Unraveled

Good morning, Ecuador!
I have to share something with you that is driving me insane.
Back in August, Buddha was diagnosed with Spinal Ataxia, a degenerative disk disease that is causing what they call "drunken walking" in his back legs. Instead of going ahead with a spinal surgery, which I refused to put my 11 year old best friend through, I did some research to find alternative treatments. That's when we found Dr. Jane, pet acupuncturist.

Dr. Jane deserves her own blog post that is just about her and her work, because she is magic. She began aggressively treating Buddha with needles and a machine that hooks to them, sending minute electric vibrations through them. Before we started acupuncture, Buddha would fall down several times during a walk.  He couldn't lift his leg to pee. It was getting very sad to watch. The difference has been night and day, and he now lifts his leg to pee again, and though now and again he will lose balance, he gets around so much better than before.  He continues acupuncture with Dr. Jane every couple of weeks.
One of the recommendations to make egress easier for him in the house was to replace our thin leopard print rug with something shaggier, so that he could get better traction. Though we love our Norma Desmond rug, we saw exactly what she meant, as Boo was much happier on any other surface than that rug.

I went to Home Depot and found what looked to be the perfect fit for our house.  A white shag rug that looked like it was straight out of the 1960's. Four hundred dollars later, it came home with me. I brought it inside, and Matt and I moved Norma Desmond to the downstairs bedroom, which Buddha seldom is interested in visiting. As soon as we unrolled it, and put the coffee table back, Buddha was in heaven. He LOVES the shag rug, and moves much better on it. Dr. Jane came over for a session and LOVES the shag rug, and thinks that it is the perfect rug to give him more padding and traction in the room he spends a majority of his time in. We LOVED the rug for the first couple of weeks. LOVED it.

Here is where the tale begins to unravel.
We started to notice that the rug was shedding little white threads.  Just a few here and there.  No big deal. That's what the vacuum is for, right? Right.
I go to NYC for a week to workshop a new musical, and notice that I find a few threads of the white rug in the apartment where I am staying.  I laugh, and mention it to Matt on the phone. He laughs, and agrees that it really is starting to get worse, the shedding. It's a phase, we both agree.  It will pass. I board the Amtrack train to come home and find another white thread on the floor of the train by my boot.  And I had been hundreds of miles from the rug for a week.

As the weeks followed, the rug began to shed more and more.  We were about to throw a party for New Year's Eve, and were busy cleaning the house.  We gave the whole house a good vacuuming. We had to pause several times to unclog the bristles of the vacuum from the tenuous white threads. Finally the carpets were clear, and all looked good. One hour later, and before company even arrived, Matt said, "Look at the rug. I can't believe it! We just vacuumed!"

 The crawling tendrils of thread had already creeped back onto the other rugs. We both slumped our shoulders, feeling defeated by the rug and it's millions of creeping children.
But Buddha LOVES it.
 And Dr. Jane LOVES it. Now we LOATHE it.

I have found the tiny white threads everywhere that I have been, and sometimes in places that I haven't been. Friends who visit soon find the threads in their own homes. This rug is trying to multiply and make other little rugs in other homes, and will no doubt try to conquer the world within the month.

I can't help but think of the vignette from the 80's film, Creepshow, called "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill", In it, Stephen King himself plays a man who finds a comet that has crashed in his back yard, and what does he do? He touches it. I mean...people...have we not learned our lesson from The Blob?  When something falls from the sky, LEAVE THAT SHIT ALONE! Before you know it, he begins to grow a plant like moss all over his body.  Anywhere that he walks, anything that he touches, the green growth spreads. By the end, he is barely recognizable as a human, and shoots himself out of misery. I'm not at that point yet, but I reached a breaking point when I got out of bed this morning to pee and found one of the threads...oh yes.  Just where you think. I hear them now, mocking me.

They are even here, at Ford's Theatre. They have followed me. Watching.  Waiting. Slowly observing when the best moment to strike will be.
We continue to fight. Like Sisyphus, we vacuum the rug, we vacuum the rug, we vacuum the rug. We muse to ourselves that we will rent a rug doctor and that will REALLY get all of those threads for good. Then we are weary that it might only make it worse. So as we lose our minds in a never ending cycle of madness, the threads continue to multiply. I just found another one on my leg.  My mind is unraveling along with the rug, and as I empty the vacuum bristles from their tangle of white threads, I can hear them laughing at me, very softly.
Pray for dawn.
xoxoSGS

Update on Runaway Python in Fairlington

While looking for updates on this story, I found out some more scuttlebutt about our missing python here in Fairlington. Now take this for what it is worth, since it comes from the message boards of ARLnow.com.

