Hazmat suits optional...

Happy Father's Day to everyone who is a father, had a father, or wishes they were a father. It's going to be a bit subdued around here I think. Brunch is planned, but the normal clan gathering to chow down for dinner isn't going to happen. Dad's not feeling up to it (remember the post about the 2+ gallons of fluids drained from his gut? He goes in again on Monday for another round), and frankly, emotions are a going to be quite raw this Father's Day, as you could imagine.

---

I finished up the last of my music writing on Saturday morning! Took a late Friday night and an early Saturday morning to do it, but it's done. For now. It's going to be an ongoing thing all summer, but the pressure is off for now. And even in time for a Saturday afternoon rehearsal!

---

We've gotten our first decent weather in awhile, and I'm stuck inside all weekend. Since the music is done, all efforts have been turned to Operation Scrubdown. Actually had a good day of it today. I broke out the garbage bags, which is a major step for me. I think I just need to get to a mental state where I'm tossing out papers, etc., that belong to someone else. That worked pretty well today, though it was still tough to part with some of it. Visions of "Hoarders" helped me justify it...

---

I spent some time cleaning out (and simply cleaning) my fridge too. Oh, what an adventure that was! I found cans of fruit with "best if used by..." dates that were older than this blog. No fewer than 4 pickle jars (with no more than a half dozen pickle chips in each). Some old ranch dressing jars and mayonnaise jars with that last knife spread's worth of stuff in each. Now nicely congealed. And the coup de grâce, a bag of lettuce (I think) that was tucked in the very back corner of the lowest shelf. There was nothing left in the bag that remotely looked like vegetation. Whatever was in there had liquified, possibly eaten a hole in the bag, and leaked to the bottom of the fridge. And then dried out and crustified. So, since I'd emptied out and tossed most of what was in there, I took the next step and just went to town on the inside. It's all sparkly fresh in there now! Haven't decided if I'm going to tackle the freezer or not at this point. My big project for today will be my bedroom. It's not going to be pretty.

---

Had an interesting problem with my power company. I may or may not have been a bit lax in getting my payments to them. I received a disconnect notice the day after the funeral stating that my power would be shut off on Monday. Nothing like that to get a payment to them! Well, on Wednesday morning, just before heading to work, off went my power. No warning, no fanfare, no courtesy call. Just off. I contacted them as soon as I got to work. They had, in fact, received my payment, but didn't cancel the disconnect. No problem--it was early enough in the day that they would probably get it switched on again before I got home from work, but I was told that it could take up to 24 hours (to flip a freakin' switch???). You can see where this is going, can't you? I get home, and there's no power. I head back to work, so I can get HNT/OHNT drafted and scheduled. I get home and the power's still off. I did what little cleaning I could around with the evening sunlight still out. Then it got dark. And quiet. No internetz. No TV. No stereo. I putzed around on my iPod and my phone, until I realized that, by the morning, they'd need to be recharged. Oops. Took care of that at work the next day. The rest of the story...it took 4 afternoon phone calls, but the power was restored Thursday night. Just shy of 36 hours after it was turned off! THIRTY-SIX HOURS! Moral of the story? Pay your bills on time, boys and girls!