old stuff and new

I'm treating this blog as kind of an archive as well as new stuff, so there will be things posted that some of you have seen before but bear with me. Some of the stuff I've written I'd kinda like to keep and my email account at work just doesn't seem to be the best place for it (I've lost some stuff before just by changing jobs). There'll be some new and some old, some that if I've written it well enough will move you to tears or downright laugh out loud. So, fasten your seat belt...........................here's an old one. Ok, somehow I have become the master-of-disaster. I'm not sure if I told you or not, but I moved in to town. I had septic problems for the 4 years that I lived on the farm and three out of three landlords in that 4 years said that they would fix the problem. three out of three landlords failed to do that and $1400/month to live in my own sewage got old in a big hurry. anyway not a month after I moved what happened? the sewage backed up in the basement. dang............ anyway the landlord said to call the city, they came out and cameraed the line and found that a tree in the back alley was the problem and that they would dig it up and repair it. they started Friday but didn't get finished so came back 7:30 Saturday morning with a hydro-vac truck. I'm curled up on the couch in my bathrobe, catching up with Rhett and Scarlett and the gang, having a cup of tea, and KABLOOM.............what the hell was that? the noise was coming from the front so I ran and opened the door to a hurricane force wind that just reeked of natural gas and sounded like a jet getting ready to take off. I ran through the house, out the back door, across the deck, and across the back yard to where the city was working and hollered over the fence that I smelled gas. when I finally got the foreman's attention he told them to shut it down. the noise of the gas was almost deafening and I asked 'what now' he didn't seem to know, so I hurried in to the house and threw on a pair of sweat pants and a hooded jacket and went back to wait to see what would happen next. seemed like I stood there forever and nothing was happening and I was getting more scared by the minute and finally called 911. the dispatcher said that there were several crews at the scene and I allowed as I was scared to death. another 10 minutes or so went by and I was standing in the back yard, front and back doors open so I could see through the house in case someone came to tell me what to do when finally a couple of firemen came by and told me I had to get out of the house NOW. I asked if I could take my truck and they said no (source of ignition). flew in, grabbed leashes, and running shoes and out I went. 'twas very nice of them to tell me to get out, but they failed to tell me where to go. so here I am, no wallet, no cash, just my cell phone and my dogs, wandering the neighborhood. I ended up calling a co-worker that lives in the area and he came and picked us up. we were gone until they let us back in around 3 in the afternoon. turns out the road crew working out front of the house hit a 10" main that was at 400psi. yes, they had done their locates, the pipeline just wasn't buried as deep as it was supposed to be and a dozer operator hit it. bet his butt slammed shut in a big ol' hurry when that line blew! why am I telling you all of this? I'm so proud of the girls. being the farm girls that we are, we never really got around to getting halter broke. I had taken Niki and Jazz for a walk once when we moved to town, but just going down the street and through the back alley pretty near wore me out with the way they pulled. see a squirrel? we're off to the races and I'm flying along like a kite behind them. they pulled that morning for about 20' and then must have sensed the urgency of the situation and settled in beside me and just walked. what good girls. we've been for more walks since and they just seem to get better and better. I should go and do what I'm getting paid for