 A commenter known as Arlington Cat says:

 " Fairlington residents, There is a baby Python on the loose in Arlington. He rudely left a picnic and hasn't been seen since. The Python, who goes by the name "Happy," was Last seen in Fairlington Arbor by the tennis courts.   This type of snake can climb (slither up) a tree. It is natural for them. The snake probably high tailed it to the big oak and evergreen trees diagonal to the tennis courts, and is settling in for the rest of the summer and most of the fall.  Neighbors should have been asked to be aware of odd screaming or vocally agitated birds in that area over the next few months. The news didn’t tell us this information , and she gave false hope to her kids, acting like the snake is akin to a lost dog or cat.   The real danger comes when the weather turns cold. "

So it was definitely on the loose in my neighborhood. But the poor thing will most likely die as soon as it gets cold out. I hope that they find it, however unlikely it is.  Just the same, I'm staying clear of the trees by the tennis courts!

Python still on the loose...

HERE is the NBC4 video about the python that is somewhere loose in our neighborhood. Ay yi yi.

Meanwhile, back in Fairlington...

Accoding to the Twittersphere (when you search #Fairlington), there is a Boa Constrictor or Python lose in our neighborhood back in VA, Fairlington. So...umm...I guess if you live there, be on the lookout for something large, slimy, and terrifying. Geez...can't wait to get home....

Judgement Day

For followers of radio preacher Harold Camping, doomsday is expected to arrive tomorrow, May 21, 2011.
During the so-called rapture on May 21—said to be Judgment Day—Jesus Christ is predicted to return to Earth to gather the faithful into heaven, according to Camping, the founder of the independent ministry Family Radio Worldwide. In preparation for this monumental event, I found these Judgement Day FAQ's for you, constant reader. Click HERE to read. So, since this is supposed to happen tomorrow...umm...talk soon?
xoxo
SGS

Breaking News: 4.3 Earthquake in Illinois

From: CNN Breaking News (BreakingNews@mail.cnn.com)
Sent: Wed 2/10/10 5:48 AM
To: textbreakingnews@ema3lsv06.turner.com

-- A magnitude 4.3 earthquake rattles northern Illinois early Wednesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.


Further story HERE at CNN, or over HERE at their local Channel 13 news.

Insult to Injury

Yeah...the whole "LIVEBLOGGING" thing kind of doesn't work when you lose power. As you all know, we got a BUNCH of snow. No breaking news there. What really is getting me more nervous as the forecasts keep changing is the next storm. Like the last one, the accumulation indexes keep ramping upward. We really can't afford this kind of snowfall again so soon. (Well - I know I can't afford it! I have to actually work sometime in this month!)
This in from WTOP.com:

"WASHINGTON - People are still digging out from the historic blizzard over the weekend that buried the region in up to 40 inches of snow. It knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people, thousands of whom are still in the dark, and is causing school closings into the week as many neighborhoods haven't been touched by plows.

Temperatures will hit the low 30s Monday and sunshine will cause some melting, but ABC 7 Meteorologist Chris Naille says don't expect the snow to go away anytime soon.

"We're not going to get rid of it completely, not by a long shot before another system impacts us."

The area is bracing for another storm Tuesday.

Naille says two storms will merge before dumping another 10 to 20 inches of snow throughout much of the region, except for areas further south which could see a rain/snow mix.

The snow will start around 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. Tuesday and end by late Wednesday afternoon.

ABC 7 Chief Meteorologist Doug Hill says higher accumulations are possible farther north.

A Winter Storm Warning has been posted from Tuesday afternoon until Wednesday afternoon. "

Oh.
Dear.
Lord.

Oh Boy. Here we go again...

NWS has issued a Winter Storm Warning 10am Friday to 10 pm Saturday for 16 to 24 inches of snow and near-blizzrd conditions during the event. (TM/OEM)

SNOWPOCALYPSE 2009!!!

As most of you are painfully aware, there is a very strong winter storm sweeping the East coast, and I am stuck right in the middle of it. All performances of Swinging Santas and Show Boat are cancelled today, and I am sitting in my apartment with Matt, Fred, Gillian and Chris. (And Buddha, of course). The snow is pounding down, and we are in a Blizzard Warning. We took Boo out for a walk, and he was NOT having it. He whimpered as he dissapeared into drifts much taller than him. We just put on Albert Finney's Scrooge the Musical. So we are in for a little bit as the Blizzard continues. We will venture out and take more photos a bit later. I hope wherever you are you are safe and cozy somewhere!