My tummy, Shaw and Otto

Ohhhh Lord!

Since Otto passed it seems that I have an eating and drinking obsession.

I hesitate to use the word 'problem' because ...... well I don't want to.

I seem to be filling the hole in my heart with chardonnay and ketchup chips.

Ya know what?

Who the eff cares.... I am allowed to have that .... but I will drink Slim Fast for two weeks to get into my summer clothes... healthy, schmelthy.

So.... I still miss the little sweet pup that is Otto with a sadness that catches me by surprise and takes my breath away... but I find the days a bit easier and his life story a bit clearer.

It is easy to think that he was the same as ever until you really examine his life.

I had just convinced myself that he was going to be fine... oh the guilt I felt when it was all done was staggering.

But... you guys.... I saw him last night.... you can call me crazy... and eff you if you do... but I was reading and I saw a shadow pass by the door... Just about Otto height.... George thinks he was on his was to drink out of the toilet...Did you know that even though he always had a bowl full of water he loved to drink out of the toilet... but would not drink out of it if we came into the room... I guess he thought he was keeping it some sort of secret.... what a strange little guy.

George and I have gotten a house up at  Shaw this week and are going to spend the next 5 months up here.

We needed a change.

We are gonna rent out our awesome pad to some rich film person!!!

WOO HHOOOOO!!!

I hope they give a a billion dollars....

I do love it up here in Niagara.

It is peaceful.

George and I have had a fuck of a year.... we need a bit of peace.

I close Happy this week and then do the Party first... I have to say that I haven't been this excited about the Party in a while... I am jazzed!

So much to say... gotta go pick up my sweet from work with the fancy people!

Missin Otto, Fire alarms, pizza and Jack Daniels...

Well.

If that ain't a title to maybe peak your interest I don't know what is.

How effing gorgeous was the weather yesterday?

I rode my bike to the beaches and told Otto that he could run along side me cause now he didn't need the leash.

I could just picture him flying through the air beside me like he used to ..... before he had the two knee replacements.

I had my ipod on and had specifically put on all 'up' songs.... but I must have hit a sad title by accident....and it was a tune from Spring Awakening that is about someone passing and I actually had to pull my bike over and I put my hands on my knees and had a snotty, hard cry.

A nice man stopped to see if I was okay .

There are alot of dogs in the beaches.

And I was mentally trying to will them all to come and see me.

A little fat white terrier made a bee line for me, finally and I petted him.

I miss petting Otto.

I miss looking into his eyes and smelling his old man smell.

I miss watching his ears bounce as he walks down the street in front of me.

So, after two weeks of rehearsal and stuff we opened Happy last night.

I always find opening nights quite surreal.

I always get sick to my stomach ..... I always think that I am too tired to do the show.

And I am always surprised by all these feelings.

Alot of people who I hold very dear were there last night.

Vicki, Blythe, Avery ( yes you Ave... I know you are reading) Kevin, Ed, Edna, Alan, Shawn, Cathy amd Emilie.....

When I came out for the first scene... could see a Sharron's Bitch t-shirt in the audience....distracting but totally happy making.

It was a great house and I only eyeballed one of the reviewers...so that was good.

But it was a great night!!!

I always think that if no one gets severely hurt and most of the lines get said the opening went well.

I have really enjoyed this experience ... the cast is excellent...Sky is wonderful ....all of the crew are just fantastic....it has been a blessed experience.

Blythe got me my first drink and I didn't look back.

Patricia, who has worked at Buddies for years and years, kept giving me shots of Jack Daniels....let us keep in mind that usually I can handle a spritzer..... oh my lord... I was quite inebriated... I closed that place down and laughed... well.. I laughed.

It was nice to laugh after the week I had... I still felt some guilty but I think Otto was there and he understood.....I wonder if he finally came and saw what I did for a living.

I wonder if he sat in the front row and thought....this is what she has been doing when she is not at home?

So, Chris the lovely front of house man got me into a cab...

And I came in the house.....and George called and told me to take a motrin and drink alot of water and have something to eat.

So, at 2:30am I made a pizza.... well I guess there was some shit in the oven that was burning off... I was on the computer.... and the effing fire alarm goes off.

