Tammi's World

A Funny Story

Well, at least it's funny to me. I actually went back through the archieve to make sure I hadn't blogged this before. I think I'm safe.

As we brace ourselves for Charley's visit I'm reminded of my only Northern Hurricane story. It happened after Andrew hit a few years ago.

Now I am the first person to say that there was and is nothing funny about Andrew and the havoc that ensued. Except this little personal story.

My ex-husband was a line-man. He worked for a contractor up north and often got called out to cover any mass-emergencies. After Andrew hit, he was pulled down to LA to help rebuild the power infrastructure down there. So he packed his bags (ok, I packed his bags) and off he went.

We were never what you'd call a close couple. But he did at least call home every 24 hrs or so to let me know he was alright. Well, that and to check on the cat. One evening he calls and asks me if I had ever heard of fire ants.

No, can't say that I have.

Well, he was now very well informed on every aspect of them. Let me explain.

First and foremost, my ex-husband was from the hills of south eastern Kentucky. A little town you may have heard of, Hazard. He's a country boy. Add to that the fact that he was a lineman and a "bit" of a drinker and you have the poster child for Good Ole Boy. (with a mean streak)

So, he's very comfortable out in the "wild". He's down in the swamp and trying to put up some new poles to run the wire. Being him, he had to take a shit. So he walked a ways off and dropped 'em and copped a squat. Right on a hill of fire ants. You can only imagine what happened from there.

So, as he's telling me this I start to laugh. I started to laugh harder. I dropped the phone I was laughing so hard. He hung up. Didn't call back for the next 16 days. I hurt his feelings.

Now, I realize after encountering my fair share of fire ants, the pain that he must have been in. I also understand the intense discomfort for weeks afterwards. I apologized for laughing.

But if you knew him, you'd know it was Karma saying - "Up Yours Asshole!"

Hee.

Posted by Tammi at August 12, 2004 09:29 AM