A Bit of News and a Pay it Forward

On Thursday night, I had finished my post (below) and tried to publish it. Blogger was not cooperating, so I kept trying. Then I realized that I was offline. I had no Internet. Mmm! This was the second time in three days and I found it a bit frustrating. I went to the phone to call tech support and lo and behold, I had no phone. The line was dead!

We hadn't had the storm that had been expected, so I saw no reason for this. I used hubby's cellphone and called Mom and asked her to call me back. Nothing! I phoned her and she told me that the call went straight to voice mail.

I then called my neighbour, Marianne, and asked her to report it to Bell Canada. I knew they would take forever because first you have to talk to Emily (recorded) and do all the things she wants you to do. You give Emily your phone number etc., and she puts you through to a tech. Emily is often uncooperative and I dislike her intensely. Once you have talked to her, you are put on hold and then have to explain everything to the representative who finally answers.

I was in no mood to go through all this and Marianne told me she would gladly do it. She did and phoned back and said they would be here between 8am and 6pm. Wow! How wonderful. (If I sound a bit provoked here, I was.)

So, back to the gist of things. Hubby took Meeko out for his walk today and Meeko collapsed. ( I will get to that in a moment.) He saw our phone line had been cut by the neighbor last night when he was using the snowblower on his driveway. (Why was he on my property and really close to my house?) The phone wire was cut right where it enters the house. ???

The phone man finally came about noon and I told him about the wire being cut. He took a look and sure enough... I had to give him the key to the basement, as we have no access from inside the house. Hubby got up to go and give him a hand.

Next thing I knew, someone was kicking and pounding on the basement door. I put on my coat and boots to go and see what was going on. Hubby (instead of coming for lock de-icer) had twisted the key and tried to force it. The key broke off inside the lock. It broke flush with the keyhole and there was no chance of pulling it out with pliers.

Now, the locksmith is on the way. This is going to cost about $50 to get the old key out of the keyhole. The phone man did get the line working but we have to call him back after the locksmith has been here, as the phone line is lying beside the foundation of the house.

The locksmith just knocked on the door and he is taking care of business. Then I have to talk to Emily again and the phone company to schedule another appointment. This is probably going to cost. Do you think I should pay the bill and forget it or ask the neighbor to pay the hefty bill?

About Meeko:

He collapsed when hubby had him out for his morning nap. I did notice that he was restless during the night and at one time he howled but I thought he was dreaming. He drank 6 cups of water during the night and I had to get up twice to give him more. That is not like Meeko. He drinks very little overnight.

So, after the collapse, hubby got him home and tried to get him to rest. Meeko spit out some white crystalized stuff. He is rather unsteady on his feet and not at all himself. He is drinking gallons but not eating a thing. I even tempted him with a tidbit of chicken and he refused it. Very unusual.

I think he's been poisoned and hubby is wondering if he found a mouse that had eaten mouse poison. So Meeko has an appointment at the vet for 3:30pm. I will let you know what happens and how he is doing.

Now for the post that I had originally written for Thursday night:

I was visiting Mama Bear at Bears in Exile, and she has posted a "Pay It Forward" Challenge. This is a great way to bless others with a surprise in their mail--using your time, energy and love.

Here are the rules as posted on her blog:

The first 3 bloggers to leave a comment on this post saying they'd like to participate, will receive a hand-made item from me.

Those 3 bloggers promise to post this challenge on their blog (meaning they too will ‘pay-it-forward’, creating a handmade gift for the first 3 bloggers that leave a comment on their blog!!)

That's a lot of hand-made love being passed around! ; )The gift can be any price range--though I'm thinking that keeping it small will be sufficient--and you have 365 days to make/ship your gift!!So, the person receiving this will be definitely surprised when a surprise shows up unexpectedly in their mailbox!

As you can see, if everyone cooperates and "pays it forward" this spreading of love could go on for a very long time.If you want to participate, just leave a comment telling me so and then repost this on your blog so that you can pay it forward to 3 others, and so on, and so on, and so on.......You can still leave a comment on what you think about this even if you don't want to participate!!I'm anxious to see who the first three will be who want to participate in this venture of spreading our love for another!

Come on one and all. Let's join in the fun and then we'll post photos of the handmade item that we receive. This will be FUN!

Enjoy your weeked. In our area, it's to warm up and I'm hoping to get out and take a few photographs of the area if I can get my camera to cooperate. ~Blessings, Mary~