Sleepy and powerless

I confess: My (blogging) muse comes and goes.

When she's around, I'm quite productive. Just take the recent example of the once-and-still forthcoming analog TV shutdown. Gave me quite a bit of material for several entries. Yet sometimes my inspiration is just nowhere to be found.

But lately, between my day job and the evening tasks of cooking, cleaning, making sure the child does her homework, and other odds and ends I find little time to write. No matter, sometimes I just have nothing to share.

Right now, though, a couple of things.

First, it's just about spring in Kansas, which translated means it can be balmy one day and frigid the next. For example, the middle of last week saw temps soar to the 70's. Almost criminal to be working inside with no windows on a day such as that. Then came Saturday where we saw no sunshine. Yesterday afternoon I worked in the yard toying with taking off my shirt to get some semblance of a suntan. (I didn't.)

Today? Maybe in the 50's at lunchtime. Suppertime: 30 degrees and falling.

I do notice the trees here aren't budding as yet. They've been around long enough. They're not fooled.
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The other thing? Daylight Savings Time.

Since we haven't participated in the "spring forward fall back" regimen since the first term of the Clinton administration, losing an hour of sleep Sunday morning was not greeted with enthusiasm in the Geohouse.

To make things worse, the town had a power failure just before sunrise. Several digital faces throughout the casa were flashing various times, causing me to think: "Gee, I'm glad I changed all of these right before bedtime." I got my cell phone, figuring the carrier would have changed the time readout.

I was wrong. And didn't learn that until a little later.

We were rushed.

And trying to get little Geoana up and ready for school this morning was a worse chore than usual. Asleep on the couch, fully dressed, backpack at the ready, and the engine idling.

But the extra light at the end of the day is well worth it.

They're Not Supposed To Have A Sense Of Humor

A story such as this deserves comment.

As many readers know, I went to school at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM. There are four directions out of town, and only four (which is not unusual in the desert southwest). And in three of those directions (towards Alamogordo, Deming, or Truth or Consequences) you will encounter a Border Patrol checkpoint. Even though college students are known for making poor and sometimes notoriously dumb decisions, one thing everyone knew was not to be a smartass if you had to go through one of the Border Patrol stations.

Geogal knew of some students once, who, upon being asked by Border Patrol officers if all in the vehicle were U.S. citizens, prompted one to reply: "Si, senor."

The car was forced to pull to the side, then it was emptied and searched. The folks involved were eventually allowed to proceed, three hours later.

Don't mess with these folks. Nowhere, anywhere, does it say peace officers have to be polite in the line of duty.