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A little bit of this, that, and the other...

The Roof! The Roof! The...Uh, What Happened To The Roof?!

The snow is too deep and it's just to cold out, for me to make the trek to take pictures but, while checking on the cows yesterday, Hubs discovered that the roofs, on both the tractor shed and the hay barn, had collapsed. I'm guessing this happened during the wee hours of the morning, when the winds picked up, Saturday.

It could have been worse. A few years ago, the hay shed collapsed and actually crushed a cow that had been sneaking a snack. This, along with the over 2K electric bill we paid the other day, along with some other things, has made Hubs even more grouchy than usual..


Excuse Me, Mr. Electric Bill Collection Guy, You've Obviously Mistaken Us For The Vanderbilts!

I was so pissed off at our tenant/friend? the other day, for thinking that he has only used $50.00 in electricity since August, that I forgot to mention why the topic had even came up in the first place. First, a few important details...

  A month or so ago, maybe only three weeks, when I had gone online to pay the electric bill, I noticed that the amount due for our bulk barns was over $500.00, with another bill that was soon to come due, for over $600.00. We have three different accounts. One for the house, one for the tenant house, and one for the bulk barns. I paid for the house and tenant house, but waited to pay for the bulk barns, as I wanted to call and challenge the amount. To my surprise, before I had a chance to call, a lady called from the electric company and asked that we please drive down to the barns, write down the reading from the meter, and call her back. When I asked why, she said because the bill seemed extremely high. (Ya think? lol) Well we did as she asked and expected to hear back soon.

  To my surprise, bright and early Friday morning, a truck from the Electric Co-Op came down the drive. I thought it was a bit early for meter reading, but just assumed it had something to do with the upcoming holiday. I was in my jammies and ~Crocs knock-offs at the time, waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. My hair had transformed from curls to frizz during the night and I hadn't even combed it yet. I'm sure I was a sight to behold. But, when I heard Chrissy, my very scary but harmless guard dog, barking at the truck, I knew I needed to go out and gate her onto the landing, just to spare her being pepper sprayed or something. I grabbed Hub's flannel shirt, told myself that I didn't even really know this guy and could care less how I looked, and headed out the door.

  I called Chrissy to me and closed the gate. The man lowered his window and asked him she would bite, I assured him that she wouldn't. Instead of leaving his vehicle, he asked me if I could come there. Horrified by my appearance, I went anyway. He proceeded to show me all these forms with dollar amounts on them. He said he needed the $5++.++ for the barns, plus the payment that had just came due for the barns, that was now magically over $700.00, plus the amount that had just came due for the house, along with the just due payment for the tenant house. Plus, he had actually turned the power off to the barns before coming to the house, so it would be a $35.00 reconnect fee and a $250.00 deposit for that account, since there hadn't been a deposit required when it was first connected to power and this was the first time it had been disconnected. If we didn't pay, he had no choice but to turn off the power at all three places. He looked at me with sympathetic eyes, as he told me all of this, "I am so sorry. I hate me job." Even though I was the one whose bank account was going to hell in a hand basket, I tried to comfort him, "No worries. Everyone has a job to do. Yours just happens to be shutting off people's power and leaving them in the cold.". His expression said that I hadn't helped him feel any better. I'm sure the fact that my outfit  made me appear like the resident of a two room, back woods, cabin, with no mirrors or indoor plumbing, must have made me look even more pitiful. I asked him to please write down the amount, so I could go inside, wake my husband, and show it to him.

   As I am waiting for him to do that, trying to digest this nightmare with no coffee in my system, this guy's (a must read post!) father comes rolling in.  @#$%^%^! Wonderful! Just freaking wonderful!  He came strolling over and asked if Hubs was around. I told him he was asleep but that I would go wake him in a minute and pretending that I had no clue who he was, asked who I might tell Hubs was here to see him. He told me his name and then just stood there, not even two feet from me, rudely trying to figure out my business with the guy in the truck. This even annoyed the Grim Reaper of Electricity. He gave an annoyed glance at my neighbor and said, "Mam, I am not comfortable discussing your business for the whole world to hear. If you'd like to go ahead and wake your husband for this gentleman, I'll finish writing this all down." He winked and smiled at me.

  I went in and woke Hubs, who got dressed and stumbled outside. Turns out that the neighbor had a logging truck mired up in his driveway and needed Hubs to pull  him out with the tractor. Hubs told him he's be there in a bit and the man left . When all was said and done, we had to give the Grim Reaper over $2,000.00! Luckily, we happened to have the payment for our fertilizer bill on hand. When GR drove down to turn the power back on to the barns, he called on his cell and said that there was some kind of electrical post burned clean in half. I am assuming this must have attributed to the huge bill. I am praying that soon this will all get figured out and we will be refunded some of that money. Later that morning, tenant/friend called and I told him of the whole ordeal, that's when he made the comment about how he probably hadn't used over $50.00 in electricity since August....

Fatback and Fingers! Yum!

Yesterday, I crocheted like a mad woman, trying to finish up some Christmas gifts. I stopped to make dinner around 6 PM. I was cutting off some strips of fatback to render the grease from, so I could fry cabbage in it. I was using a serrated knife and sawing off strips, skin side first. Somehow, probably distracted by Selly asking me about a game that Tallen was trying to download, I missed the fatback and began to saw through my fingernail on my left index finger! I guess because my fingers were cold and a bit numb, from handling the partially frozen fatback and because it was my nail, I just didn't feel it, until I had sawed clean through and into my finger! Lord,it nearly makes me puke and faint at the same, reliving it long enough to type about it. I called Hubs from the living room, telling him I needed him to come there. I had him come to me as I didn't want Ross to see the blood and go off the deep end. He put a band-aid on for me and went back to watching TV. I wound up having to go outside into the cold air, just to keep from passing out cold. It really hurt, but I think the thought of what had happened bothers me more than anything. It is really sore today but I can still crochet pretty well with it.


OOOOOOOPS! I Almost Forgot!...

Today is the day for the annual "I'll Load Up The Kids And Suffer Through Another, Snide Remark Filled, Insult Laden, Nerve Bending, Argument Sparking, Christmas Dinner At Your Mama's House, When Hell Freezes Over!" face-off. I'll post the final scores tomorrow...


DISCLOSURE: I have  NOT been provided with any monetary compensation for informing my readers that:  Hubs is a grouch, our electric co-op is run by money grubbing butt munchers, my tenant/friend is a mooch, fatback is not only a health hazard, it is a safety hazard, that my in-laws formerly lived in the same apartment building as this gal named Rosemary and aided Satan in impregnating her with his spawn.

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