Weather Vamping

Today is a weather day and no mistake! Right now it is pouring, pouring down rain -- very thick, fat streams of steady vertical water, pounding the ground. I actually sat and listened to the sound while at the computer, thinking , "What can be making that noise?" How's that for weird? I should know all the possible sounds made by falling water hitting things! I live in Portland!

And now it has stopped. Still wet and grey, however.

This morning, when I woke, I could hear the steady and raggedly rhythmic sound of drops of water in the leaves of the tree directly out my bedroom window. Light rain falling, after a night of pretty much constant light rain. Dancing and fluttering and sparkling leaves in the pale morning light. By the time I had realized that my electric tea kettle was no longer working (ARG!) the sun had popped out and the sky, although distinctly pale and watery, was brightly blue. No rain fell on my way in to work, and now it is just dripping here and there.

So yes, my tea kettle and my digital camera do not seem to be working this morning. One plugs into the wall, and one has batteries, so they are not related to one another. No operator error, I mean. I put fresh batteries in the camera this morning, too, so -- I don't know. And this is twelve hours after the microwave stopped working ( still keeps time! I just can't make the ON button work.) And the day after my car overheated for the very first time, and I found out that the coolant tank is apparently leaking like the veritable sieve.

So.

In other news, the maintenance man came in this morning, and showed me where someone had turned the slider on the bottom of the thermostat from "Auto" to "Heat." Which, of course, keeps the cooling sysem from coming on, even when turned to its lowest possible setting. No wonder we have all been sweating in here. And not good for the computers, either! Good thing I wore my double layer sweater set this morning, as I would be freezing already, otherwise. This air conditioner is powerful. I am in charge of it, however, so I can bump it up just slightly, if I choose.

Oh, and by the way -- when the air first came on, it brought a powerful and fresh pungency of small animal poop -- some rats are nesting in the air ducts! It is starting to wear off now, though.

So any news? Or am I merely vamping in place while the brain turns?