that Dark has turned me onto the National Sport, nothing surprises me. Maybe DC United should try this stunt next year... it couldn't hurt.

Heigh-Oh

I feel like the seven dwarves, or in this case, a dwarf. Today, it's off to work we go.

I got a call about a month ago from a potential client in Northern Virginia requesting my services. Late Friday afternoon I got an email telling me all was ready to go and this morning I scheduled an appointment for later today to get started.

It will be great to get back outside working again, although I suspect I will have it all done by the end of the week...

JB The Tour Guide

"Hey John-Boy, what are you doing Friday?"

"It depends," he replied.

"Uh oh," SisIggy commented. "Depends on whether work is involved."

So went the banter Tuesday evening at the Dark's house where we were eating oysters and chili.

All I wanted to know was whether he wanted to take the Front Royal Civil War Tour. Something we had talked about for the past year or so. JB has been so busy of late going to gambling school and we have been busy trying to fend off lechers, er creditors.

But our gig was over Thursday and he's been out of school for several weeks and I was sure his fall yard work was waning.

"That's not a bad idea and I think I am free that day. So we scheduled it then and set it Friday morning. We met at the town's visitor center and before we could leave, the docents told us about the Tour CD and guide that was available. "And it's on sale now, only $10.98."

JB paid the tab and we popped in the CD, waiting for the beep to start our drive.

"Turn right out of the parking lot, go to the stoplight and turn right. Turn off the CD until you drive 4.3 miles to the Asbury Church on the right for the start of the tour.

There were a total of 10 stops as we drove back to and through the town. Each stop provided us with additional background and made it even more enjoyable. Once we finished, we found the tour book had several side tours to the house where Stonewall Jackson had dinner after the battle and the now non-existent railroad depot that Turner Ashby burnt out while cutting the telegraph wires preventing the union army commander (Banks) from learning of Jackson's eminent arrival (of course after dinner and a night's rest).

We went back to get JB's car and thank the docents for their help. And for extra brochures on other civil was sites in the commonweath we haven't been to yet. As soon as we got home, he spread the map at the table, got out his compass and rule and began plotting the next trip.

"Wonder when Dark Garden and the Heirs will be available?" he asked.

"Well," I stated. "Let's ask."

Follow-up note: It seems the CD is actually an interactive CD... We popped it in the computer and SisIggy was so intrigued, she promised that she would take the tour "if Dark Garden went too."

How about it Dark? Heirs?

Mrs. Dark, Please Don't Be Mad at Me

The next two posts are about West Virginia. I normally don't like to dump on my sister-in-law's home state but these two gems are Priceless. At least she can't jump me about my dislike for West Virginia University's football team as my alma mater isn't doing very good this year either on the gridiron.

A New Day For Washington; Less Pork for West Virginia

Less money will be pouring into West Virginia now that its senior senator, Robert Byrd, voluntarily gave up his chairmanship of the powerful Appropriations Committee today. That probably doesn't mean a lot for most Americans but for those of us close by, it means a lot.

Don't believe me? Travel through the state and see for yourself. In the 75 minute drive from our house to the Darks you will pass no fewer than 10 honorariums for West Virginia's favorite son. I suspect there are more than 100 throughout the state. They had so many for Byrd that they started naming them for his late wife -- even before she died several years ago.

And it isn't like there's a Robert C. Byrd Outhouse, although I suspect there is one or two municipal sewage treatment plants named for him. There are highways, bridges, clinics and schools named in his honor. And I suspect some money may still slide the state's way since it is likely Byrd will remain chair of the Homeland Defense subcommittee.

How else will the US Navy get the funding it needs for the large naval base in the landlocked state?

Poll Found in a West Virginia Newspaper

Would you expect anything else from our sister state?

Are you glad the presidential election is finally over?
	Yes
	No
	Who cares — bring on deer season

Plugging a Good Thing

I've never been wont to plug a site just for the sake of it. But this one offered good advice at a reasonable price and I have learned things I wished I had known before I started my own business a few years ago.

Some of you may have heard about Dave Ramsey prior to seeing this blog. He's been on Fox News as a commentator and has his own nightly radio show. Unfortunately I hadn't until we went searching for a course that would satisfy our educational requirement for bankruptcy.

The course was so good it should be a requirement of high schoolers before they graduate.

In reading Ramsey's site I've come to find out he offers around 12 additional courses on personal finance and as soon as business picks up some or I am able to find a job, I want to investigate all he has to offer.

Vote Early, Vote Often

I have always loved seeing how Google was treating special days. Their Olympic motives were interesting and last week's Halloween drawing was superb.

Yet when I got up this morning and logged onto the net I was disappointed to see the normal wording without any pizazz. Two hours later -- now in fact, I booted up and was greeted with the above.

Which reminds me of the old Daley addage: Vote early and often.