I am standing on a chair and fanning it... it turns off... but then ten minutes later it goes off.... IN THE WHOLE BUILDING!!!!

I go outside and all of the tenants are outside with there dogs and cats in carriers....and I see the firetrucks coming and I am terrified that they are coming to me.... all I wanted was a pizza.

Luckily they didn't come to me... but I am sure that was my fault....it was too much of a coincidence.

Oh what a night!

Like back when I was just young.

And new life begins......

I mean....forget her.....look at that nose......don't you just want to bite it?
I wasn't gonna write again during this week because I didn't want to share my day to day sadness with you guys.... I was afraid it might get exhausting but.....it is my day.
There are alot of things going on everyday....I am just happy to have the many blessings....ironically ....my job in Happy....my upcoming show...meetings for the Doras....and I have to tell you that I have been given many gifts from Otto ... but it is his parting ones that have truly cut me to the quick.
I always say to George at some point every month as I stop and have a few breaths from working that I have no friends.... I have people who I really need to spend more time with who I want to call my dear friends but since I have not had alot of time in the last ..... holy shit.... couple of years.... since I really started working on ' the party' in earnest .... I haven't had more than a moment to spare.... so the phone was my way of connecting.
Otto has always been my best friend.
Then when we let him go ..... I have had such an outpouring of calls daily and emails and texts..... I am just weakened by how lucky I am...Otto reminded me that I do have friends.... great and true friends who make sure that I am breathing and making it thru the day.
Thank you Otto.
Going to the theatre on Tuesday was more than I could almost bear....bare....oh fuck I don't know.....I just kept thinking.... if I get out of bed .... if I take a shower..... if I eat..... if I put on clothes.... if I get on my bike.....just one foot in front of the other....
Otto was everywhere I looked... reminding me to fill his water dish... reminding me not to open the front door too wide or he might run out...
and everytime I remembered I would feel weak....
Such a small being.... such a large place in my heart and mind.
But to the theatre I went for our first invited dress run.
How the fuck?
But everyone there was so wonderful to me even though I walked in and started to cry.
I just breathed.....
I am so thankful for this work... this show.
It is soothing and full of laughter.
That night I got home from the show ..... and as George is away in rehearsal I dreaded going into our place.
I stood out front on the street for 10 minutes with my keys in my hand just walking back and forth.
Then when I wheeled my bike in I called out my regular greeting of 'hey buddy, i'm home' ......the silence was so loud I broke down and when I came back to myself and turned on the light.... as god is my witness... a toy of his that we lost months ago was laying on the floor in front of his chair.... it was the first thing I saw.
Now, to be fair... I did do a big obsessive clean that day ..... but it was the first thing I laid eyes on when I turned on the light.
I believe... I so do believe in my heart that he was telling me that he is playing somewhere.
And he is here.
And with George.
He can be everywhere.
Just like Santa.
This morning I woke up with a tiny shred of peace....which made me feel bad .... like I was forgetting him.....then a dear friend called me and told me she knew how sad I was.... and that she had just had a baby boy last night.....
A beautiful soul transcends and another comes to show us the way.
I still miss you Otto.
I miss your stinky breath.

Otto Matthews-Masswohl, October 11th, 1993 - April 14th, 2008

Clinton's Ottobre Sinfonia

What a day.

George and I sit in front of this computer as sad as we have ever been.

We just cannot believe it.

We just keep expecting him to run into the bedroom although he has not run, as he does in my dreams, in a very long time.

He was just about to make his 15th summer.

Who knew a dog with two back knee replacements would make such a long and successful go of it?

How do you decide that it is time to let them go.

Logically, it makes sense.

But your heart?

Oh my lord.

I have always wanted a dog.

George always wanted a dog.

And then when George and I got together about  9 months into our courtship....yes it was.....we decided to get a dog.

When anyone tells me that they are gonna get a dog and they are less than two years together I say 'tsk' inside my head.

Thank god it all worked out.

It was meant to be.

Otto was the greatest.

He was sweet and innocent and he never hurt a soul.

He LOVED everybody.

He really did.

He loved people more than anything.

