lights out...

You never really know when an adventure may be forced upon you, as one was last night for the ladies of the MC. It was a typical evening. I had just awoken from a nap, Meggie was watching "The Hills" downstairs, Anna was showering, etc. My rumbling tummy was in need of dinner, so I headed to the kitchen to grill the tilapia I had been defrosting. That baby was pretty thin so it wasn't taking long in the ol' Foreman, but just as I was getting ready to lemon-pepper it, our electricity flickered out. Well, sort-of. After the popping noise and darkness, most things came alive, but only halfway. The lights were on really dim, the television was fuzzy, my fish was burning but I couldn't see it, and none of the breakers were flipped. Wha..huh? Anna pulled out the mac-daddy flashlight so I could season my food and we could see in general. Megs let out a yelp because she could hardly see her show, and Sarah, a new sub-leaser we have staying with us, came downstairs looking very confused. As were we.

We all transferred to the other Maygan's room (she wasn't home) because she got the best t.v. reception and attempted to watch the rest of the show. And then everything went out. Except the bathroom lights. We were stumped. There was no thunderstorm or strange thing going on outside, no explanation. Ten minutes went by and things started coming on - back to halfspeed again. We called the electric company. They paid us and our transformer a visit.

Apparently half of the transformer had turned off, which makes since considering the circumstances. That whole ordeal took over an hour, but little did we know there was more creepiness to come.

With all of our electronics working again, we decided to rent a movie. Back at the house the four of us sprawled comfortably around the living room and watched "RENT". For about fifteen minutes. When our smoke detectors decided to go off. And when one goes they all go. I swear I have never heard more shrill alarms in my life. It is difficult to even function when those things are shrieking! They went on for ten seconds. Off for ten seconds. On for ten seconds. Off. On. Off. On. We searched the house and found no smoke, no sign of fire or trouble. Then we all freaked out that we were getting carbon monoxide poisoning and figured that was why they were going off. With no explanations, and no way off shutting the damn things off, we called our landlord at 11:30pm. Long story short, he said it was probably a wiring issue that got messed up with the electricity escapade, and no, they were not CO detectors too, and we should be fine, he'll have someone out first thing in the morning. They kept going off. And on. And off. Not exactly pleasant sleeping conditions. And I think poor Sarah was reconsidering living in our spooky house much longer.

Still remaining slightly skeptical and also worried for our lives, we made a unanimous decision to sleep on the deck that night. Hopefully that way we could not be poisoned, and if the house started on fire, we could surely jump. So the four of us braved the spiders and squawking crows, curled up in sleeping bags and blankets and slept outside.

I am sure it was quite a scene, but at least we lived to tell about it.