Welcome to my world!

So this is why I have no hot water this morning!  Better call Black Hills who has my service contract.  I know the water heater is on there.  That is why I have it.  Oh, wait while I am on hold let me just read my contract.  Yes the water heater is covered.  No, the tank on the water heater is not covered.  The tank leaking  caused the pilot light to go out which they will come and light, but it probably will not stay lit with water dripping on it from a tank that is not under warranty!  Ya think!

This is the sump pump Jesse put in for me several years back so if the water heater went south the sump pump would pump the water outside and I would not need to sop it up with this towel.

See how it is located right beside it?  To bad it does not work.  I used to pour a gallon of water in it and watch it empty just so I knew it would work.  Hmmm.  Guess it only works when you watch it.

Ater got clear over into the sewing room.  I feel so damn special!

Oh, wait a minute!  Today is Sunday!  Do plumbers work on Sunday?  Better yet do they work on SUPER BOWL SUNDAY?  Some how I think the Karma Gods have got me over a barrel here.  Ah, but there is hope.  I do not have to shower before church.  Or after church.  Or in the foreseeable future!

So those of you who have actual hot running water, enjoy!  And I will not say "Go Bronco's" because that would be like putting a curse on them.  What I will say is 

Enjoy the game!

What a way to spend a Sunday!

Here is the goose house when I opened it this morning.  It is beginning to look pretty nasty.  I would not want to sleep in there, would you?  My 13 little geese are certainly more deserving of something better.  Oh, look what I have in the back seat of my car!  I think I know what to do.

The man at the feed store looked at me like I had lost my marbles when I ordered a bale of straw and handed him the big black bag.  He thought I was nuts when I told him to slip that right down over that bale.  I had to help him because I do not think he had done this before.  Then when I told him to just toss it in the back seat he told me it would not go.  But this was not my first rodeo and I knew it would.  So I told him just put it through the door and slide it across the seat and close the door.  How simple it was then.  The real trick is not actually getting it in the car, the trick is getting it out without the bag breaking and leaving straw all over the seat.  That was my job.

So I jumped up bright and early this morning and traipsed out to the goose house with my shovel, broom, heavy coat and gloves.  Lyn did not know I was going to do this today so I did not have to get the sermon about wearing a mask and all that.  I did have to stop about half way through because my little fingers were very cold and I feared frostbit.  But with peraverance, in just a little over an hour it looked like this:

And then I filled the feeder .

And to make thier day complete, I ran them a big pond on water because the stock tank is frozen and I think it will remain that way until the spring thaw.

 

And Icarus checked it all out and pronounced it finished!  I headed for the shower!

 

So tonight I will sleep good knowing the geese are warm and dry tonight with new straw.  And let me tell you this is one chore I am glad is done for a few months.  A friend of mine called earlier and asked what I did today since they did not come and do my floors.  I told him I cleaned the goose house and he said, " I told you I would do that!  At least I meant to tell you I would do it."  I told him, "Oh, I misunderstood.  I thought you said 'Pass the cookies'. "  MEN! 

 

Oh, those silly geese!

For several days the geese had been acting strange.  Now I been herding these geese, thirteen of them, around for several years, so I know strange when I see strange.  Their living quarters consists of a wooden shed about 10 feet wide by 14 feet long.  This has a big door on the west side that I go in to fill the feeder and such.  On the south side down low is a small door about 12 inches wide and 20 inches high that leads to a wire enclosure that is the same size as their house and is covered and has a big door that they enter and exit from.  When it is just dark I go out with my flashlight and they all go into the wire part.  I close that door and secure it and they are snug and tight for the night.  They can go into the house or sleep out in the wire part.  Every night this happens like clock work.  In the morning I open the wire door and they all come running out and over to the water tank which serves as their pond.  Not so the last few days.
They began by being afraid to go in the enclosure.  When I got them herded inside they would cower in the corner.  The first night I actually went into the goose house to see if perhaps Brer' Fox was lurking their.  Nothing amiss.  The next morning they did not rush out as usual, so I just latched the door open and in due time they ventured forth.  Same scenario that evening and the next morning.  I was beginning to be concerned and checked everything I could think of to make sure nothing was able to get near enough to frighten them.  It was a mystery and it really upset me to see them act like they were terrified.  Yesterday was the clincher.
I opened the wire door and no goose came out of the goose house.  I could see them in their milling about so I went and opened the big door.  They cowered in the corner and my eyes finally spotted the "intruder". Yes!  That is it.  A piece of blue plastic cord that fell off of a tarp!  That was blocking the door!  I remembered it laying on the ground in the wire enclosure. 

 

It sure seemed harmless enough to me, but then, I am not a goose.  Did they think it was a snake?  I am a thinking I would have been getting the hell out of there if I were them.  Geese have the herd mentality and I do not know how they communicate, but they were all 13 of them scared to death of this piece of cord.  After I took pictures of the offending item, I dropped it into the burning barrel.  I think the geese now look on me as some sort of hero because they gather at the fence around the yard and stare at me.  And then they take thier naps.  So I take my cue from them and dose in my chair knowing that once more all is right in my world!

 

 

 

************************************************************************
This is the novel I have for sale . Do not be confused by the title. Chapter One simply means this is my first book. There may never be another, or there may be many more. I am very proud of this endeavor and guarantee you will enjoy the book in it's enirety. Lou Mercer

From the back cover

Chapter One...Loose Ends
Lou Mercer

Meg Parker led a simple life.  She was a widow of three years and lived on a chicken farm at the foot of the mighty Rockie Mountains.  Life was good and her little store on eBay made her extra spending money.  But snow and wildlife were not the only things lurking in the forest above her house.  Nor did it stay in the forest for long.

Marshall Purcell came home a wounded veteran from vietnam.  He still had his dreams, but they were of an incestuous past that threatened to consume him.

When Meg and Marshall met it seemed an inconsequential meeting, but it changed both their lives forever.  And change is not always a good thing.

This is adult fiction at its best without all the sex.  Well, maybe just a little bit. 

About the author.  Lou Mercer was born in Nickerson, Kansas. She came to Pueblo, Colorado in 1977 and is now a product of the majestic Rockie Mountains