Friday evening should have been a quick dash to town. Just a stop in Country Mart for some corn on the cob to have Sunday evening, and carrots and cauliflower to smother in cheese. Plus a couple scratcher stops, of course. Nothing special.
Farmer H gets home around 5:00 on Fridays. I was baking some beans for the sausages he was going to grill. So I didn't leave the Mansion until 4:00. Just a quick trip, right?
AU CONTRAIRE!
I stopped at the end of the driveway to put a bag of trash in the dumpster. Farmer H isn't supposed to lift more than 10 pounds until after his wiring is complete. Not a hard task for me, but a giant horsefly got in T-Hoe when I opened the door. I still have PTSD from that time a BUMBLE BEE bounced into my Chevy Chevette, and I rolled it and had an ambulance ride. So I had to drive with the back windows down until the horsefly found his way out.
At Country Mart, the checker was having trouble with the bags. Same thing happened on my last visit. I guess they're cutting corners with their plastic bag supplier. Every other bag is defective! Mainly by having only one loop, with the other not closed in. Just two flaps of plastic. Unlike my previous bagger, this one USED THE DEFECTIVE BAGS! It's not like she didn't notice. She complained about them. So I had an uncarriable bag with a dozen eggs, a heavy uncarriable bag with carrots and cauliflower, and another uncarriable bag with a giant SLAW and sour cream and biscuits.
That's another thing! They were out of SLAW! In the regular size. So I had to get a giant tub, like the size of today's former half-gallon of ice cream that is now 1.5 quarts. It's good until Sept 10, though. So I'm sure we will eat that slaw.
Off to the Gas Station Chicken Store, which was mighty busy for a Friday evening at the end of the month right after school started. My favorite parking space there, the handicap beside the building, was open, with a truck and trailer parked ahead of it at the FREE AIR hose. I was just nosing T-Hoe toward that parking space when an old maniac in a white sedan cruiser barreled onto the lot from the back alley, squeezed past the air hose trailer, and slammed on his brakes in MY RIGHTFUL PARKING SPACE! And he didn't even have handicap plates, heh, heh. Just sayin'... I shook my fist at him, and drove on out the back way, deciding to take my winner to Orb K instead.
Orb K had all the parking spots full! Even three cars parked over on the edge of the lot, by the long tanker truck hosing gas into the pavement. I turned around to leave that madlot, but cars were backed up almost to the murder motel waiting to get out onto the road. SIRENS! A police car shot out of there. I made a right turn and meandered back to the Gas Station Chicken Store by way of the bowling alley and roundabout. There was the police car! TWO of them. With a gray truck they had pulled over.
I did my business after waiting in line too long and changing my mind. My money didn't come out even! That's what I get for changing my plan! I had to break a twenty to pay $4 over my winnings. At least a $3 ticket I got there turned out to be a $20 winner.
It was 5:50 by the time I made it home and carried in my uncarriable bags. Farmer H can't help, due to his lifting restriction. He was all ready to rush out and fire up the grill, but I prefer to scratch my tickets first. I tried to call him three times, but got only voicemail. Not my problem. Everyone else who calls him makes his phone ring. He says he never even saw that I tried to call.
I guess my signal was trapped in that bad-trip vortex.
Can you guess what I was doing on Friday evening?
ReplyDeleteI was snoozing on the couch (an unplanned nap) after a long week of work.
You remember those days, right? ;)
Sioux,
ReplyDeleteAs my mom always said of such an episode: "You needed that." Though my naps were in a recliner, before the days of my OPC (Old People Chair).
You will definitely enjoy the "Forever Vacation" when you get to it!
Have you thought about keeping a supply of washable, reusable shopping bags in T-hoe? Then you always have decent bags with decent handles and strong too, so they won't break under the weight of sodas or giant slaw.
ReplyDeleteI like reading about your interesting dashes to town, while at the same time being glad my own life is so quiet.
River,
ReplyDeleteGood to know that even my boring town trips are of interest to SOMEBODY!
I would need too many reusable bags for that now, since I can only carry a few items at a time, not too heavy. I can move the plastic bags a few at a time to the side porch, and then make secondary trips to get them into the kitchen. Sometimes I have 10-12 bags. I rarely use the boxes at Save A Lot any more, because they are too heavy when loaded with canned goods.
I used to have oversized plastic bags, with insulation for cold items, which I bought at Save A Lot for $1 each. They have since worn out, and again, would be too heavy if full. They were strong, with plastic handles that snapped together.
I was thinking the same as River with the reusable bags. I keep them in my vehicle. I still want my items bagged in the store as I used them when I poop patrol my dog yard. Like you, I cannot carry as many as I used to and end up making more trips. We need a conveyor belt from the car to the kitchen ....
ReplyDeleteKathy,
ReplyDeleteThe Pony used to be my conveyor belt! Now even undependable Farmer H can't help me. I DID bring in a few items this afternoon, in some extra plastic bags I had with BOTH loops. I managed two bags, with two pounds of Great Northern beans, two bottles of ketchup, a bottle of Blue Cheese dressing, a can of diced tomatoes with garlic and something, a can of tomato paste, and a can of Hunts Spaghetti Sauce. Still pretty heavy, looped on my arm.