T'was the night before Christmas and all through the homestead...

Sometimes life happens, and plans dissolve. So I had a trunk filled with electronics, for the solar system to deliver to the homestead; then life intervened. I never made it out to the homestead!

This is what happened instead....

First, my wife, as you guys know is in the hospital; so work on the homestead is down to a trickle.

I'm not resting well because of the alarms, and the guy singing drinking songs just down the hall. This load was planned for a simple delivery and lock up, on the way back to the hospital. But I was forced to step in on other things when my oldest sister lost heat in 3°F temperatures.

She uses a walker, so in order to help her, and stay at the hospital with my wife; I made reservations at a local hotel for her and her cat. This was yesterday, and looked like a good solution.

Enter Christmas Eve....

With little sleep because my wife was coughing into her respirator, my sister called me about one o'clock PM. Deja Vu, she has no heat; She also has no water, or electricity in the hotel!

I start calling the hotel...no answer. I call the booking agent and they hang up on me 3 times after their automated system locked up my cell phone (requiring power reset to recover). Then they finally talk to me, only to tell me (after a wasted hour) that no one at the hotel answered...Seriously? I Told them they didn't answer!!!!

I smell a Grinch, SMH; so I new I had to leave my wife on Christmas Eve, and forget about the homestead too.

So I left and went to get tools and lights. My sister was on the third floor, and things were dark. Then off to find that damn Grinch! I headed to the hotel....

The extreme low temperatures had frozen the main incoming water line at the hotel, which fractured and sprayed the incoming main power...I found that Grinch!

The front desk with an inch of standing water made me glad my boots are sealed to 8 inches, they were setting up plumbers and electricians for work on Christmas Day.

I told them I needed my sister taken care of, which is why I paid them! We tried to shift her to another building, but they were on the third floor with a bad elevator. Now it was so bad it was becoming comical!

The owner has another hotel across town, with one handicapped room open. I reserved it.now I have to get her downstairs and moved 20 miles west in 13°F weather. The entire parking lot is a sheet of ice from the leak. I get her packed up, and I have to call the fire department to move her downstairs...have you ever seen the keystone cops movies?

I get my car ready to move her because it's warmed up, leaving her Son to move everything else in her van. She's coming down with a lot of help, and I see her cat fly out the door, off the third floor stairs and into a tree! She's freaking out because her cat's in danger. The cat is trying to figure out how she ended up in a tree WAY off the ground...so far so good, ROFLOL!

We get my sister into my car, and crank up the heater! I point out the classic fireman problem, kitty in the tree. By now we have lost sunlight, so I spot the cat in the tree with my flashlight.

The firemen have almost reloaded to leave, but GOD bless them, they begin to stage another rescue. The only problem is, the truck they used was not a ladder truck....

So after calling up a second (ladder) truck for support; things begin to happen. The truck arrives, and has to set up on the ice sheet to reach the cat. As they begin to extend the ladder, the truck begins slipping downhill on the ice. It slipped off the pavement and lodges in the grass on one side.

Another fire vehicle arrives, apparently, when backup is called for, they dispatch a fire marshall to coordinate the emergency, who can call in extra help if the fire gets out of hand! Now it's getting interesting....

The ladder is stable enough, and a public servant working on Christmas Eve; now being watched by a fire Marshall, gets the wayward feline down! So we get the cat, but I'm blocked in by the fire equipment!

They begin to move out carefully on the ice, but the ladder truck is stuck....

The original truck tries to pull them out, but that little engine can't. They are going to call in another engine to help, when an old buy who's been watching the best show in town offers to help. He pulls around in a 4 wheel drive monster, and runs out a logging chain; and with the original fire engine, pulls the ladder truck back on the pavement. He then revs up the truck in granny gear, and pulled the ladder truck off the ice to pavement!

So I go from being surrounded by fire equipment, to sitting alone; without moving an inch. They thank the guy who helped, and leave; and I think maybe we're getting on top of this mess! I was too optimistic....

We get the address of the new hotel, and I head out, while her son packs up her things. I text him the new address, and start the transfer.

We arrive and head inside, where they telle there is no reservation and they are booked solid! I am Not amused!!!

I begin explaining (mostly in my inside voice) that I was there when the owner called them and set it up. They say they have nothing for her, there is only a reservation for a man due to check in. I ask them if the reservation is for me, and they tell me it is; so I tell them it is for her. They think I'm trying to get their last room! I demand they call the owner (inside voice gone now) and ask her. When they call her, she isn't using her inside voice either!

They check us in as fast as they are able! I get her inside with heat and power, only to realize that her Son hasn't arrived yet; and I need to leave to get back to the hospital. Using his infallible GPS, he Passed us and is now twenty miles west of us!

I leave my sister, and talk him to the hotel; after he turns off that GPS trash. I get back to the hospital, and they won't let me inside!

I'm home now, but if I find that Grinch; I intend to blast him... I owe him a swift kick at least!

So sometimes the naked truth, is every bit as crazy as the wildest fiction!

So Merry Christmas, and I'm still planning to drop off the solar power electronics at the homestead, maybe I'll catch a glimpse of that damn Grinch...and give him a load of rock salt!