July 05, 2003
Independence Day has a whole new meaning...
I don't mean that in a patriotic or national sense at all. There's a new sense of independence at least for the two women living in this house--but damn, do I hope yesterday and today aren't indicative of how we're going to use it...
For the Fourth, Mom and I went over to my aunt and uncle's for a cookout around noon. Unfortunately, at about 12:45, just as my aunt was putting food on the grill, an enormous thunderstorm blew through and threatened to take us with it (this becomes more important later). After a rain delay, we ate about 1:30 or so, and hung around with another aunt and uncle, and one of my cousins.
Well, after we ate, people sat around and started talking, as is pretty common with us, about old family stories and such. I've noticed this happens a lot more since my grandma died. I guess Brenda, my cousin (who's about 16 years older than me) went with my aunt down to the old home place in Kentucky recently. My mom's family comes from a teeny little backwoods holler in eastern Kentucky called Millstone. It's so far back in the mountains, that I can remember visiting there when I was three and discovering there wasn't any indoor plumbing. For a kid who's just been potty-trained, telling you mother you need to go potty and having her take you into the backyard is a mind-blowing experience.
Anyway, Brenda was visiting down there when she was a kid, hanging around with the other cousins her age, and apparently they got bored. They started wondering how deep the outhouse went. So they found some long sticks and decided to find out. Apparently when you stir up a very old outhouse, the results are very unpleasant. And messy. The kids got busted.
The funny thing was, I wanted to lean over and make some joke about stirring shit up, but didn't because my aunt Vera was sitting right next to me, and I couldn't say the word 'shit' in front of her. I found out later, my mom, who was sitting on the other side of Brenda, leaned over and whispered, "So I guess y'all were the original shit-stirrers, weren't you?"
From now on, all either of us has to do is make a reference to stirring shit up, and we both lose it.
So... when we got home, the power was out. Not too surprising, given the major storm that went through. Not such a big deal, except for the heat. We opened the windows and settled down for a wait. And we waited. And waited. And waited.
Finally last night, I realized that with my laptop and dialup, I might be able to at least get some news about when the power might be back, since the power company wasn't taking any calls. Hopped online for a while, then went to bed, expecting the power to be back on this morning.
It wasn't.
We ran errands all morning, spending hours buying a computer desk because Brand's Antelope Valley monkeys moved to Ann Arbor and started working for OfficeMax. And the ones who were too stupid to get work there went to work for the power company.
Finally we got home after noon. Still no power.
The afternoon was spent napping like reptiles to avoid the heat. Finally around 8:30 tonight, the power came back on. Mom and I were punchy as hell, that frame of mind where everything is funny. In fact, when I came in from the patio and noticed the power was back on, I told Mom, then mentioned that the refrigerator was running. And she said? Yeah, you guessed it, "Don't let it get away!" And rather than giving her the dirty look she deserved, we both wound up in helpless giggles.
Although, I have to admit, one of the funniest moments this weekend came yesterday. Mom went to Target for some odds and ends while I took a nap. She came home and laughingly told me the following: "Well, as I was walking down the aisle, I passed some fans and thought, 'Hey! Since we don't have air conditioning right now, I'll just go ahead and buy a fan!'"
I can't laugh too hard at her. I kept thinking, "Well since I can't get online, I'll just watch a DVD!" We don't do so well without technology around here...
Posted by Lisa at July 5, 2003 10:59 PM