Murphy's Law in Action, and Poop

So.  No roof.  Then the rains came.  Now there's a visqueen roof.  Sorta.  And another couple days' delay to dry out the sub-floor.  And, one of the guys working to tie-in the new roof gable to existing roof stepped off the rafters and through the ceiling in two different rooms, a la Christmas Vacation.  *sigh*

SIL#2 took granddog, Zeus, on a walk Wednesday afternoon.  He had a "poop bag" sticking out of his pocket when Zeus decided it was time to "perform" on a neighbor's lawn.  Before the first of the "performance" could hit the ground, hyper-zealous property-owner bounded out onto his front porch and asked, in a rather loud and accusatory tone of voice, "Hey!  You need a bag for that?" gesturing towards Zeus and his by-product.  SIL#2, with a rather puzzled look on his face, replied, as he pulled the bag the rest of the way out of his pocket, "No thanks.  I've got it covered."  Over-zealous, hyper-vigilant property-owner stood on the porch until SIL#2 was through policing up the by-product and heading back to the house with his feelings a little out-of-whack.

I suggested, "Next time, tell him, 'No, you can keep it, I don't need to take it with me.  There's plenty more where that came from.'"

Moogie was feeling a little snippy that day.

Sorta Through the Looking Glass

Today, they took the back wall down and the closet door in the master bedroom now opens onto the addition. We've decided it's kind of the Razorback version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.. Or, it could be a wormhole to Deep Space 9. I just hope nothing crittery tries to use it as an entrance.

I've not mentioned it here, but my granddog, Zeus, is -- for some unknown reason -- terrified of houseflies. Terrified! He has been known to refuse to come in from the backyard when one got in the house. You can imagine his state today, with the back of the house being al fresco and all.

Zeus is sedated. And I intend to hit the liquor store post haste. Amid the din of buzz saws and nail guns, I hear Happy Hour calling.

Pray that there's a roof (and a door that locks and windows) by nightfall, please! I'll post pics when I get back to New Orleans.

(I saw that my mayor made a fool of himself in Washington yesterday when he jumped on the "Pass the [nonexistent] jobs bill! bandwagon. Sigh.)

Several Days After COLLEGE GAMEDAY, and Construction Briefing

So, I'm living "Adventures in Construction Management." With the amount of red tape spooling out from the city, the neighborhood, and utilities, plus the vagaries of the weather, it's a literal miracle that anything ever gets built around here.

Trust me on this one.

On Friday, I texted Pepper and asked if we have gas at Moogie's Mansion and he replied, "Yes, there's gas here, and most of it is even in the pipes!"

I think it's getting close to time when I need to go home and get some healthy food into that man.

And, in case someone missed it, both the Hogs and the Saints won this weekend! The Saints probably won more handily (and prettier) than the Hogs, but a W is a W. Plus, I'm hoping that their less-than-stellar performance against Troy State will put a little fear of God (or, at least, fear of Nick Saban) into them.

Stimulus Redux

Hittin' the road again.  Here's a little something to remember:

It seems to me that the Jobs Bill is the legislative definition of insanity -- keep doing the same ol' thing to see if it'll come out differently this time.

*sigh*

Razorbacks Don't Forget

For those of you unfortunate enough to have missed the Razorbacks' drubbing of New Mexico's Lobos last Saturday night, let me fill you in on something pretty cool.

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock (where the game was played) became Patriot Central.  The ordinarily fiery-red running Razorback painted on the center of the field became this:

And looked like this on the field:

And the stands almost became Old Glory as alternating sections wore red or white shirts; the students wore blue:

And people actually did it!  It looked very impressive.

There was even a special logo designed for this particular game -- Razorbacks Remember:

I'm told the halftime show was very moving.

I'd say the nation, as a whole, pulled off a fitting tribute to 2001's national nightmare.  Let's pray we never have to be quite that creative again.

This day . . .

. . . is a day of images indelibly burned forever in our memories, obliterating the divine gift of forgiveness. A day born in the commonplace became uncommon in the space of four heartbeats as four aircraft came to an untimely . . . stop.  And, for awhile, everything else stopped, too.  Even our breathing.

I think this date shall always be thus as long as I tread this Earth.  And, perhaps even beyond those days.

The scab is healed, but the scar remains, never to fade.

God bless America.

The Wisdom of Felines

Man, do I ever know what it feels like to be in this spot.  I think I'll have some business cards made up featuring this saucy kitty.

Stolen from Facebook.

Thursday Night's the Night! And the night.

