strange things are afoot in Highlands Ranch

I saw 2 things today that I really didn't expect to see, especially in Highlands Ranch.

As I was leaving my parents' house, I heard a loud noise, looked up and saw a black helicopter that appeared to be about to land on top of a neighbors house. Not something one would expect to see, is it? Nope, didn't think so. Anyway, the helicopter didn't land; it just made a u-turn and headed off in the other direction. And thank goodness, too, because I imagine that homeowner would've been a bit pissed off when the roof had to be replaced. And naturally, the 'copter would've disappeared and then, the insurance company wouldn't want to pay a claim, and well, you know how it goes from there.

And yes, as I was almost home, guess what I saw? Yup, the damn helicopter again. I began to wonder if I'd been caught doing something, but I knew I'd hidden that body really, really well, so I knew it wasn't me they were after.

But then, I had to stop in King Soopers - isn't that a dumb name for a grocery store? or any store, for that matter? - and I thought maybe I'd been put into a trance by the helicopter blades or something because when I was parking the car I didn't expect to see a guy in full cowboy regalia prancing around on his horse in the parking lot. I mean, I'd seen folks riding horses down the main street when we lived in Montana, and while I do live in Colorado, I don't live on a farm, in a small town, or any place where this would be okay to do. Then, eerily enough, the cowboy saw the helicopter and he galloped right out of there and off to who knows where.

Maybe the helicopter guy was chasing the cowboy? Now that's something out of the movies.

Hey, Culligan Man!

Living in Montana, where the water was nothing short of just plain nasty-tasting, I became a fan of the Culligan Man. Although I swear I tried to get used to the not-quite-as-bad-as-Montana water, I just couldn't do it. Thankfully, Kenin agreed, and I had wonderful Culligan bottled water back in my abode within 2 weeks of moving to Iowa. Life has been good water-wise... until now. (Okay, perhaps that's just a wee bit more dramatic than things actually are, but read on, and you'll see what I mean.)

Last Friday, I had 2 bottles of water delivered. All was well until I went to change out an empty bottle later that evening. As I was lifting the new bottle into the cooler, I noticed some water on the floor, but didn't really think too much about it because, well, I have kids and a husband and you know how they can be. However, once the new bottle was in place, there was a strange bubbling sound, and I saw a crack in the bottle. Of course, this crack just had to be in the worst possible place - at the bottom of the bottle. At this point, I figured I had two options: 1) let almost 5 gallons of water slowly dribble out through the crack and all over my kitchen floor, or 2) change out the offensive bottle and replace it with one without a crack. Naturally, I chose option number 2, intending to call Culligan and ask for a credit.

So this morning, I called Culligan and asked to have more water delivered and about a possible credit for the screwed up bottle. Know what they told me? They said they'd give me a $1 credit. One dollar????? Are they nuts? That five gallon bottle of water that I couldn't drink cost me $4! So now I'm supposed to pay $3 for water I never even got to use? I don't think so! Now I can get redneck when I have to, and this situation might just warrant that. It's not like I'm trying to get free water from them or anything. I just don't want to pay from something that I didn't use. I think I'll accost the Culligan Man when he comes tomorrow and see what happens.

Laziness, a friend, and a feline

I know, I know... I suck at keeping this thing updated. I could throw out all sorts of excuses like the fact that I had surgery (I'm now minus a gallbladder), or that we've had some major issues with my daughter, Jena, or even that I got unnaturally engrossed in playing Freecell and making a movie. While all of the above excuses are very real, the true and simple fact of the matter is that I get lazy. And sometimes it's not just your 'ordinary' lazy, either. It's more like the I've-got-9-loads-of-laundry-to-do-and-my-family's-about-to-have-to-go-to-school-and-work-naked kind of lazy. Do you ever get like that? I mean, where you can ALWAYS find something better to do than what you need to do? It's not like my house is nasty dirty or anything, but there always seems to be something else that I should be doing. Our house was always neat and orderly when I was growing up, so how I managed to turn out like this, I'm not really sure. Oh well, that's just me. Like it or lump it, I always say.

I miss my friend, Lynn. She's in Billings, Montana this week, waiting on her hubby, Dirk, to come home from Iraq. He's been gone for about 15 months and is finally coming home Thursday, so I'm totally excited for her and her kids. But I still miss her. When I lived up there, we'd go to lunch 2 or 3 times a week, for like 2 or 3 hours at a time. It's not like we ate the whole time, either. We talked and laughed and made fun of life in a teeny, tiny little cow town. She was my fount of sanity, and I feel like I could use a nice big dose of that right about now. People in Sioux City are great, but well, they just aren't Lynn.

I have a 3 legged cat, Angelo, who's species challenged. He thinks he's a dog. Why, I'm not really sure, because we don't have a dog for him to imitate. He's currently learning to fetch. We toss a balled up piece of paper across the room (at least he's smart enough not to go for the fake throw) and he chases it, picks it up, and carries it around with him. He doesn't quite bring it back yet, but we're still working on that. Ya gotta love freaky animals.