Strange, Lucky, Electricity, and Home

Strange has been happening all day. We needed a few things from the grocery. But the most imminent need was Diet Rite. I can’t live without it. Must have my soda. Tea is cool with a meal or on a long, hot Arkansas afternoon sitting on the veranda with the fans blowing a gentle breeze across gleaming skin.

Of course being Southern means sweet tea, being diabetic means artificially sweet tea. It’s good though. I found a sugar substitute that works quite well.

Anyway, the Diet Rite supply was dwindling fast. So off we go. First stop was Wal-Mart in hopes of a one stop shopping experience. There were already 3 other stops to make and I didn’t want to add my grocery store and the nearest Home Depot to the stop list.

Found the crack foam for filling in the spaces around the attic stair and found the spray paint. Found the very few grocery items I needed and found goggle eyes and a new tee shirt. You know that tee wasn’t on the list, but long-sleeved tees and winter sort of go arm in sleeve.

I chose self-check-out. Oh boy. There is never a dull moment when I’m scanning the contents of a cart. The poor woman manning the self-registers baled me out half a dozen times. It all started because I bring my own bags. Oh well.  We were best buds by the time I finished. She’s been working for Wal-Mart for 35 years. I simply cannot imagine. I woulda shot myself 30 years ago.

I finally paid for my purchases and left the store, only to get halfway to my car and realize I forgot the Diet Rite.

Now why was I going to the store today?

I loaded the car with my filled bags, locked it up again, and went back in the store.

They only had one 12 pack of Diet Rite. That will last me until tomorrow.

Okay so tomorrow I’ll make a run to another store. Let’s see if I can get Hob Lob and the dollar store knocked off my stop list.

Hob Lob was pretty quick and not too disappointing. I did spend more than I intended, but that’s nothing new.

The dollar store did not have Christmas socks, nor did they have the dish towels I wanted. Geez. Okay I made a substitution on the socks and bout pot holders instead.  I’m flexible. After that my patience was exhausted so I stopped for a couple of tacos and had a picnic in the parking lot while playing Sudoku on my phone. Much better now.

Now it is on to Sam’s to pick up Lucky’s prescription.

Lucky has a heart condition. If he doesn’t have his meds his little chest fills with fluid and he hacks and coughs and sounds like he’s about to expire, which he may be. I really don’t like to run out, but I had. Sam’s lights are dim. There is only back-up light and all the registers are down. The pharmacy staff is at lunch too. So I wander around and then sit down outside the pharmacy for some more Sudoku.

Time passes. After about thirty minutes one of the pharmacy staff comes by my bench. Apparently the power is off all over the area and won’t be on until around 10 tonight. Oh.

Well to make a long story longer, eventually the pharmacist gave me Lucky’s prescription. She asked me to come back tomorrow to pay for it, but I had cash. We traded.

It’s a scary world out there. It’s good to be home. I dread tomorrow’s trip for Diet Rite.  Who knows what alarming events will unfold.

Have a great Thursday evening. It’s almost the weekend.