Dead Battery
I spent the weekend at Bear Lake for a family reunion, arriving to find that my camera battery was dead, dead, dead. I always remember to bring the camera, but I never remember to check the battery. Let this be a warning to you. Do not make the same mistake in your summer travels. Not only were there dozens of adorable kids running about and cousins visiting from Texas whom I hadn't seen in years, there were BABY RACCOONS in a tree on the property of our lodge. Come on!
(Be advised that if you do manage bring a fully functional camera with a charged battery, there will probably be no baby wild animals of any kind, because that's just how these things work.)
Dead Power Lines
I arrived home on Sunday to discover that my house (and nine others on my circuit) had been without power since late afternoon. The people across the street slept in air-conditioned comfort while I moved from bed, to sofa, to floor, to sofa, trying to find a cool spot and to avoid being blinded by my neighbor's motion-sensing-spotlight-from-hell, which manages to shine directly into four of the five windows on the front of my home and comes ablaze if the wind rustles a blade of grass anywhere within the zip code. (I can't tell you how many times I've been tempted to perform a clandestine lightbulbectomy.) Exactly 1 hour before it was time to take Jeremy to science camp, I drifted into exhausted oblivion.
Dead Phones
This morning, Rocky Mountain Power estimated the juice would be flowing by 11:30. So I walked the dog, weeded the garden, and looked for other non-electricity-consuming tasks. Hey, I'll vaccuum! Nooo... Ooh, toast sounds good! Never mind. Since we only have local service on the landline, I better charge my dying cell phone so I return that long-distance phone call. Uhhhh..... Well, I'll just pull out my laptop! It's fully charged! I can reply to all those emails that have been waiting all weekend! Duh, the "wireless" router that provides Internet access to the laptop does indeed have one wire, and it plugs into the wall.
Dead Meat
By 2 pm, I was still powerless and the temperature had hit 98 degrees. I started to feel some concern about the two rump roasts I bought on sale last week, the hamburger patties, the huge box of chicken burritos just purchased from Costco, the two gallons of milk that I'd rather not replace, and the popsicles, oh, the popsicles! A quick trip to the convenience store and $12 later, I had 60 pounds of ice and a chip on my shoulder. I packed the freezer with block ice and filled our camping coolers with crushed ice, lunch meat, yogurt, and unhealthy amounts of cheese. Then I packed up my dog, my laptop, and my piles of work, ready to spend the rest of the afternoon in my mother-in-law's basement office. As I opened my front door to leave, I heard the unmistakeable whir of the refrigerator turning on, the air-conditioning revving up, and the television clicking on.
Just my luck.
