The Continuing Saga of Stanley the Protector. Well, my little buddy has made it to the 6 month mark alive. I am slightly amazed frankly. As you may remember, early on Stanley took to chewing power cords. He gnawed up the power cord for my iphone significantly but somehow it survived. He chewed up  the power supply cord for Teresa's lap top, the one that connects to the computer from the power supply (d.c. side),  and it was not so fortunate. Teresa was not pleased. We took measures to remove the little temptations from view. Problem solved for a time.

Then the other night things changed. I was peacefully watching something not the least bit memorable on t.v. Teresa was sitting in her chair with the land shark on her lap. A quite peaceful evening until Teresa realized what the little scavenger was up to. Suddenly, without warning, Teresa screamed something, leapt from her chair launching the little hammerhead from her lap. I remember hearing works like "cord" and "sparks" and "you little" as I cowered in the corner thinking I was reaping the retribution for something I either forgot I did or forgot to do. Once my synapses started synapping I realized it was not I who was in trouble (this time) rather it was Stanley. I should have realized no one has said "you little" in my direction since I was six years old. It's pretty much been big "insert adjective here" for a long, long time.

Anyway back to the story. Stanley had struck again. Laying in wait, no doubt for months, Stanley chose his moment to attack poorly. On mom's lap. Bad location. Mom's computer power cord. Bad choice of a chewing medium. Sampling mom's computer power cord while plugged in to both computer and wall socket. The trifecta of bad, bad, bad. If he was a Beach Boys song it would be Bad Vibrations to the third power. Dad to the rescue.

Stanley has had some luck. While not the 9 lives kind of cat luck he has managed to survive for 6 months. As mentioned, the first power cord appetizer was of the d.c. variety. Survivable. This time he chose the more spicy a.c. side and yet, not shockingly enough, he suffered no observed ill effects. Other than being hucked to the floor by she whose cord must not be chewed. I said dad to the rescue. I didn't leap between Stanley and mom. I'm not an idiot. I surveyed the now sparking conductor and calmly (yeah, I faked it) said "Honey, I can fix it". Threat condition reduced to DEFCON 3 I unplugged the cord and retired to the safe confines of the garage/shop. Stanley was not asked to follow. The little sucker was on his own. I quickly repaired the cord and returned to the scene of the crime. I quickly demonstrated my successful repair. We're still at DEFCON 3 but phazers are now set for stun. Safety.