Hail, hail, the gang's all here!

I haven't yet noted for you that I spent the Thanksgiving weekend at my mom's in Albuquerque. My friends Betty and Gimpy both shared in the feast. While we were (ahem, I was) clearing the table, hail fell instead of the rain we had been getting much of the day. The next day, Robomarkov, who was visiting his in-laws for the holiday, stopped by. It was nice to see so many good friends on top of being away from work for four days.

Paybacks, as they say, are a bitch, though. Thing One phoned me over the weekend to let me know that she is ill and won't be in to work for possibly all this week. (She also asked if I had a particular shot, as she is contagious. Isn't that sweet of her to worry about me?) With her out, that means I'm doing my job and hers and Thing Two's and Worker Bee's. Other than taking the timesheets to the front office after I enter them, I'm stuck in a morass of paperwork and computers and telephones. Hmm, I'm in charge and responsible, but how is it I'm still not important?

I've noticed that, for about half a year now, since I first went off my routine time and day driving to ABQ to visit my mom, that it rains either when I'm leaving Las Cruces or somewhere along the way. This time, it was raining (quite nicely, kind of like rain in other parts of the world where they know what rain is, unlike New Mexico where it's either a monsoon or something that almost resembles drizzle) as I loaded my car but stopped just about the time I pulled out of my parking lot. It rained off and on through the drive, and through the day in ABQ. I blame this condition on Betty because it was visiting her which caused me to suspend my routine in the first place. Still, if it's a choice between inconvenience and friendship, she knows which I'll choose.

The other thing I want to tell you (since I'll be so busy when seven o'clock comes, I won't have any time to add blog entries later) is that three of my newly connected veranda lights (and one of the two that always worked) weren't on when I ventured outside on Thanksgiving. I thought there might have been a short circuit somewhere, since it was raining so much. Unfortunately, it being a holiday and me heading out of town, I couldn't investigate. Sunday night, though, I did think that it was possible (though not as probable) that all four lights burned out at the same time, so I took new bulbs outside. My hypothesis was correct: one bulb had streaks of soot (or something) on the inside, and the other three were broken, with actual gaps where glass had fallen out. Three new bulbs worked, but the fourth didn't. I tested it in another socket, and it worked, so I think there is something wrong with the inoperative lamp. What with that and the shattered bulbs, I'll be phoning my electrician today.

So, how are things with you?