It's season opener tonight!!  Saints v. Cheeseheads, way up nawth.  At least there's no snow!  It'll be sad when the reigning Champions go down in defeat to their immediate predecessors -- NOT!!!

But first, I need to do my very own coin toss to see whether I'll make the effort to watch the Young President's major, super-important speech du jour.  I think I'd rather watch the local pre-game festivities around town, but we'll see what the Fates decide. Drinking game words must include jobs, entitlements, investment, infrastructure, and get the job done.  Any other suggestions? 

(I hear the White House has already announced that the "details" of how to do what he wants to do won't be revealed tonight -- we'll have to wait a few weeks.  Haven't we already been waiting a few weeks to hear this latest oratory from on high?!?!  Moogie is not a particularly patient person.)  I don't think our president is much of a details-oriented kinda guy.

I guess it would be kinda cool to see Pelosi sitting amongst the peons, though, instead of on her Speaker's springboard perch behind the dais.  That's one plus in favor of watching The Most Important Speech Ever.  But, only one.

I plan to rant about the sentence handed down to Betty Jefferson soon, but first I need to get my blood pressure under control.

Did anyone else think Michelle Bachmann's hair was a little out of control last night during the debate?  I mean, being southern, I like big hair -- it's bred into the genes, after all -- but seriously! 

Did anyone else have trouble finding MSNBC?  I never watch it and had to do a page-by-page search on the Guide.  I'll probably have to do the same search the next time I watch it in a few years.  Or decades.

I think it's nearing cocktail hour -- and I hear a Cosmo chilling in the freezer!  Who Dat!!!  Geaux Saints!!!

Back to School: an Upgrade

Now that school has been back in session for several weeks, some of you may be puzzled why I haven't posted a rant about the Sophie Wright Academy school buses that served as the bane of my existence for the last couple of years with their vrooming and squealing and beep-beep-backing-upping.

It seems that some changes have been made!

There is a fleet of brand-new buses sporting the Sophie Wright name parked in the lot, and their engines and OSHA-mandated back-up beepers must be a whole lot quieter, cause I hardly notice them at all.  There is also apparently a whole fleet of brand new bus drivers who are skilled enough to negotiate the turn onto our side-street without having to do a 2- or 3-point maneuver.  Not as many buses are running down our side-street this year either -- they seem to be going down the thoroughfare adjacent to Sophie Wright.

So, YAY!!!!

The most interesting change I've noted, though, is the demise of the name, Sophie B. Wright Academy.  All those new buses now announce that they're carrying the students of "Sophie B. Wright Institute for Academic Excellence." 

If you call it academic excellence, will academic excellence follow? 

Sounds a little too PC to me, but, if it means the buses are better behaved, I'll call the school Massachusetts Institute of Technology if that's what they want.

Go, Warriors!

And, the "Re-posts" Have It

So. In response to yesterday's burning question, I believe the "re-post" votes have it over the "a link will do" votes.  In keeping with the majority rule, and, as Lou points out, sometimes we blog-stalkers tend to be a bit lazy when it comes to clicking on links so we need to be spoon-fed, the following is my soon-to-be-annual post on Labor Day:

What Labor Day Means to Moogie

As I prepare to bake an apple-blueberry pie to take to a potluck this afternoon, my thoughts drift to the true meaning of today's revered holiday observation.

Labor Day -- the day we recognize and acknowledge all those hours spent in a hospital gown that exposes our backside to the world, hee-hee-heeing and blowing, then straining to push a human being out of our bodies and into this world. (Often described by male physicians as "experiencing some discomfort.")

What's that you say? Union labor?!?!

Oh.

In that case, contact your senator and congressperson today -- and tomorrow -- and explain just exactly why the Employee Free Choice Act is no more than a communist mechanism to screw the rank-and-file employee and the employer simultaneously, and a device to take contractual bargaining out of the hands of the real parties in interest and hand it over to not-totally-disinterested third parties, among other unpleasant things.

In the meantime, go have a picnic -- and call your mother.

And that apple-blueberry pie was some kind of good, if memory serves!  Happy Day after Labor Day.

Curious Minds Want to Know

So. Which is better? A link to an old post or re-posting the actual stuff?

Monday's Musical Interlude

Now, this qualifies for the adjective, "Amazing."  Prepare to be amazed.



Was I right, or what!

Stolen from Facebook.

Oh, and it's Labor Day.  I still feel pretty much the same way about it today as I did last year.

Heading Back to Normal. Sort of.

