About Me

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I am a retired English teacher and department head, the mother of three grand mother of four, and have been married to the same man for 52 years. I subscribe to Dr. PM Forni's concept of Civility. I was born in South Philadelphia and grew up in the 'burbs. I love soft pretzels and cheesesteaks, the Phillies, the Eagles, and San Diego. I love being Mom, Aunt Kathy, Nona Kathy, and Teacher. I spend a lot of time in my gardens in the spring and summer, and in the winter I plan what I'm going to plant. I also am an avid reader and photographer.

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Monday, June 14, 2010

Cosmic Madness

Is the Earth off its axis or something?

This morning on the gym's TVs I watched them pull people from their cars in Oklahoma. It seems that torrential rains have caused flash floods like those in Arkansas and West Virginia that swept through crowded campgrounds. Phoenix was 'chilly' yesterday and BP's rig continues to pump oil onto our beautiful beaches and into the wetlands. And the search for the missing child in Oregon is now classified as a criminal investigation.

We rented a car from Enterprise when my husband had a fender bender two weeks ago. The car smelled funny the first day, and got worse over the next three. When he turned it in, he mentioned something to them about the smell. They called two days later to say that a rodent had crawled in the exhaust and died, but not to worry, because 'we were covered'! It took us a while to realize what they were saying. They would have charged us if we had not taken out an additional policy on the rental!!!! Now they want us to file a claim with our insurance company!!! Can you believe this?

Middle daughter is on her way to the ER having inhaled cleaning fluids she was using to scour the bath tub. The good news is that she was cleaning and that the baby was not in the vicinity; the bad news is that she mixed cleaning products -- a general no-no -- and is now experiencing burning when she breathes.

Maybe ostriches have the right idea. Me? I'm looking for some sand...

13 comments:

Purple Flowers said...

Some sand sounds good right about now.
I mixed cleaning products one time, and burned some membranes in my nose. It was brutal in addition to my nonstop watering eyes. I learned a lesson.
The world seems crazy right now. Sometimes it's better not to read everything in the paper.

Andrew said...

I hate to hear that about your daughter. You and her are in my thoughts and I pray and hope there isn't any permanent damage. I've missed you and am rediscovering you and your blog again. I hope you don't mind me hanging around from time to time and commenting. Take care and as I said earlier y'all are in my thoughts.

Lena said...

Wow, what a post! It all gets to be too much sometimes, that is for sure.

I hope your daughter feels better soon!!

C.A. said...

I do believe everything is a little off kilter myself. A "rodent" in the exhaust and it's your fault? Unbelievable!

I hope your daughter is alright...that sounds frightening!

Jules said...

YES!!!!! I've been spouting to anyone that will list. The Chilean earthquake knocked the eart off of it's axis - just by an umpth degree. But it seems to have turned the world upside down!

Maybe it's all just a precursor to 2012?

Sweet Virginia Breeze said...

I hope your daughter is OK. I have mixed cleaning products, but thankfully did not breathe enough to hurt me.
Your experience with Enterprise is an example of how these days businesses don't want to take responsibilty - they always want to push the blame off on someone else. (Like BP)

Jay said...

I'm thinking that maybe I should stand on a street corner and yell at people that we are facing the END TIMES!! REPENT! haha

Hope your daughter is okay.

Anonymous said...

Kathy, where are you located? I could not find a profile page on you.

Di
The Blue Ridge Gal

George said...

I hope your daughter is okay. As far as all the other things are concerned, I think you may be on to something. I think you may need to share that sand.

Linda Reeder said...

We had a weasel like rodent chew something in a car we rented in Germany/Austria. We were able to get it serviced while it was in a hotel parking garage, no charge, and no fussing with insurance. Apparently it was a common occurence there.
The cleaning products mixing cane be very serious. Hope everything turns out OK.
As to the rest of it, yes, bury your head in the sand. You have no control over any of it anyway.

Alamo Rent A Car said...

From your post, it sounds like the rodent was already in the exhaust pipe when the car was rented to you. I apologize for the way this was handled. I'd like to address this with the location. Please email me at care[at]enterprise.com with the details, including the rental agreement number. Please also included reference #100615-001310 in the subject line.



-Heidi with Enterprise

happyone said...

Creepy about the rodent in the car!!
I think crazy things have always happened in the world, we just hear about every single one of them now a days!
Sorry to hear about your daughter and hope she is well soon.

A Slice of My Life said...

Yay Heidi from Enterprise for trying to make it right! (big points in my book)

I hope your girl is fine. It was drilled into me at an early age to never mix any cleaning supplies. My solution to that is to never clean! lol