The cops down here are so nice...

Yesterday I got a call from one of our computer vans. Seems they were having a software problem. Unable to figure it out over the phone, I decided to high-tail it out to them, about an hour away. At the time I left, it was about 9:30 a.m. On a typical day, we've already got one job done by that time. Time was a-wasting and I was in a hurry.

I knew that I was pushing it. I kept looking at the speedometer and and as far ahead as possible to see if there were any cops. I was only about 2 miles from my turnoff when I finally got pulled over by a state trooper.

It was a lovely little conversation. We exchanged pleasantries. He told me he clocked me doing 85 in a 55 zone and asked for my license and registration. After I gave the paperwork to him, he asked me why I was going to fast and I told him the truth: We had a computer van down, a customer waiting, and I knew I was speeding but was hoping I could get away with it. The trooper took my info back to his car while I sweated it out, wondering how much the ticket was going to be.

I got a warning. For doing 30 mph over the speed limit. Even I feel that I should have been crucified for it. I might have to send the trooper a Christmas card.

In other news, I'm officially fed up with my raccoon problem. I finally spotted one of the buggers last night. Fat he was, and hairy. And apparantly strong (or heavy) enough to rip the bottom out of another bird feeder. As a humorous side note, my new neighbors dog (a little bichon-esqe thing) whom seems to think that my yard is also her yard (barks incessantly at me whenever I'm outside) also seems to take exception to the raccoon. I'm curious to see how that little battle plays out. Unfortunately, I don't hold a lot of hope for the dog.

It was a good weekend. The weather was warm, I got my mower back from being serviced and finally got the jungle cut down. The hummingbirds returned, mojitos were drunk, and all my herbs that were killed by the frost earlier in the week were replanted. I also planted more foxglove in my front flower bed, baked bread, fixed my oven, and finally saw the Grey Cup.

A very mundane, and rather satisfying weekend, all in all.

I'm gonna need a bigger tub

Thursday saw me sitting at home, feeling only moderately better than I had felt the previous day. Late in the evening, the rains come again. A wonderfully powerful storm with lots of wind, thunder and lightning. Thor was having a good night. Around the time I decided to go to bed, I figured it might not hurt to check the weather station to see how bad the storm was, as I had noticed earlier that there were tornado watches in some counties (not mine).

So I learn that there are tornado warnings in southwestern Arkansas, and the storms are moving north east. In fact, at the time there was already planes flipped over at the North Little Rock air port. Eventually, the storm made it to Cabot, a town about ten minutes south of me, and the station said the residents should seek shelter immediately. At that point it seemed a pretty safe bet that it was going to hit Beebe too. Apparently, if you don't have a proper tornado shelter then the next best option is hiding in the bathtub with a mattress over you.

So about that time I lose my satellite (not really surprising), and go about dragging a mattress from the spare bedroom into my bathroom. It doesn't fit particularly well, but I managed to get the tub covered, for the most part. After about another ten minutes of waiting and not hearing a tornado siren I said "screw this" and went to bed, leaving the television on in case the satellite reestablished itself in time to give me some decent info.

About ten minutes after that, the weather station came back on and the first thing I heard was "...and the storm is now over Beebe, so if you live in Beebe seek shelter now." Pretty good timing, if I do say so myself. So I dragged my ass out of bed and curled up in the tub. Or rather, I tried to. You know, it never actually occurred to me that my entire body would not fit into a bathtub. I think that it would be more comfortable to do a trans-atlantic long haul flight in coach sandwiched between to 500+ pound people than try to fold myself up and fit entirely into the tub.

Anyhow, the storm blew over and after a few minutes I managed to crawl out of my little "hidey-hole". By the looks around town the only damage seems to be a lot of trees blown over.

One year later.

One year ago today I officially transferred down to Arkansas. I suppose that this is cause for some sort of celebration and reflection.

Whee. *blows noisemaker*

*Pause*

Okay, I'm done.

I'd love to give a long post about how much better or worse my life is down here, but I can't. The year has had its ups and downs. It's not heaven down here, but it's not complete hell, either. Moving from a city of a million people to a town of about 5000 has taken some adjustments, but there are advantages to balance out lack of conveniences.

It has been raining pretty much non stop since Saturday - Check that. Saturday it only rained right at sunrise, and then only enough to prevent me from mowing my weed farm that can only charitably be called a lawn. On the plus side, my fruit trees - with the exception of the persimmon, which isn't much more than a stick with some root attached to it - have started budding leaves (and in the case of one of my peach trees, flowers). It's still a few years until I'll have fruit, but it's nice to know that they survived my planting and neglect.

On a somewhat related note, while I was back in Calgary one of my dad's friends mentioned to me that a guy in Tennessee managed last year to inoculate oak and hazelnut trees to grow truffles. Naturally, I'm somewhat giddy at the thought, and have considered looking in to how much it would cost to buy about 100 acres of farmland and turn it into a truffle farm. Sure it's a pipe dream, but it's an extremely tempting one.

In other news, I was survived the airport and hospital without succumbing to the seasonal illness but my immune system was no match for Little Miss Plaguey a.k.a. Siochain, who managed to infect me over the phone. She is truly insidious. The real annoyance is that although I definitely don't feel completely healthy, I don't feel ill enough to warrant taken the day off, so I'm just lurching through work at partial efficiency hoping that I don't have to get worse before I get better. I'm taking some sick days until I feel somewhat human again.