He came to us swaddled in a green and white striped towel from a place on Alexander Street.

Just across from where I spend my days rehearsing right now.

We actually brought him to the park beside Buddies this week as a bit of a lark....he was very sick that day.

Everything seemed so hopeful and young and innocent then.

We were young and new.... all three of us.... full of hope.... and he was full of poop.

He went with us everywhere.... he was so permanent a fixture in our old white Honda Accord that he busted the fabric on the middle of the seat.

He used to rest his head on the armrest during car rides.

He lived in PEI, Vancouver.....he actually saved me from being attacked in the crappy neighbourhood we were living in.... we gave him a steak.....he also lived in California, Calgary and went on countless Les Mis and Showboat tour destinations.

He was sweet we love him.

We miss him.

We were so lucky that he came to spend his life with us.

We had the great honour of looking into his sweet, sweet, slightly milky, brown eyes as he went to his final puppy rest.

WE Love You Otto.

We will miss you forever and there will never be another like you.

I hope you watch over us from beyond as you did in life.

We are devastated at your passing.

We are jubilant that we were kept company by you for such a great length of time.

We shall never be that innocent again.

I have already seen you quickly out of the corner of my eye.

Love Mommy and Daddy

Oh lord!

I miss vacation already....but if you click the video of the palm trees underneath the sweet puppy you can see what we saw~

It will never ..... never be summer!

It effing snowed today...made me want to hit something with my booted foot.

But, still, I have been riding my bike back and forth to rehearsal....

Home at lunch to take care of sweet Otto.

He is my schnauzer.... he is 15 years old....and he is sick.

It makes me sigh and it makes me just ......

He is the best dog....

He has humped some of the best legs....

He has foraged from the garbages of some of the best homes...

He has dipped his paws in both oceans....

He has pooped on both coasts....

He has peed in almost all of the states and provinces.... Can't say how happy they were about that in Tennesse....

He had the runs there.....

His lovely presence in our lives has always figured in our decisions about whether to take jobs or not....

It even was part of our decision to move...

People have made fun of us because of that........

I say....

You don't know what it is like to know Otto...

We are laying together on the couch and eating carrots and watching the Notebook with Gena Rowlands....

For the record, we thought we wouldn't but, Otto and I both cried... we think that movie is sad.

 

SPRING IT!

Oh lord, I am so happy that it is spring!!!!

I just cannot take another effing snow storm.....

NO!

This is for Avery who said 

"Why the heck have you not written on your blog?"

I want to put 'fuck' back in that line instead of eff but Avery would not talk that way.

He is not potty mouthed!

Speaking of Avery I went to see the opening night of his first show for the Harold Green Jewish Theatre!

Rose starring Lally Cadeau....

George could not go because he was sicky.... so there I was..... off to a straight play alone..... will wonders ever cease..... I was in the front row!

It was SSSOOOOOO Good!

Lally was spectaular..... she took us all to school that night!

Congrat Lally and HG Jewish Theatre!

So much has happened since my last Blog!

The Doras called....yes the actual award picked up the phone and gave me a ringy-dingy.....ah Lilly Tomlin where are you?.....

anyhow... they asked me to host!

Sharron's Party at the fricken' Doras!!

I am so excited!

I only started to minorly crap my pants yesterday!

What will all the fancy actors say?

Wait!

I forgot!

Who cares!!!!

What if my humour is a little musical and low class!

Excited again!

Oh and guess who is my guest on the Doras?

THOM~!!!!!

YEah!

George and I went to Mexico for a week.... we could not afford it but..... the day before we decided that we couldn't not afford it!!

That sounds wrong!

You know what I mean!!!!

We went to the only place where it was not raining... Puerto Vallarta!

We have been there 2 times already and kinda wanted to go somewhere new but when we got there we were sooo happy that was where we went!

Our resort was in Romantic Town....Old Town.....my favorite part...... GAY TOWN!

Yeah!!!!

George got picked up by a man whore and I got my boob felt up by a mariachi player!

FUN!

There is so much to tell you about that time..... we met a young man named Ken from Etobicoke who was on his own and he hung with us.... what a nice young man..... I wanted to help him find girls....and did!

