Tuesday stuff

JONESBORO, Ark. – It’s kinda cold here today – not as cold as it was when this picture was taken back in 1966 on the Indiana State University campus – but 18 degrees (F) is rather brisk for northeast Arkansas, even in January.

The cold snap may have figured in the power outage at our cable/Internet provider’s HQ. We had cable TV but no Internet this morning and, when I finally got through to the offices of the new owners of the company, I leaned the problem was a power outage that requires them to reset a bunch of stuff.

So I’m sitting in the Hardback Cafe at Hastings, using their Wifi and muttering dark curses every time someone opens the door and lets the frigid air wash over my legs under the table. I wonder what would happen if I locked the door…

I think the power steering is failing on my ‘94 Honda del Sol. It steers like a freaking log wagon when I start it in the morning, but improves and eventually returns to normal as I drive. I have an appointment for 9 a.m. tomorrow with the Honda dealership to address the problem.

The good news is that we got a rent check from our tenants this morning, so I can relax for another month and pay some bills.

As I drove to town this morning, I got a cell phone call from Diana Penner, a reporter at The Indianapolis Star, where I used to work. She wanted to know if I’m related to a Ronald L. Flora of Greenwood, Ind., who was found badly beaten today.

Nope, never heard of him. Since I have a personal rule of never again doing anything to help Gannett or The Star, I would have said that if he was a relative, but happily he’s not.

I’m still tracking the saga of Heidi, the Weimaraner, who died yesterday while undergoing surgery to remove a pellet from her eye.

Heidi and Mattie, who belong to our friends Charlie and Deborah, bolted through an open door for a romp in their northside neighborhood Sunday afternoon.

What happened immediately afterward is a little fuzzy – to me, anyway – but there were calls to Animal Control from a woman who said she was going to shoot a dog that was menacing her cat and then Heidi turned up at a different house in that same neighborhood with one of her eyes shot out and pellets in her belly and foot. She was hurt and went to a nearby house -  not the place she was shot -and banged on the door until someone answered and called Animal Control.

When the Animal Control officer questioned the elderly woman who placed the threatening calls, she admitted shooting the dog and showed him a rusty BB gun. It seems highly unlikely that a healthy Weimaraner would stand still long enough for an old woman to shoot it, pump the gun, shoot it again, pump the gun again, and shoot it a third time. A more likely scenario would involve someone else in the house using a shotgun.

Charlie and Deb took Heidi to the animal hospital where she was sedated in anticipation of surgery on Monday. It wasn’t a life-threatening injury and Charlie and Deb looked forward to helping her adjust to life with one eye.

But it was not to be. A blood clot formed and stopped her heart during surgery.

Now Mattie, who is very attached to Heidi, is miserable and won’t eat.

And we await the outcome of the police investigation.