A Wasted Sunday Morning (The Open Door)

 Okay! I have wasted my morning for a handful of breakfasts and a lot of cheese!

It didn't start out that way. It started out a simple necessary decision. I need groceries, among other things. I also need test strips that are Walmart brand. I tried to get them delivered but -- that's a whole 'nother story.

So, instead of going to Kroger, I went to Walmart. I could buy some other necessities there as well as some groceries. And if they had any Verizon phones, I could get that.

Off to Walmart I go. Pleasant, easy trip. Not a lot of traffic (church) and beautiful weather, and just a good feeling.

I should know better!

Amelia Walmart did NOT have my test strips. I even asked at the window and got the if-we-have-any-they'd-be-on-the-shelf. There weren't any.

They didn't have the brand of necessities I wanted.

No Verizon phones.

So I went to Walmart, used up my gas, and my time, for no real reason.

'

Well, I could still get groceries, although Kroger is cheaper and has better selection in most but not all foodstuffs, especially produce.

So I did. Kroger does not have $2 breakfast bowls, so I snatched me up a bunch of them, and Kroger doesn't always have the big box of cheese single, so I bought one of those. And a box of crackers. I wanted some fruit, but Wal-marts selection is bad and they want about twice Kroger's price.

anyway, I got those goodies, went to check out. Cashier asked about my day and I told him not well, but he didn't ask for any details. (He wasn't responsible and couldn't do anything anyway.)

Went out to car; loaded groceries into back seat, and tried to open door and get in, but couldn't. Somehow I must have locked the door. Easy enough to do when you're manipulating purses and canes and keeping an eye on traffic and all that other stuff.

I hobble around to the other side of the car and hit the unlock switch on the other front door which unlocks both. I see the driver side door unlock from the passenger side of the car.

Problem solved. (I wish)

Gimp my way back around and yay, hooray, but strange -- the driver door popped partially open when it was unlocked.

The damn door still wouldn't open!

I pushed it fully shut and tried again.

Nope, no luck. It would open just as much as it had popped, but no more. Well hell.

I figured the door panel must have slipped and been catching on the frame.

So I toddle around the car again, get in the passenger seat, flip the switch a couple times and then use my cane to force the door open.

It opens.

Yay Hooray again.

Back around the car this ridiculous fat old lady goes again -- I got some steps in today, I did. Yes,, the door panel was kind of loose and needed adjusting. Congrats on your clever diagnosis, fatso gimp (I'm starting to feel it by now).

I take care of that, seat myself, put my seat belt on, and the key in the ignition. (So I won't put it down and lose it -- I'm beginning to lose my faith in the Day.)

I close the door!

It goes KLONK and bounces back open!

Does it two or three more times.

It's not the inner panel. I can see that when I look, and the KLONK has a different sound than the padded panel should make. It's metallic!

omfg

the little hook thing that's supposed to latch on the door isn't moving. I can't exactly examine it or work on it there in the parking lot, but -- Heavy sigh -- oh well, I have a bungee cord, so I can hook it up somehow to hold the door until I get home.

Except that there is nothing in the car to attach it to!

Nothing on the door to attach it to, except for the rigging holding my window up. Well thank god there's that. Strange thing to be thankful for, but all things happen for a reason, right?

Except that there is still nothing IN THE CAR to attach the other end to. Did think about using my seat, but that was a no-go as a plan. I couldn't pull it hard enough, and if it was that hard to pull, could I trust it not to pull loose? As in either pull the seat out, or snap me in the back or head or something?

I guess i won't go to Kroger today.

Now if I can just get home.

Nope, nothing to hold it shut.

Guess I'll have to hold it myself. Yeah, like that's going to work.

I attach one end of the bungee to the strapping on the window, and run the other end up around the place holding the visor to the car, and just hold on to the other end of it.

All the way home.

I made it home, and here I sit, cussing and fussing, eating my breakfast and thin king of grilled cheese for dinner.

I'd really like to bang my head into the walls, kick a few rocks around, and maybe cry myself back to sleep.

I might do that.

When I calm down.

so, how is your day going? Please let me be happy for you

grayish rainish day

 It's been a grayish rainish day today and now that night is creeping in, the sunlight has taken on a misty mystic haze of almost-but-not-quite-a-rainbow light.

The air glows like golden dust.

The sun is behind the trees now. The trees are haloed in the diffused light. Not quite colors quiver as leaves tremble.

Along the alley, a long lazy ray of white light makes its way down the pavement, perfectly placed evenly with the edges. At those edges, where the light meets the grass, the color blossoms into golden fizz, dancing above the ground.

I reach for my phone, my only camera, and try to capture this ethereal moment that was already fading.

I cannot, of course. The magic is beyond both my skill and the phone cameras abilities.

I hope my words have helped you to see it. A slice of time such as this is meant to be shared,and i am sharing it with you.

The Heat of a 'Cool' Night.

 was awake/woke up again around 5 am. Temp was down to 73F so I thought I'd go outside for a while. Water my poor baked roses and make sure the lilac wasn't dehydrating (as if I'd be able to see that in the crepuscular predawn.) Get my clean laundry and the rest of my pop out of the car before the world starts heating back up.

Walk in the grass, wiggle my toes in the dirt, stuff like that.

