A Real Shocking Experience
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| Wed, 03-31-2004 - 3:01pm |
Recently we hired an electrician to do the wiring in our house. The electrician is a six-foot tall, 200 pounds man with a sense of humor that you have to get use too. His humor is somewhat rude and he gets on your nervous at first until you understood that this was his way of trying to be funny. He does good work and he came with a recommendation from a family friend (an electrician) that my husband trust, so my husband and I have learned to understand his ways.
The first day that he was on the job, my husband called me to tell me that the key that the electrician had did not fit the pumphouse and he would need access to the pumphouse right away. In our state, the well and the septic are required to go in first before the house can be built. Because my husband was at work, I was the only candidate to drive out to the property and unlock the pumphouse.
When I arrived, I found the electrician down in the trench that was dug from the pumphouse to the house. As it turns out the key that he had was for the lock that was on the door previously. Someone broke into the pumphouse last year and when they did they destroyed the lock and we had to replace it. Both my husband and I had thought that those keys had been thrown away but somehow one of them somehow resurfaced. With the pumphouse open, the electrician was able to continue his work. The day passed without any more mishaps.
The next evening as my husband and I were preparing to leave for the property my father-in-law informed us of an accident blocking the freeway causing a large back up which would delay us. My father-in-law offered to take us to dinner and because of the delay and we accepted. At dinner, just as my husband’s food arrived, he received a telephone call. I looked at him and he mouthed the electrician’s name. Of course, I could only hear my husband’s side of the conversation but what I heard intrigued me. “No the cable needs to be across the driveway, ” was my husbands first comment. “ You’re where, oh, already?” “You saw a what?” My attention was diverted as my youngest daughter crawled into my lap. You know food always looks better on someone else plate. I gave my daughter something off my plate and tried again to hear my husband’s side of the conversation. “Yes sure, thank you for the information,” were my husband’s last words. My husband looked across the table at me with this puzzled look on his face. “Okay, what’s up,” I inquired. My husband continued to sit there in silence with this puzzled look on this face, the silence grew uncomfortable and finally he spoke. Well, he said, the electrician has left the property now. Now it was my turn to look puzzled. “It was to my understanding that he was going to work late tonight,” I questioned. “Well,” my husband began yet again. “Just spit it out, what’s up,” I stated. “Well, I am not sure exactly what the electrician meant,” “he said that when he was working at the pumphouse he sensed something staring at him and when he turned around he saw a cougar not to far from him.” But what he said next continued my husband, has me confused, “he said that it gave him quite a shock," I am not sure if he meant shocked from seeing the cat or if he shocked himself with electricity.” We we’re left to ponder this until the next morning.
We did make it to the property that night and got the trailer set up but we were a little more watchful of our surroundings. The next morning we greeted the electrician at the house and we walk around inside the house making some last minute decision on the electrical. During our tour around the house, I notice that one of the door opening that did not have a door in it was boarded up. This made me curious and later I found out why. With the electrical stuff figured out, we inquired into the story that the electrician had told my husband the night before. Here is the story in the electrician’s own words. “I was working down at the pumphouse on the electrical panel and I had my Allen wrench on the intake post when I felt something or someone staring at me. Then I heard a rock skip across the driveway when I looked there not some thirty feet away was this cougar. But at the same time that I turned, I brought the Allen wrench down and it made an arc to the metal on the panel and gave me a good shock. With that the big man dropped his head down and looked at the ground and in this little voice he said, “I said a really BAD word and in a whisper he said and I think I peed my pants.” With that up came his face and with a big grin and he said, “and I better that cat is still running.
The encounter with the cougar shook him up so much that he had boarded up the doorway out of concern that the cougar might come into the house when he was not looking and he had gone home early.
Let us try to look at this story from the cougar’s point of view. If you saw a 6-foot, 200-pound man all lit up and yelling BAD words at you, I would think that you would run too.
On a more serious note and because of our concern for the little ones, we have been in contact with the fish and wildlife people. If the cat is sighted again they will come and dart it and relocate it. These types of cats generally do not like to be around people so this sighting is rare so the electrician will have a story to tell his grandchildren.
I trust that you have enjoyed this story as much as we have. Cyber hugs to all.
Warm Regards,
RainydaysArgon

I love it when you tell us all the stories of your life, the way you describe things and the words you use makes them both funny and enlightening and they make my day...
I am sorry that you have a cougar in your area hopefully it wont come around again and if it does I hope they can relocate it.
Erin
I am so glad that you enjoy my stories. I write them in hopes that they will brighten someone’s day.
If it were just adults, I would not care if we share the land with the cougar. Unfortunately the fish and wildlife has received other calls besides ours and they feel that this cat is getting to close to humans for its and our own good. They feel that it maybe a juvenile that does not know better or possible and elderly cat that is ailing. Nevertheless, either way the cat poses a possible threat and they would like to relocate it for its own good.
I trust that all is well with you.
Warmest Regards,
RainydaysArgon