The installing of camera systems went well, although we're not nearly done yet. There's a total of thirty-nine buses, and we're through ten of them. Friday was incredibly slow. Craig did a demo install in one bus so Ed and I could watch, then took off to Bristol, CT to do another job while we stayed in Watertown to work on the cameras. We got almost through two buses, finishing everything except for putting the actual recording box into the holder.
I asked the office if we could leave our tools in Bus 26, and they told me no, 26 was about to leave. So I moved everything to Bus 1, the next one on the list, then checked to make sure it wasn't going anywhere. Nope, every single bus was leaving in ten minutes.
No, wait, Bus 27 is staying - work on that one. So I told Ed to finish up 16 while I put our things in 27. But wait - 27 is actually leaving, but 1 is staying. I moved everything back into Bus 1, Ed finished 16, and we started tearing the panels off 1.
Oh, no, Bus 12 is broken, and we need Bus 1! We screwed everything back together, having accomplished nothing more than drilling a hole, then waited fifteen minutes for Bus 12 to return. Hey, at least we can work on that one, since it's broken.
Craig returned from Bristol just as Bus 12 was getting back. We moved everything into 12 and took down the panels. Uh oh - another bus is broken. We need to get 12 back on the road. Ed and I screwed 12 back together again, joking about how annoying it would be if they suddenly told us we could keep 12 after all.
Hey, guess what - the other bus is going to make it. You guys can keep 12! But we just put it back together...do we dare tear it apart again?
We waited for a bit, listening to the radio for anymore breakdown reports. I texted Craig to ask if he wanted us to do the bus or not, but he didn't reply, so finally I decided that we were going to go ahead and do it. Craig came back when we had the panels down (again), and we got all the wiring run, then packed up and left for the day, rather frustrated.
Saturday was much better, since most buses stay in the lot on weekends. I did five full installs by myself, and Craig and Ed did another five. (I'm not as fast as all that; they kept getting the buses that had all sorts of annoying quirks that required workarounds.) I never thought I would know as much about school buses as I do now. I even figured out how to hot-wire one by accident, as I was wiring in the side panel with the ignition on, and I crossed two terminals with a wrench and the bus flipped out and started honking. I've also learned where the fuse is for the damn alarm.
After getting out of the lot on Friday, we went to see Anne at the vet's office where she works in Meriden, because she said she had a cat that I needed to meet. When we got there, she was in an appointment with a client, so we hung out in the waiting room, all decked out in our stylish holy-shit-yellow safety vests. The girl behind the counter asked if we were there about the cats, and when I said yes, she showed me a picture on the counter.
Anne had said he was a Persian, but I got confused and was thinking of a Himalayan. My first impression of this cat was "Oh god, he's ugly!" I don't like the way Persians look anyway - I can't get over the squished-in faces - but these two had been shaved when they arrived at the vet because they were so matted. Well, their bodies had been shaved. Their heads, paws, and the tips of their tails were as furry as ever, and they looked ridiculous.
Pumpkin won us over, though. He may be the sweetest cat I have ever met. He was completely unfazed by the appearance of three dirty strangers in shiny vests, and in under a minute was purring madly and climbing all over us.
He came from a house with thirty-something cats. Apparently the owner was a breeder, but she died, and all the cats ended up at the vet. She didn't have the resources to properly care for all of them, although they were at least up to date on their shots and physicals. They lived in cages and didn't get to run around and play. Anne said that he had already developed a lot of muscle tone since he came in a month ago, but he still falls over when he plays because his back legs are weak. He's really clumsy, spontaneously falling off tables and chairs, but I suspect that when he's stronger and his whiskers have grown back on the left (somebody slipped with the clippers), he'll be a little more graceful.
The other cat who was there with him could have been his twin, although they weren't litter mates. Spice, however, was painfully shy and wanted nothing to do with us. Besides, we've got three female cats already, and neither of us want any more.
Pumpkin rode contentedly in the car for two hours. He's so accustomed to being in a cage that he walked right into the carrier on his own, then settled down and purred while I drove. When we got to Larry's house to drop off Ed, Pumpkin was curled up on Craig's lap, fast asleep and purring like crazy.
The girls aren't too fond of him yet. He seems disappointed when he goes over to say hello and gets hissed at in return, but I suspect they'll end up getting along. We have changed his name; Pumpkin just didn't seem appropriate. Meet Big Slick.
