L

You ever have one of those days when it seems like you have a flashing red “L” on your forehead?  That was yesterday. My first clue that it was going to be one of those days was when I took my disgustingly dirty car to the car wash.  There was one vehicle ahead of me, and I punched in my receipt code as I waited.  A minute or two later, a few drops of water fell on my windshield.  I thought it was blowback from the car in the washing garage, but then realized it was in the midst of the power dry cycle.  Yep, it was raining.  And I had already committed to the process by handing over my code, and the guy in the car behind me, who actually had some options here, seemed grimly determined to see the thing through.  I burst out laughing as I obligingly pulled into the stall.  I mean, you hear about people who wash their cars, and a couple of hours later it rains, but who gets their car washed WHILE it’s raining?  Fortunately, it was a brief shower, and even though it continued for a few minutes after I pulled out, the drops didn’t seem to leave an impression.  (Maybe there’s something to that “spot-free rinse" after all).

Next it was off to Goodwill, where I hoped to purchase a couple of kids’ CDs for the nursery.  As “a couple” was exactly what they had, I bought both of them (cheap) and tried them out in the car.  One featured French children singing in their own language; since the babies are not even crawling, much less speaking, I figured they wouldn’t be too put off by language barrier.  Unfortunately, most of the songs had a rather shrill quality that did not bode well for nap time.  So I popped in the second CD, which had looked fine in the store but must have been damaged, because it made a snapping and whirring sound before settling on “What do you do with a Drunken Sailor?”  Startled, I checked the CD case and confirmed that this was indeed “Children’s Melodies” from something called Creative Labs.  Tell me, on what planet is “Drunken Sailor” considered a children’s classic?  But there it was, hidden among “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “Old McDonald Had a Farm.”  Another dud, but the thought of these parents returning to the nursery and seeing one of the caregivers warbling about paddy wagons and captains’ daughters and rusty razors set off another fit of giggles.

This morning I dropped Banks off at the vet at 7:00 AM sharp.  I had pleaded with the front office for a set appointment, where I could bring him in and leave with him, but this is not the way they work.  It could be 7 PM before he's ready to come home.  All I could think about was Banks wondering if he’d been dropped off at the pound again.  Oh God.  He seemed fine when I left him, though. 

I took my “lunch hour” at 4:00 PM, and took a nice, hot, but breezy and in some places actually cool, walk down at Lady Bird Lake.  I had my phone with me the whole time in case the vet called.  No word so far…..