Dog day

Today was just one of Those Days.  It started the second I led the dogs outside, put down my gym bag, and then shut the front door.   Like an idiot, I forgot the car keys inside, so I was locked out!  Fortunately, I had hidden a spare door key in the backyard just a few days ago.  No biggy, right?  An hour later, and 1000 tiny cut on my hands and arm, I had no key.  I had to mangle this huge grass plant THING and not for the life of me figure out what happened to the damn key.  As I paced  the driveway, I saw pieces of the plastic bag that contained the key.  The damn dog(s) found the key and killed it.  I looked everywhere for the key hoping that the Doodle and Mr. Poopy spit it out.  No luck.  So I took a BIG FRIGGIN ROCK and clobbered the front door's window.  PLEXIGLASS!  Fortunately, the window was dislodged enough for me to squeeze my hand and unlock the door.  I had busted these little plastic nubby things that looked like someone's chicklets.  As I grabbed the keys, put the dogs in the Jeep, and walked around the car, I saw something SHINY and SILVERY.  So, I now have a slightly gnawed spare key.   

I stopped at Home Depot to get some plastic nubby things and MY DAMN DEBIT CARD was rejected.  I then remembered that my bank sent a new ATM card for some reason.   I looked at the expiration date and it said 2012 or WHEN THE WORLD ENDS (WHICHEVER IS LATER).  So I drove back home, found the new card, activated it, and then I was good to go.  

Caribou, like many coffee houses, has a trivia question of the day.  Guess the question correctly (or be an official Cool Customer like me) and you save 10 cents on your overpriced cuppa joe.  I freaked out the guys where because no-one has been able to answer today's query:  Shakespeare was born and died on the same day of the year.  Which day was it?  I laughed and said that it was indeed trivia and that it was easy (April 23).  So maybe I've kicked up my status as a coffee house trivia god of minor note.  Most questions are easy which is how it should be, at least if you want to "reward" people with a whopping 10 cent savings.   

But wait, the dog day of February 25 isn't over!   When I got back home, the dogs ran in the backyard like they usually do.  I got a screw driver and reattached the front door window and then I let Annie inside.  I figured that Rocky (Mr. Poopy) was still in the back, so I called him and then walked back.  No Rocky.  My heart literally stopped.  Here I am, in my early 40s and fighting back the prospect that he got out of the yard.  And then it hits me, he might be under the back steps, so I walk over and then hear something.  Suddenly, Rocky's snout pokes out.  HE'S STUCK.  Rocky is a little sausage.   For some reason, he decided that the best thing to do after being locked up in a car for two hours is dive under the stairs like he was going after Charlie.  I was able to pull his sorry butt out.  He was scared and I was just so happy that he was all right.  

I have a weird relationship with pets.  I take care of them and tolerate them even though they chew up things or have accidents in the house.  But the sudden feeling of loss, that Tigerlily has gotten out or Rocky has escaped from Cleveland Guantanamo terrifies me.    I had a friend in college who said  that she didn't ever want kids because she couldn't protect them.  It didn't make sense to me then, and it sort of does now.  I can't even cope with two dogs and two cats, so I'd definitely be challenged with a tiny person to protect.

Finally, as I was typing this a few minutes ago, I smelled something.....burning.  Yours truly was going to make some tea and forgot to add water to the sauce pan.   I rarely do stuff like that.  Maybe I'm just out of sorts today.