b'A PEBBLE M I WAKESTSAY HOMEI , hurrying about at the last minute. To make things worse, there was a power failure and the upstairs was hot and muggy that afternoon. It was late October and here in Southern California it felt just like mid August. We still had laundry to do, but nothing worked in the house. Could it get worse than this? I do not think so e plane leaves tomorrow morning and there is plenty of organizing still to be done. In a couple of hours it will be dark and, with no electricity, it will be quite an adventure to get this packing done.Some people just sweat. Not me. It pours out of me like a fountain. e more I think about it, the worse it gets. Little puddles are forming all around me.Where is the AC/DC converter? Naaanc!!! I yell Where did you put it? It is never where I left it. My wife has a way of moving my stuffaround that drives me crazy. I think its in the garage in one of the old boxes, she called back. I silently count to ten, hoping it will help calm me down. You would think that after twenty years of being together I would have this routine down. Well, apparently not.I do not know about you, but my garage is where old things go to hide. Once you put something in a box there, good luck fi nding it again when you need it. Half insane from the heat, I stood in the middle of the garage pulling stufffrom the shelves, surrounded by the discarded contents, rummaging into half empty boxes, driving myself crazy. 27'