Oh.... so much to tell you......we also hung out with an amazing couple name Lorraine and Doug!

She is a firey blond who knows how to party and tells a  good story and he is a suave man who plays the mandolin, who also knows when the time has come to pitch her favorite CD off the 8th floor balcony into the ocean.....so many stories!!!!

But to hear those stories you have to come to my celebration of the Doras and all things spring at the Diesel!

Sunday April 27th BABY!

8:00pm

Diesel Playhouse

SHARRON'S PARTY IS BACK!!!!

With the crazy and handsome Reza Jacobs on Piano....

Up and Comer Sara Farb of Edges fame....

And Headlining Guest???

Patricia Zentilli....

She was Audrey in Little Shop at Canstage

....

In the Jane Show and this season she was on Rick Mercer!!!1

Woo Hoo.....

I will tell all the stories!!!

Come on Down!

 I gotta go learn my lines for Happy.....oh did I mention Happy?

The show I am doing at Buddies that is written and directed by Sky Gilbert?

It is gooooooooood people!!!!

What fun I am having in rehearsals!!!

Gotta learn those lines!

Oh.... and are you exhausted yet?>>>>>>>>>>

I got new stuff on you tube!!!!

www.youtube.com/sharronpartygirl

Check it out baby!

Peace out!

Ever Been to Perth.....

During all of my chats with the 5 of you, I think that your numbers have increased, I have been remiss in telling you about my trips to Perth.....

Now here is the reason why.....

I was asked by an old and dear friend, Micheal, who owns Perth Manor in......Perth.....to come up and do an intimate Sharron's Party at his fancy place....and it is fancy....google it!.......of course, I said yes!

I went up there and the people were lovely and the place was.....also lovely.....

I was treated like queen and my audience was titilated and excited .....because you know how I am naughty....

I think Micheal was afraid the whole time that I was gonna say cocksucker....

Because the prominent people of Perth came out to see the show and I was trying to soften it up.....you don't want to cocksucker them right away....

you gotta save it up for a few visits.....

I put together a special show just for them and they loved it!!!

We had a great time.....and they were the tiniest bit naughty.....

And then Michael and David, his partner, would serve us the most beautiful breakfast on the patio the next afternoon..... not morning because the audience bought me a bottle of wine and I got the tiniest bit slosshed.

I went back up again a couple months later and did an outside Party....

There was a tent and everything.

A Barbra Steisand concert really and brought Thom as my special guest!!!

FANCY!!!

The crowd was bigger this time and more diverse.....from about 24 years to 70 years I would say......they laughed and I sang.....and I still didn't say cocksucker....

I am still saving it~

We finished off the night with a sing a long 'Over the Rainbow' that I will never forget.

The people there are just fabulous.....they bought me a couple bottles of wine and I had to be carried back to the house by George.....

Now here is the reason I never wrote about it!!!!

Michael said that he didn't want the world knowing the the important people of Perth were having the tiniest of naughty times!!!

So I didn't say.

Now I hear that the people of Perth are sad that they have been left out of the blog.

Well.....here you are people.

I am not going to name you ..... to preserve your privacy.....but know that I love you.....

especially the potty mouth lady who shares the name of the queen.

All my love to Perth.....

best,

Sharron

Bikram Still!!!

Yes, people I am still doing Bikram......

I am still mixin' it up in the hot yoga.....

I love it!!!!!

Paul McQuillan was right!

But don't tell him I said so.......

We wouldn't want him to get a bit head!

I am still doing my two person show with Georgie....

I am almost, ALMOST, having fun.....I still have an asshole the size of the head of a pin because my ass is so clenched from tension....

TMI?

We have one more week.

Funny place, that Orangeville...

It is a very lovely town.....

Picturesque one might say........

But ......

No....not but......

AND!

One night George, I and our awesome stage manager, Ms. Jennifer Jansen......you could add Lucas onto the end of her name as she is married to that lighting guy Steve Lucas....he did Wizard of Oz....and is awesome as well......

We went out to the Winchester Pub on Broadway....

For some reason it makes me chuckle that the main street is called Broadway.....

Just gay enough!....