Now, since it was still dark I just put on my spaghetti strap black sheath dress. This weather has my hair looking like a toilet brush (or a large bottle brush, if you prefer a different image.) So there I am, wandering up and down the fenceline, barefoot in black, scrub brush hair sticking out all over, randomly pouring water out of milk jugs, talking to myself, the water, the sky, and the green of summertime.

It's probably a good thing there was no one out, although it would have been delightful if one of my neighbors had come out and lifted the clothes hamper from the bottom of the steps to the porch at the top. One car came down the alley. No one up or down the street. No one was at the The Plane Street Coffee House and Cafe yet. Or at the childcare center. They usually start trickling in about 5:25. 5:20. It felt like I'd been out there an hour. I had planned to type this up while setting (not sitting) on the porch, but I gotta tell you. I sat down twice to catch my breath and slow my heart (and sweat) rate, and they ain't no way I'm staying out there. Hottest 73F I've been out in for a while. I'm getting worried about my trip to the dr Thursday, but at least I'll have some minimal air movement while the car is moving. Worse comes to worse, I can ask my sisters and we can put our heads together and patch together a Plan D. (One sister is plan B and the other is Plan C)

I believe my neighbor(s) have been watering for me, though. Either that or my tightly capped water bottles have sweated themselves back to full.
They are wonderful people, are they not, and I am blessed to have them and grateful for them, believe me.

And 73 degrees with a hot humid hazy headache high-pressure dome is not, I say NOT, a comfortable temperature.

Stay cool.
I'm going to.

A Wreck of a Good Day

Well, y'all are not going to believe how I wrecked a beautiful wonderful day. I was finally going to get the jello shots for my knee, so maybe I wouldn't be so wibbly-wobbly. These were due in April, but, y'know, life was happening in the meantime.
Plus this day was already above 80 degrees F. Whew!

Got up early (for me) got all cleaned up, dressed, organized, etc. I even went outside and checked the reservoir on my car because it doesn't like heat when everything works., and everything hasn't worked for a while, but the car still usually gets me where I need to know. Filled it up. Didn't take a lot, which was a cheerful discovery.
Came back in, took medicine combed hair, packed phone and wallet in purse, since my dress has no pockets.

 
Checked my mail and Facebook, because I still had time. Lots of crazy stupid accidents going on. Accidents on 68 in a couple places -- not going that way-- and around and about downtown on the interstates and -- oh no! An accident earlier on Five Mile. Car upside down and on fire. That was the direction I was going. although it had been cleared up by then.

 
In other words, just a normal day with an unusual number of accidents showing up in my local feed.
Other interesting calls that have come in today include a kid around New Richmond selling a dead kitten, someone in Ripley skateboarding and flipping people off, a 15 year old girl kidnapped by a Ford 150 from King's auto mall, wearing a tie-dye shirt. (These were later and are just to show what kind of day this is here.)

AnyWay, I leave early enough to get gas in my car and head on down the road. Now this dr office is about 45 minutes from home on a good day, so I leave plenty of time beforehand. Once I'm out of town and the traffic has cleared a bit, I pull into the inner lane, so I won't have to change lanes to make a left turn when going through the business/professional area which is the last part of the trip, dr's offices being a professional setup.
All is going well. Cars in the outer lane are NOT passing me so I'm maintaining speed well, and stopping appropriately at the red lights. Nice smooth driving, although it doesn't seem as if I'm getting very far very fast.
Still, I have plenty of time.

Then I get to Amelia.

Let me tell you about Amelia.
Amelia is a town that isn't a town. The town government disbanded itself not long ago, after a couple hundred years of existence.
It is also. metaphorically, an inch wide and miles long. Narrow lanes, uncoordinated lights, 5 lanes in some places but not in others, lots and lots of traffic, including semis and oversized trucks.
No village police, since the village suicided itself when no one wanted to be the Big Frog anymore.
I keep having to slow down and sometimes momentarily stop for left-turners. Annoying, but not as annoying as constant lane changing in what looks like heavy traffic to me.

 
I get through the center of town, and there's a stopped car at a green light in front of me. I had watched two or three cars cut around him, changing lanes and getting back, but I didn't mind waiting. A sheriff pulled up behind me, and he waited too. There was a lot of oncoming traffic, so the driver ahead just couldn't go. In the meantime, traffic passing on my right had nearly stopped completely.
I decide to cut over like those other cars had . So, I checked mirrors, looked over my shoulder, checked mirrors again and pulled out
And some horn went off and a white car tried to barrel past me.

 
That did not quite work out. It's a good thing I was starting from a complete stop, and she wasn't going too fast (I guess) from traffic. I don't know where she came from, since I hadn't seen her coming.
No big smash up (nobody turned upside-down and caught fire). A few chips of paint out of her car and maybe a couple of dents. (I still haven't looked at mine.) No injuries. She had a passenger, also uninjured. I never got out of my car (combined heat and wibbly-wobbly knees)

I no longer had plenty of time. 
I did not make my dr appointment (dammit), but considering all the weird things happening out in the public, we were pretty lucky.
But that is how I wrecked a good day.
Although no needles in my knees was a fair positive.
And at least we didn't have to wait for policed.