Being LOW can be a GOOD thing

Since last fall my thermostat has been set at 55 degrees. Fifty-five degrees! Do you know how cold 55 degrees is? You may trust my grasp of biology on this, when I tell you that 55 degrees is the temperature at which:

• Small arctic rodents go into hibernation
• polar bears put on a sweater
• ice cream will not even think of melting
• Yetis put on a sweater
• cats grow a layer of fur that rivals the coats of Snowshoe Hares, Mink, Sea Otters
• ice cubes put on a sweater

Bottom line, I dropped my gas usage by 53% less heat in the past month I still had to shell out $76 for so-called heating and for gas for a nice omlette for Sunday brunch. Oh, you wonder, but do I occasionally bake in my gas oven? Heavens, give me a a moment to laugh heartily at the very idea - me baking!

But Hurrah! As it turns out I have not frozen my arse off this winter in vain! Nor in vane did I wear layer upon layers of clothing indoors. Watching my breath crystallize before my very eyes for idle entertainment was in fact a good thing. Today I signed to pay my gas bill on line and noticed there will be a 20% rebate to customers who reduce their gas use by 10% over the winter.

I will receive back some of the HUMUNGOUS amount of money I spent so icicles could hang from my household light fixtures.

Look here – the PG&E site actually calculated my actual gas consumption reduction so far this winter. Here it is below for my viewing entertainment & gloat enhancement. I dropped my gas usage 53% and as a bonus, this year I pay the same $ as I did last year, but I get to freeze!

Hurrah! Have current bigarse assignment at work over which I have sweat buckets of blood in the past week or two. Today I was in a lather over a portion of a ridiculously-complex bit o' legal fluff & finally decided I was reinventing the wheel and I was going to state things using Claire-bear logic. I just ran it past the lawyer and it FLEW! I am so very happy. In the past I would write up whatever, turn it in and then bend over for my required whoopin'. But now I turn things in, its looked at as if I possess a brain and its OK!

That I'm so excited over such a small thing - in great scheme of universe anyway - it only goes to show how totally horse whipped I was before. It's nice to work for normal people instead of micromanaging megalomaniacs.

And-in-other-news, the second chapter of my fanfic was posted today and I'm all tickled about it. This particular story is so cute it makes me squeal like a ninny when I read it. It has much to do with pets, and though the animal in the story isn't one I have ever had - it is actually a small non-existant magical creature - it is symbolic of all the pets I've ever loved. The critter dies at the very end and I weep buckets every time I read the last chapter.

Between buckets of blood and buckets of tears I guess I ought up the quantity of fluids I drink, eh?

Click, Click, Click...

On Waldron Street, Lair of the Mighty Raven.

2:00 AM: CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK....

Wha...? (rolls over, strains ears).

CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK....

Owl? Naw… to high pitched… but it is in a series…

*snores*

2:10 AM: CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK hiccough ....

Lies awake listening. Still awake two hours later. Clicking repeats randomly over the hour.At end of string of clicks can discern slight hiccough noise. Now am certain it is a rogue Western Screech Owl that took choir lessons.

3:00 AM: CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK ....

Damn it. *rummages in spare room, finds mini-tape recorder but no tapes. Damn it. Goes to front window. Owl is a car, parked right outside from bedroom window. Car alarm (?) or whateverthefeck goes off randomly several times with accompanying click, click, click, click....

4:00 AM: lies in bed contemplating car bombs, murder of car owner and nasty note for placing under wind-shield.

Thought occurs… what if clicking of owl is what is setting off car alarm?

Lies awake remainder of night contemplating car bombs and come to that, owl bombs.