So we go to this pub because every night I talk about nachos in the show and it makes her mouth water.....so we go for nachos....

So....it is jam night at the pub....

and the crowd is a mix of under-agers and guys who look like the drink OV beer and play slow-pitch....

ODD, non?

So, the first guy up is a black dude...who is going to wrap.....oh no....I mean rap....

like really rap....

His dad is waiting for him to start and and holding a handycam.....

Um.....where are we?

Then we glean pretty quickly that he is from a twosome called Triple Threat....

He says words like 'bitch' and 'pussy'....I think he is about 18 years old....

But not bad....but ten feet away from me.....way closer to the 'stage' is a dude who clearly likes his beer and shepards pie....oh and he also seems to be partial to white people.....

He has the hugest scowl on his face....and his group of six.....which contains a woman who's voice is pitched higher than the chipmunks......this group complains that this is a pub and they shouldn't play 'that kind' of music there.....

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?

Oh my lord!!!

No really....not a word of a lie....

Jen and George and I are just agog....

It is about this time that I realize that I am spoiling for a fight....

A little fist fight never hurt anyone.....

I am pretty sure that I can take a couple people....

As I think this the waitress, who seems like she is about 16, tells me that I remind her of the chick from 'The Big Comfy Couch'...

Isn't she a clown?

I hate clowns!!!

That comment makes me want to fight her....

Jen is starting to egg me on......

THEN.....

A girl comes in the bar......late teens, early twenties..........a bit slutty....lets not mince words.....

She is up dancing to the jamming musicians, who are playing James Taylor for fricks-sake......and she is dancing alone!!

I see her looking our way over and over.....I start to get worked up that she is looking at George!!!!

Then she asks me to dance.....

REally?

Well....

Who knew?

Orangeville is a different place.

I am soooo enjoying our time there.....

But it is a bit unpredictable!

Finally! More YouTube, Baby!

I spent the better part of yesterday figuring this MAC out....but it was fruitful!!!

I finally edited some footage from the Christmas Party and it is on Youtube.....

It is always humbling to look at yourself at any angle for an extended period of time.....

But I am also looking ahead to editing the Brampton footage that I took.....

Oooh.

It is a challenge.

I find putting stuff on Youtube daunting ..... there is always some yahoo that is gonna call me something....it always initially cuts to the quick..... but everyone has got a fricken' opinion.....like assholes, right?

EFF IT!!!!

Sticks and stones may break my bones.....but the Party will never hurt me!!!!

Check it out!Type in 'SharronPartyGirl' into the search engine and see what you get!

Ropes End!

Holy Crap you guys!!!

I opened a two hander!

With my husband !!!!!

In Orangeville.

And for all of my very dear, concerned Orangeville people...... I apoligize that I may have shown the town in a bad 'meteorological' light.......BUT!!!!

People!!!!

We drove through, at least, 4 snow storms so far ......the most recent during which the show was sooooo heavy that every 10 minutes we had to pull over the clear the windshield wipers......IT  WAS THAT HEAVY!!!

REALLY.

And at one point George was looking through a clear spot on the window the size of a fist. 

But the funny thing is ..... we drove through one during which George drank a milkshake and only handed it to me when we started to slide......now we are all......OH, I DON'T EVEN NOTICE IT!

One of the fabulous tech people commented one day in rehearsal about how they like to look out the front window of their house and watch people get stuck in snow drifts....I mean REALLY!!!!

That is just wrong!

And this morning our dear hosts called us and told us we needed to get out and to work because the road was frozen....FROZEN.....then they proceeded to tell us that the best way to get out was to take a right at the end of the road and make sure that you didn't put your foot on the brake all the way.....and we would be fine.....god bless the awesome Darryl and Marilyn.......our hosts.......but that is some weather.

The whole experience has been a great one, aside from the ass-ie weather.....the people really are just the bees knees and David Nairn is running a fabulous theatre up there.

He is very passionate.

And it was only the last two days before we opened that I begun to doubt my ability to perform the set out task of the two hander.

There are just so many lines.....so much talking.....so little singing....and alot of changing.....

