Cars, Crawfish and Cats
Last week The Prof’s car started making some truly formidible noises, so he ran it in to the local service shop. There was a problem with the belts, and because of the way his car is put together it would have been a $1,000 plus job to fix everything correctly. He elected to have the airconditioning disconnected, which they warned him might not work, might only be a temporary fix, or might last him quite a long time. They simply couldn’t predict how well this cheapest of options would work out.
Turns out that it was only a very temporary fix. This morning, on his way back from the gym, he lost power steering. We’re waiting to hear if there’s another cheap option to get the car through, but if it really is going to cost over $1,000, then The Professor’s back is against the wall. The car is ten years old, has been cross country many times and so has big mileage stacked up on it, and its days are numbered anyhow. At the same time, The Prof still has no full-time employment, and he can’t afford to buy a new car (along with pay for the new insurance rates that would go with it). All I can do now is keep my fingers crossed for him.
Meanwhile, preparations are in full swing for the much anticipated visit of MWUFFLTHB and the Texan Elf this coming Sunday. They quite generously offered to take The Prof and I out to dinner, but I’d far rather feed them, if they can stand my cooking! I made crawfish etouffe for Sunday, which the Prof and I “test drove”. It came out pretty damned good, if I do say so myself. And it has the added advantage of now being ready to thaw and eat, meaning I get to spend more time with my guests. I still have to lay in a supply of beer and/or cider, but that’s more pleasure than chore. The four of us plan to go see Fellowship of the Ring together, which should be quite a bit of fun since we all originally met on a forum that is devoted to Tolkien and the making of the movies.
In cat news: I found a piece of pumice in the middle of the living room when I got up this morning. It must have come from my cactus planter (The Professor bought me cacti in lieu of flowers last Valentine’s Day). Problem is, we have no idea how KfH got up to the planter. It’s sitting on top of a set of free standing CD shelves, about four feet off the ground, with only a narrow top that is completely occupied by other objects (done on purpose so KfH has no landing strip to aim for). Nothing seems amiss on the shelf, but there’s no other place that pumice could have come from.
She’s also taken to dumping her toys in Clueless Wonder’s water bowl when she’s done playing with them. Yesterday morning I found a very sodden furry mouse belly up in the water. One is forced to wonder what goes through her little mind.