My recent, temporary absence from the forum was the result of a less than perfect camping trip and a dead cat.
First, the camping trip: I thoroughly enjoy camping and needed some down time, so this past Saturday morning, bright and early, I loaded up the ol' Jeep and the ol' lady and headed out in search of peace and tranquility within the bosom of Ma Nature! Well, our attempts to find a suitable campsite at a state park turned out to be a "Nativity nightmare" in that, as Joseph and Mary experienced, there was no room at the inn, so to speak. We ultimately had to make do with some backwater campsite that was kinda like pitching a tent in a Wal-Mart parking lot. That, in itself, would not have been so bad if it had not been for all the Bubbas, Bubbettes, and their undisciplined brats (they all looked and acted like inbred Neanderthals whose family trees didn't fork). Throughout the evening, my wife and I were "entertained" by the sounds of various football games blaring out across the campgrounds from an assortment of steroidal boom-boxes and by the whoops and yelling of beer-soaked, brain-dead bozos reliving their imagined highschool football glories. This was compounded by the under-medicated offspring of the aforementioned, who ran screaming, in a fevered frenzy, throughout the campground in an attempt to set everyone's nerves on edge. Finally, the weekend ended and Sunday night found me snug in my bed, at home, and very happy to be there.
Now, the dead cat: I went to work Monday, at peace with the world and I even managed to have a good day. Just before leaving, I got a phone call from my grown daughter, who is still living at home (and that's another story), and she wants to know when I'll be home. I ask the obvious question: "Why do you want to know when I'll be home?"
"I think I ran over a cat."
"You think you ran over a cat but you're not sure?"
"Nosir."
"Why do you think you ran over a cat?"
"I can see a cat's tail hanging down from up under the car and I did hit something but I thought it was a limb."
Oh well, you get the general idea -- I was drafted to remove the body of the deceased feline. When I got home I checked out the situation and it was not good. The cat was huge and was wedged into the A-arm of the little Toyoto's suspension system and could not be pulled out, largely because the body had gotten stiff. I ended up having to remove various parts of the car to get the cat out, and the real icing on the cake was that the car was outside and it was raining all this time. Anyway, that evening was shot and so was the next because of having to put the car back together.
All of this is simply to explain why I've been away from the forum for a few days. It's good to be back and I sure as hell hope that life gets back to normal real soon. There's a lot to be said for a ho-hum existence.
[This message has been edited by Steven F (edited 11-16-2000).]
First, the camping trip: I thoroughly enjoy camping and needed some down time, so this past Saturday morning, bright and early, I loaded up the ol' Jeep and the ol' lady and headed out in search of peace and tranquility within the bosom of Ma Nature! Well, our attempts to find a suitable campsite at a state park turned out to be a "Nativity nightmare" in that, as Joseph and Mary experienced, there was no room at the inn, so to speak. We ultimately had to make do with some backwater campsite that was kinda like pitching a tent in a Wal-Mart parking lot. That, in itself, would not have been so bad if it had not been for all the Bubbas, Bubbettes, and their undisciplined brats (they all looked and acted like inbred Neanderthals whose family trees didn't fork). Throughout the evening, my wife and I were "entertained" by the sounds of various football games blaring out across the campgrounds from an assortment of steroidal boom-boxes and by the whoops and yelling of beer-soaked, brain-dead bozos reliving their imagined highschool football glories. This was compounded by the under-medicated offspring of the aforementioned, who ran screaming, in a fevered frenzy, throughout the campground in an attempt to set everyone's nerves on edge. Finally, the weekend ended and Sunday night found me snug in my bed, at home, and very happy to be there.
Now, the dead cat: I went to work Monday, at peace with the world and I even managed to have a good day. Just before leaving, I got a phone call from my grown daughter, who is still living at home (and that's another story), and she wants to know when I'll be home. I ask the obvious question: "Why do you want to know when I'll be home?"
"I think I ran over a cat."
"You think you ran over a cat but you're not sure?"
"Nosir."
"Why do you think you ran over a cat?"
"I can see a cat's tail hanging down from up under the car and I did hit something but I thought it was a limb."
Oh well, you get the general idea -- I was drafted to remove the body of the deceased feline. When I got home I checked out the situation and it was not good. The cat was huge and was wedged into the A-arm of the little Toyoto's suspension system and could not be pulled out, largely because the body had gotten stiff. I ended up having to remove various parts of the car to get the cat out, and the real icing on the cake was that the car was outside and it was raining all this time. Anyway, that evening was shot and so was the next because of having to put the car back together.
All of this is simply to explain why I've been away from the forum for a few days. It's good to be back and I sure as hell hope that life gets back to normal real soon. There's a lot to be said for a ho-hum existence.
[This message has been edited by Steven F (edited 11-16-2000).]