I had my melt down that David talked me through...... it was one of those....'holy shit what the fuck do I think I am doing....how the fuck can I do this' .....things..... but it turned out..... my pal Blythe came to see the opening and I informed her that I had not had a solid poop in three days.....and was holding a bottle of Tums at the time.

But opening night was just ......it was fun.

Really.

It is so awesome to be onstage with my husband.

It was a great Valentines gift.

He only gives me notes sometimes.

Yup....he gives me notes.

Just like Fred Willard in 'Guffman'......

Oh my lord!!!

I love Paranormal State.....George won't watch it with me....he says nothing happens.....I say that it is the promise of something finally happening which keeps me watching.....and to answer Micke.....yes....I have seen the episodes with the old school ghost busting lady....she  is all the old version of the crazy round lady from Poltergiest.....I  have been away for most of the week in Orangeville so I have all these shows that I want to watch! But I can't..... I CAN'T yet!!!!

I have to learn my damned lines....wow.....I miss coming onstage for 20 minutes and singing the last tune and then reading for the rest of the time!!!

This is alot of work....I know....duh, Sharron!

George and I are working hard! We are all an acting duo.....look out Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn....of course they can't really look anywhere because they are dead....aren't they?

So...that being said.....I have to go....

But here are a few thoughts....

It snows alot in Orangeville.

Did you know that in a pinch......'Anyways' works to get you to the next transition onstage if you can't remember your line?

George is a good actor.

Otto's farts are starting to smell a bit like Chef Boyardee.

It's Back!

So, we get back from Orangeville late last  night from rehearsal and the only thing on my mind.........

THE SEASON PREMIERE OF LOST!!!!!!!!!

I could not be more excited..... excited like when I used to have slumber parties.

I didn't think I would be coming home last night and was trying to figure out how I could get Thom to come over and explain to him over the phone how to program my my very precious PVR to record it.

Then at rehearsal we decided that we should come back here tonight because of the impending....

Storm 2008....

can you believe how they build this shit up?

God help us if we ever have a war.....

Storm 2008 ...

is different then.....

Fucking Windstorm 2008 .....

and if you wanna read more about that go down to the next blog....

worth it, I promise.....

But....when we were on our convoy home I realised that we would make it to see the timeshifter showing....

I got so pumped I had to stop myself from really speeding.

We walked in the door and and I ran to the TV....

which is about 2 feet from the front door .....

and found out that it had just started in Calgary.....

Calgary..... ( said with a bit of a tone ..... and if you don't know why...... we can have a drink sometime)....

So, I ran around the loft throwing off my clothes and putting on my comfys with George just staring at me and shaking his head.

When the show started.....

I almost peed....

Now I know that I use that alot......but I really did this time.

This show makes me feel special.....like I am in some special geek club.....when people ask me if they can just watch this season I just laugh and say....'NO WAY'

!!!

And in secret I am thinking....

'What are you effing nuts!'

I found myself all confused again and thrilled.....and I didn't really know what was going on!

But I did not care!

I love that show!

I LOVE IT!

Thoughts.

Jack: CRAZY and Earnest....and Thinner?

Kate: Slutty and not trust worthy....I think she is gonna turn.

Sawyer: Dreamy....not as dreamy as George, my husband but I am just trying to be true to the story.

Locke: What the Fuck....is he shot...is he not....is he real?

Ben: Weirdy

Charlie: Aw...Dead.

Desmond: Don't know what his story is.....and that room Penelope was in looked like it was on the island....didn't it?

Hugo: Godd story line....I loved when he tried to run.

Oceanic 6: Intriguing!

I feel about Lost....the way George feels about Friday Night Lights.

TV is good.

 

And then I almost died!

Alright people, are you ready for a scary tale.

Tuck yourself in and put your hands and feet under the blanket....as you don't want to be grabbed by the spirits.

So, here I am in Orangeville, they are so nice to me here, to rehearse the two hander play that George and I are doing....

Well, because George is doing an Aboriginal Dance piece this week during the day, true story, we are rehearsing from 5-10 in the evening.

And we have had to pull out of retirement from his place at Richmond and Sherbourne....

(my sister is house sitting....so don't think about robbing us!!!!)

