Grasshoppers

What happened to grasshoppers? I remember catching them, or trying to, frequently in my childhood days. I kinda figure it's lawn chemicals, but we still have (some) lightning bugs, though not as many as I recall, and I still hear crickets at night. But I have not seen a suburban grasshopper in years. They never were fond of suburban lawns, of course, but you'd see them in the parks. When I was little, the mailman lived a few doors down (just like now...) and he had daisies on his lawn. (The current mailman has an ice creme truck sideline, like at carnivals). We always found grasshoppers in the daisies, sometimes the big scary ones with the huge spikes on their back legs, at least that's how it looks when you are five. The big ones my mom called 'locusts', and they were like the dusty big ones you'd see on the side of dirt roads, flying off. We'd make mom catch the 'locusts' - we'd spot one on the bricks of the house and she'd come with a jar and a piece of cardboard or the like. She's trap the locust with the jar up against the house, then slide the cardboard along the bricks, shake it to the bottom and put the lid on.

I'm sure we watched them until they died, we'd never risk letting a locust out - it might attack!

But even though I remember grasshoppers even in our 'new' house, I just don't see them anymore. They also don't seem to live in suburban Detroit at all. What a shame.

Stealth Pixies

A few months ago, I encountered one of the strangest commercial transactions I’ve ever seen. During a late winter storm, a portion of our gutters were pulled down by ice.

We called a local company to get an estimate both for repair of the damaged section and replacing the entire set of gutters on the house. A gentleman came out to the house while we were at work, and faxed the estimates to Vernon. After receiving our pittance from the insurance company to repair the small damaged section, we decided to replace the gutters on the whole house. Vernon signed the proper paperwork and faxed it back to the company.

We got a call a few days later acknowledging the paperwork, and said someone would contact us with a date. Vernon decided he would prefer crème coloured gutters rather than the standard white, and a couple of days later I received a call at work from the gentleman who was in front of our house assessing the job. I explained what we wanted, he adjusted the price, and faxes were once again exchanged. The agreement was to pay half up front and the second half upon completion.

A couple days after that exchange, I got a call at work that the workers had arrived, and would likely complete the job that day. I said we had not yet paid anything, and asked how this could be handled. He said he’d get back to me.

At the end of the day, the gentleman called again that the job was completed. I asked him again how to pay him, since both Vernon and I don’t get home until after 6. He said to just leave a check in the door and he’d get it the next day.

The work was beautiful, and only a couple scraps showed any evidence of our pixies. I left the check in the door, and when we got home it was gone.

We never saw anyone in person, a job costing several thousand dollars was completed with phone calls and faxes. Crazy.

Babysitting

When you take a grandmother, her sister, a compliant 4 year old and a bottle of

wine, the results can be a bit unexpected.

Rachel thought it was a bit funny - until it would not come off even days later.

Dan will forgive us in time.

We may not be babysitting again anytime soon...

Mystery food

Gee, feed your family kangaroo just once and they never trust you again. Of course, this has become a pattern in our family, though infrequent. I have served up odd vegetables (usually in stew), strange fruits, and mystery Asian snacks with not one English word to tell you if it is a sweet or salty snack. And the odd meat. So far, I think kangaroo may be the oddest. I have promised no cat or dog, though I'm told guinea pig is tasty! They did not blink much at the yak burgers or the buffalo chili. Even the caribou steaks were eaten well, although I only told them after.

That's the concern in my family - that once they have finished a meal I will come up and say 'Guess what you just ate...."

I have few opportunities for entertainment, so I take it where I can. Now what can I do with rattlesnake?

Subject: WRC Closed for the Remainder of the Day

A power company transformer was disabled in Ann Arbor early this morning, knocking out power and causing a small fire at Domino's Farms, location of the World Resource Center. The fire was quickly controlled and no one was hurt, but power remains out at the WRC. The building is being closed for the remainder of the day. Back-up systems for our most essential functions (including store computer networks) are up and running. If you need to reach a Domino's Pizza WRC-based team member today, please contact them via their cell phones. We anticipate the WRC will reopen as normal on Tuesday.


I drive into work just after 7am most days. It was still dark as we travelled up US 23 toward Domino's. Vernon and I saw a bright flash in the sky off the clouds, like low lightning. We looked at each other and wondered aloud if Domino's had exploded.

As we approached the building, it was evident that something was not right. The parking lot was dark, the building was on emergency power (very dim) and our pretty green lights were not on. I asked Vernon to wait and make sure I could get into the building.

The doors opened and I got to my desk. Emergency lights were on, but there was no power to the computers - and the coffee machine did not work! I sent a text message to my bosses letting them know the situation. Rodney (the other early arrival in my department) showed up and we chatted.

As those of us who were there stood around and chatted, wondering how to work without our computers, Tom mentioned that he smelled something burning - like an electrical fire. Sure enough, we all could catch a whiff. Then the fire alarm started. We looked at each other, decided it was unlikely this was a drill, and started grabbing stuff on our way out. People usually just take a jacket, purse for the ladies, and head out, but this time laptops and files were in hand.

I texted to Vernon - "we may be on fire."

After about 20 minutes we were allowed back into the building - fire trucks had come and we were getting cold. Shortly after that Dave called everyone to the Welcome Center and let us go home. I stood a moment - I had been dropped off. Rodney kindly took me home, it's not like I live nearby.

Exhausted

Hello family and friends,

I have been very remiss in posting recently, but I have a good reason. I am totally exhausted.
Due to a job change, we lost the company car and are currently down to one vehicle. Each morning Vernon and I get up at 5:30am, get ready and drive an hour to Ann Arbor to drop me off, then he drives another hour to Warren. At the end of the day we reverse the process, arriving home around 7:30pm. I am at work 11 hours a day, and there is such a workload that I just don't stop working. I have not even gone to the gym in recent weeks.

On the plus side, by the end of the month we should have a second vehicle. It won't trim the hours all that much, but just the ability to leave if I fall ill (which happened and I was trapped) will be a mental relief.

My next story will be about our pesky little fire here at the office.

Security issues

I was locked in the stairwell at work the other day. My company uses and electronic key badge system, so they can control what areas of the building you have access to, and they can also, if needed, find out if you came in on the weekend. But access through a stairwell requires a keycard, along with the elevators. Some stairwells go down to the first floor, which is mainly common areas and you can get out, but not the one I was in at the time.

I ALWAYS have my keys chained to my purse or to my body with a carabineer. In just over two years, this was the first time I did not have my keys. I stared dumbfounded at my keyless purse, and wondered if they might have fallen in the car. It would not have helped, as my husband had just dropped me off and he was phoneless at the moment. I thought about just going to the Welcome Center and waiting for someone else to come along, which could be a few minutes since I come in about an hour early. There are sufficient early birds, however, that I wasn't too concerned. But then I remembered that even though the Welcome Center is a fairly public area, you could not get out of the stairwell there either. Drat!

Then I remembered I had the phone, but not the numbers of those I knew would be there, except Rodney. We take turns being first in our department, so I called him.

I eventually got to my desk, and wondered how common are locking stairwells. You never see Jack Bauer being stopped by a locked fire door.

Picture it - Jack Bauer and company are climbing stealthily up the stairs, guns drawn. They get to the door where the bad guys are, and prepare to burst through. Locked! Plus it's a fire door, so no busting it open with your shoulder. They try another floor, and then decide to retreat and regroup. But their original door is secured also. "@#%&%$$#" says Jack "We're at Domino's!"