It's Saturday out at the ranch.  And I have a few scattered thoughts on some things that, by themselves would not make a good LJ post.  But together, I can make up a list.  Hearkening back to my days as editor-in-chief of The Snowdrift, I resurrect "Liner Notes."

I Can See Polar Bears From My House:  Arctic wind has taken over much of the continental United States.  This has created a condition that most of us call "January."  Florida and much of the deep South is seeing record low temperatures.  A little closer to home, the stockyard is basically a giant ice block.  Snow that fell off the roof and onto the front porch in December is now a pile of ice that defies any attempt at dumping salt or Ice Melt on it.  The polar ice caps' distant cousin has taken up residence in my front yard and will probably be there until April.

So, I ask global warming nuts - those who can only brave the arctic cold in mid-July when the Earth's axis tilt has those cute polar bears staring down the sun.  Those that videotape these cuddly creatures floating on their summer ice boats and say the bears pitifully floating out to oblivion (when in reality the polar bears are just out fishing and can't figure out if what the bearded hippie is pointing at it is a camera or a gun).  Those that demand that the rest of us sacrifice our lifestyle by turning off lights and using flashlights (oh wait, the batteries are bad for the environment - and we certainly can't light any fires, either).  I ask all you who have not bathed since Woodstock - if this Arctic wind has settled over the northern hemisphere, does this mean that this global warming (that is melting the ice caps and drowning polar bears) is officially over?  This cold kinda puts a damper on all your big plans for taking down capitalism (India and China are saying "Can we get back to business now?)

I Am Proud of Who I Am... I Am - a Librarian!! I got my syllabus for two of my classes this semester!  And wait until you hear what one of my assignments will be.  The professor has given us all a list of movies to watch and write a paper on one, answering questions that she will provide.  And guess what two of the movies are - The Mummy and The Mummy Returns.  I have them both on DVD and seen both many times.  (In an odd twist of fate, "The Mummy Returns" was on Starz last night).  I have gone from having to read obscure literary fiction that only pasty college professors read in their dark holes to doing homework that embraces popular culture.  It's a breath of fresh air!

Playoffs? Playoffs???  Don't Talk About Playoffs!! It wouldn't be Wild Card Weekend if I didn't have something to say about football.  I refuse to cheer for the New York Jets.  Not that I have any big beef with them and not that I have any great love for the Cincinnati Bengals.  Just that they would not be in the playoffs at all if the Colts and the Bengals hadn't sat their starters the last two weeks of the season.  By rights, they shouldn't even be here. 

And the Bengals just lost.  That's what happens when you take your foot off the gas when you have everything wrapped up.  Let this be a lesson to you ding-dongs.

Actually, maybe I should be cheering for the J! E! T! S! Jets! Jets! Jets! to go all the way.  Maybe that would finally illustrate the stupidity of throwing games at the end of the season when you have the top seed/home-field advantage/division title wrapped up.  But the dumb thing is that nobody of prominence would point that little detail out. ...sigh...

Prediction of Doom: Speaking of the playoffs, it seems like all the teams I've been pulling for this year folded the last few weeks of the season (with the possible exception of the Vikings, but it was the Giants...)  I've always hated the Dallas Cowboys and I've only recently gained a dislike of the Jets.  But they're both suddenly hot and it would be my rotten luck that we would have a Jets-Cowboys Super Bowl.  And the Cowboys would win.  What can I say?  I'm being a pessimist this year.
So here's a question for all you smarty pants people out there: what happens when you mix months-old encrusted salt water from the salt flats, four transformers, a monster snowstorm and a rural community that the outside world doesn't give a flying rat turd about?  You get how I spent the past 18 hours.

Last night, we had this incredible blizzard (that only gave us about two inches -- welcome to Utah) and when that mixed with the old, crusty salt on four of the power transformers, they blew up and the whole valley was without power.  My parents were coming home last night and they said it was kinda cool seeing the power poles light up like that.  The one bad thing, though, was that we have been without power since about 1:00 am this morning.  We couldn't take showers, cook on the stove, do laundry, talk on the phone, get on the internet, water the cows... nothing (my brother did pull out his little camp stove and we had soup for lunch; we weren't completely  thrown back to pioneer life).  To make matters worse, it was cold and people like to complain about it being cold (I just threw on an extra layer and told other certain people to quit whining).

On the positive side, I got another square done on my quilt and we got to play a rousing game of Monopoly (that I think I'm winning at the moment.  To think that I only started with New York Avenue and two railroads ^_^  Granted, it probably wouldn't be as close if my youngest sister had put houses on Boardwalk and Park Place the first chance she got.  I think she needs to learn the game a little better).  Plus (and this is the coolest), my brother took me and my youngest sister to Trout Creek to go goose hunting, which I've been wanting to do for a loooooong time.  It was fun enough, except the geese got scared off earlier than we wanted, so we didn't get anything, but we figured out something we can do later.  I guess geese pretty much do the same thing unless something throws them off, so in a few days, they'll be back in the same spot and we can plan for it.  I will say this: I'm probably the only English major at Utah State University that has been out doing any hunting of any kind.  That might not be saying much, since 99.9% of English majors are deathly afraid of guns and are venomously opposed to hunting (bunch of freckin' weenies).

And that's my Christmas break so far and now you know why I had disappeared for a day (not that anyone really cared though).  It wasn't too bad for the power being off everywhere.  I will say this: if something like this had happened along the Wasatch Front, someone would be getting sued.

Love from,
Jenny Wildcat

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December 2011

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