Otto the 15 year old dog....

On the road, again.

God bless his stinky soul.

( He does smell like corn chips)

We finish rehearsal and George is going back to our place in TO to make the commute easier for himself tomorrow.

I am going to stay at the General Manager's home in the country.

Well, I come out and put Otto in the Ford and it starts to rain a bit....Marilyn, said General Manager, has been so sweet and very concerned that I make it there okay so late at night....but I am like.....oh, don't worry...I drive all the time at night....

Well, the effing rain makes the road all damned shiny and there are no lights....it is pitch black, except for the lights on my car and the lights from the occasional yahoo that drives by me and flips me the bird for driving so slow......

Oh my god....I just kept driving and driving....I got lost twice and had to pull into the Texas Chainsaw Massacre-er's drive way to look at the map.

So, finally I find the sideroad that she lives on...it is like a rollercoaster.....and it is wet and gravelly....oh my....

my heart beats a bit faster...I just want to get there....

Remember how warm it was yesterday?

Remember how fucking cold it got last night?

Well, I find the driveway to her house and as god is my fricken' witness a goddamned dear ran in front of my car.

You gotta be kinding me....

Then as I swerve out of the way I see a freakin' bunny.....

All of a sudden it is the fricken wild kingdom.

Her house is lovely and she actually has me and Otto set up in a separate apartment over the garage....it is very nice and homey...just a teeny bit cold....as the temperature has dropped about 100 degrees in the last hour.

I take all of my luggage up the stairs and then heave up my 45 pound dog...and Bob's your uncle and Neil's your aunt...at least in my world he is!

So, there is a TV with rabbit ears....thank jesus....and a phone....but I really feel like I am in the middle of nowhere.....again, Marilyn, I thank you for the place, it is wonderful....I am not ungrateful....just trying to tell the story the way it was.

So as I go down the stairs I see that there is someone standing at outside the door looking in, I gasp and clutch the pearls.....but then I see that it is just Marilyn......she is all concerned that I am settled in.

I tell her I am great!

She says that I should be aware that there is supposed to be some high winds during the night.

I say, bring it....she mentions that it can get pretty windy.

Well, I go to sleep at 11:00pm.

You guys.

The wind sounded like someone was trying to rip off the roof.

It sounded like...an effing tornado....and if any of you know my dog....he HATES noise.

Of any kind.

So, I can hear him shaking on the floor....I try to get him up on the bed...it takes about 20 minutes of shaking, growling and lifting!

But I get him up!

I put him under the covers and we lay there and cannot sleep at all, it was sooooo loud!

It started to sound a bit scary at about 3:00am.

I thought the windows were going to blow in.

So, I am drifting in and out of sleep clutching Otto to my side.

I wake fully at 4:11am and as my eyes open....

The power goes out.

When I am staying somewhere new I always leave a little light on to keep me feeling safe and cosy.

Well.... no lights .... pitch fucking black.

Um.

Heart beats....Otto whines just a little.....never a good sign....and the I start to think of the new show I have been watching....have you watched it....

Paranormal State....

It is about ghostbusting people basically.

I am scared as shit.

No doubt.

I clutch to my chest the only thing that I think can help me out of this mess.

My blackberry.

And I begin to randomly shine the light around the room to make sure that there are no serial killers waiting.

I don't know where any candles are and the ground outside is frozen because the temperature went down 100 degrees in an hour....so running like hell is out of the question....and it is hard to run with a 45 pound, 15 year old, scared as I am schnauzer that I am in charge of.

So, I ask Otto what we should do...he gags like an old man and breathes his breatheof death on me.

Alright.

The power stayed off for 4 hours....I know because Otto and I were awake for all of them.....the power made the heat go off....it was 55 degrees on the thermostat when it started up again!

I went through every Steven King book I had ever read....and every scary scenario that ever existed.

And it sounded like armageddon was happening outside.

Then it started to sound to sound like someone was making their way up the steps....

It was the longest 4 hours of my life....with my blackberry clutched in one hand and Cornchip dog in the other....thank god for Otto......

When the sun rose I fell into a stuppor.....

I made it!

And I didn't get killed!

Only almost.