HVAC guys told us on Friday (the Friday preceding a three-day weekend) that the job will take at least one, if not 2, more days.  That means no AC downstairs (or cooking, other than in the microwave, because it just get too darned hot in the kitchen) until Tuesday at best.  We haven't been able to use the grill because of that little weather incident we've been experiencing.  So, we're approaching normal, but still don't have it in sight.

Lee was a respectable tropical storm, but she minded her manners reasonably well, considering.   She's moving northeast now, leaving behind a squall or two, lots of wind, tons of leaves and limbs strewn about, and lots of water.  I didn't have that gut feeling that she would do a whole lot of damage to Moogie's Mansion because, of course, Moogie's middle name is Lee, and I wouldn't do that to myself.  Neither would any of the other 5 generations in my family with the same name, preceding, or following, me.  I'd hope.

It's getting to be cabin fever time around here.  Bouie hasn't had his typical weekend outings because we're just never quite sure when another band will swing around and zap us with a thunderstorm.  With the AC still out downstairs, we've taken to living upstairs, and he's not quite sure about that either.  The upstairs couch isn't nearly as comfortable as the one in the downstairs TV room.

I also learned that he doesn't particularly care for sweet potato chips.  You should've seen the face he made as he was trying to spit this out!

I always forget how much quieter it is upstairs.  Makes for some sweet sleeping.  As long as it's dark --  those bedrooms are so bright in the daylight!

Guess I'll go put a cocktail in the freezer and maybe watch a little of the West Virginia game.  Sorry for the boring post -- I'm just a little brain-fuzzled.  And still a little light-headed over the Hogs' stomping victory last night over Missouri State.  We figured out how to get the game on ESPN3 on Pepper's laptop, so we had 3 or 4 TVs around the house set on different games and Hogs + LSU in the upstairs TV room.  Wow!  Overload!  I've waited so very long for it!  Wooo Pig Sooooiee!!

Happy Labor Day Eve!

COLLEGE GAMEDAY Humor

A little COLLEGE GAMEDAY Saturday humor, stolen from Facebook, as TS Lee bears down on Moogie's Mansion.  I figured I might as well post something while I still have power!

A guy is driving around the back woods of Arkansas and he sees a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house:

'Talking Dog For Sale'

He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard.
...
The guy goes into the backyard and sees a nice looking Labrador retriever sitting there.

'You talk?' he asks.

'Yep,' the Lab replies.

After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says 'So, what's your story?'

The Lab looks up and says, 'Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA.

In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping.'

'I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running.

But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger so I decided to settle down.

I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in.

I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals.'

'I got married, had a bunch of puppies, and now I'm just retired.'

The guy is amazed. He goes back In and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

'Ten dollars,' the guy says.

'Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?!?'

'Because he's a liar...
He's never been out of the yard'

 

I don't think Bouie would lie like that.

 

Woooo Pig Soooiiieee!!!!!!

The Tax Code, by Sunny

This young lady looks at the world from an interesting perspective, kinda schizo-like as most liberals tend to do.  But, at least she appears to be wrestling with it in her own mind.  And, she loves her daddy! 



Stolen from Buck at Exiled in Portales.

Saving the Economy One Day at a Time

On Wednesday, a crew of two showed up to rip out the old ductwork.  Yesterday, three came.  Today there are four.  One plumber has come to give us an estimate on the gas leak and I'm waiting on another. Several people are working on the foundation in Little Rock and I talked to the electrician today -- after only 4 extra days, he's finally acquired the correct permit to set a temporary meter on a pole charged to the separate account with Entergy that I set up days ago so Younger Daughter and SIL#2 will continue to have power as the addition goes up.  In setting up the account, I spoke to countless people over the phone.  Several times.

I have, therefore, decided to re-name yesterday's post, "Moogie's Mansion Economic Stimulus Package."  It works about as well anything coming out of Washington, and there are people actually getting paid in exchange for "shovel ready" labor.

You're welcome for the salvation of the economy.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

Ductwork. And Gas Pipes.

It appears that Moogie's Mansion has morphed into "The Money Pit."

Total replacement of all the AC ductwork downstairs, and replacement of the (6 year-old) heating unit needed.  While they're removing old ducts, they discover gas leaks.

And, a holiday weekend is coming up.  A holiday weekend with a tropical depression dumping 10 to 20 inches of rain on south Louisiana while I have open ducts under the house.  And no anti-humidifier.  (Hope you get a little bit of it, too, Andy).

::$igh::

How do these things know to happen all at once?!?!  These alone would be bad enough, but we've also started the addition to the Little Rock house where younger daughter and SIL#2 live, and I need to be there during the day!

Who's the Bad Luck Coordinator from Hell?  He'd better stay out of my way, if he knows what's good for him.