White Lightning Axiom: Redux

Yesterday evening went extremely well. The weather had cooperated for the most part and stayed mostly sunny. That kept the ambient temperature of the Manor above 62 degrees. This, in turn, kept the furnace from kicking on at 1630 to bring the house up to 61 degrees. Ahhh, that saved us at least 10$. It is supposed to get cooler with accompanying precipitation over the next few hours, but I'll count my blessings. I think I should have played hookey and done some yard-work, but I suppose that my horticulture endeavors will need to be postponed till April now.

Back at the homestead, the kids were happily munching away on their grilled cheese sandwiches. Alexis had a side of diced ham while Jake had some noodles. I, had some of the mac-n-cheese that was left over after I had made the kids lunch meal for the following day. Mmmm, nutritious. Eventually, the Mrs wandered in and deposited some booty that she had plundered from one of the local department stores. I've been interested in getting a few DVDs of late of an anime series I really liked. The original show, Ghost in the Shell, is a classic for anyone who knows their stuff. Apparently, it has been transformed into a running series and I've seen a few shows on the cartoon channel after Adult Swim is done for the night. That puts it at about 0030 or 0130. Not a good time for me to be awake. The Marvelous Mrs had found the DVD's for a significantly cheaper price than what could be found online. She managed to snag all 5 of the existing releases. The six and seventh releases will be coming up soon. Each disk has 4 shows on it so I guess they are taking their time with the production. Good thing. I suppose the Mrs will be able to find the next 2 releases since I think that she is trying to get back at me for the surprise birthday gift I got her. I watched the first DVD after we put the kids to bed. It had the patent painfully long intro and closing with unintelligible Japanese singing. The shows themselves were captivating and well crafted. I enjoyed them quite a bit. The odd thing is that at the end of each show, they had this little mini-show with the robotic AI spider tanks. Really quite annoying actually.

Flash forward in time. The morning brought the return of Sebastian the raindrop. The rain always makes it that more difficult to get out of bed. We managed to break through the dense fog of profound somnolent lethargy and get going. The Mrs lumbered off the showers while I woke the kids and tended to the hounds. Mud again. Bletch. Once I was finished in the kennels, I went back up to check on the kids before I expelled the Mrs from the warm, steamy shower. I immediately spotted Alexis plugging away at her morning bottle of lactose suspension, but only saw the quilt and pillows tossed about where Jacob should have been. I immediately assumed that he had finished his bottle and had left the room in search of myself or a better view of a television. As I search the house for my little Houdini, I become more and more frantic. He does not come bounding out of any of the bed rooms as I wander down the great hall of ancestors. Not in any of the closets ... not in the mess-hall or the kitchen. Certainly not in the kennel since the dogs would have immediately alerted me. Oh dear ... has he fallen and hurt himself? In a panic, I burst into the master bath and let the mostly nekkid Mrs know that I have lost our son. She throws on a towel and joins in on the search. She retraces some of my previous searches as I begin a detailed examination of every nook and cranny in which he could possibly have obscured himself. Within minutes, the Mrs claims first prize by locating him. He had thrown the sheets and comforter off himself and gave the appearance that he had evacuated the mile wide water bed. In reality, he had wormed his way under one of the Mrs' body pillows and blended into the fitted sheet. He was sound asleep and all that could be seen of him was an arm and a bit of his noggin. Relief, frustration and amusement make an interesting chemical meal for the mind this early in the morning.

We got out of the house at 0702.30 which is still a bit late. I really would like to be in the car at five of, but I'll get what I can take these days. With the rain, I expected traffic to be that much more enjoyable. Philly traffic has a set of rules when it rains that boils down to a single truism: Instant Asshole, just add water. I was pleasantly surprised though. Once I got to the turnpike, I got a call on my cell phone. A tapestry of dread immediately covered me. First off, I thought it must be the wife and she was either in an accident or something had happened with the kids. Within seconds, I dismissed the horrible thoughts racing through my mind and extradited the phone from its hip-holster. I immediately determine that the phone number is not one I recognize and answer the call. It is my buddy Pete. He is telling me that I am running late. I ask him how he knows this and then I see him in the rear view mirror. What a joker. He recognized my SuperSaturn by all the police support stickers on the rear bumper and the meson accelerator I have jerry-rigged to the cupola. For peaceful and primarily defensive purposed only, mind you! We have a brief but enjoyable conversation as he follows me to the next exit where I move over from the right lane to the left most 'speeding' lane. I get to work at 0745 and he makes it to his office at 0815. He notes that my piloting skill had left him in the dust, or more apropos, mist. Not too shabby for either of us. Good thing too, I have plenty of work to keep my occupied today.

One final little scrap of mental refuse for you. A few days ago, I got stuck behind a tanker truck going home. He was in the left most lane where I deigned he should not be. After a few days of this stewing in the back of my mind, I decided to send out some notification to Trimac/DSI Transport that I was not happy with the conduct of their staff.

On 3/21 a DSI Transport/TRIMAC tanker truck was driving east on the PA Turnpike between the Midcounty Interchange and the 611 exit at 1630.
The signs on the turnpike specifically state that the left most lane is restricted and Semi Trucks are not to use the lane. The vehicle with your name plastered on the cab and trailer made no effort to leave the lane for the 10 miles I was stuck behind it. I eventually passed it on the right. Please inform your drivers that if you are going to disobey local motor vehicle laws that it would be wise not to drive a giant advertisement sign with YOUR company name on it.

Sincerely (irritated) MDMHVONPA

# posted by mdmhvonpa @ 8:15 AM