It’s my birthday!
I feel that since it is my birthday that I should decide what to do today. I had offers to go out to a nice restaurant for lunch, but no, I don’t want to get dressed up. I want something different on my special day.
So I dressed like a bum and took my dog for a drive to Tractor Supply. Jack loves to ride in the cart. Jack actually thinks that Tractor Supply is PetSmart, but hush, do not tell him the truth!
Jack met so many friendly people who admired him, petted him, shook his hand, allowed him to kiss them and paw their clothes. I am surprised at the number of people who have heard of a Puggle but have never actually seen one. I am beginning to see what it feels like to own a dragon, a unicorn or a leprechaun.
Jack was a happy boy today. Which made me happy.
I bought dog food, which was the original purpose of the long drive. Then I saw that Preen was on sale…not for $29 or $26.97…no, it had been marked down to $19.99 and then further marked down to…be still my heart… $14.99. Woo-hoo. I grabbed two lovely yellow drums.
As I approached the checkout I noticed the clearance area. Jack stood by while I checked…
Horse feed – no, I have no horses.
Beet pulp horse feed – no, still have no horses.
Bird food – no, I don’t feed wild birds.
Ah, here we are. Dog food. Good quality dog food at 1/2 price. Yep, grab two bags of…whoa, these are heavy, how the heck big are these bags? Gonna need another cart.
Then I remembered the garden soil that was on a pallet outside in front of the store. I told the clerk I would like about 4 -5 bags, please, as that’s about all the bags that were not broken. The clerk then said the magic words…”The broken bags are 1/2 price.”Someone else’s voice came out of my mouth and said, “Okay, I will take all of them, broken and not broken” as I quietly tried to calculate if I could fit all this into my little car.
I declined the offer to have an employee assist me in loading the car. One thing I learned is that no one likes to take direction when loading a car. Better to do the job by myself, slow and steady, step by step, take time to breathe, rest, method.
Oh, dear. I need two hands to get this stuff loaded into the car. What to do with Jack? He can’t wait in the car with the doors open; he would jump out and make lots of new friends in the parking lot. If I attach his leash to a signpost, he will most likely pee on the merchandise. Aha!. A helpful customer stopped by. Yes, I happily accepted her offer to keep Jack company while I sweated and strained to load sixteen tons and got another day older – but not deeper in debt. Here is the helpful customer with Jack standing in front of the empty pallet.
Another customer came by and looked as if he would have offered to help, except that he was dressed in white from head to toe I figured he was either an ice cream man, an evangelist or quite possibly a figment of my imagination as I was slightly lightheaded from the heat – or maybe he was just too clean to get dirty.
After what seemed like an hour but was most likely about 18 minutes I finally had all 13 bags of soil stowed in the car, plus 3 bags of dog food, 2 bottles of fly/mosquito repellent for dogs (the fly spray can be used on horses but as you remember, I don’t have a horse), 3 squeaky toys for dogs, and the two tubs of Preen.
Here is my poor little, sagging car: 
And the trunk is full, too. Okay, the fact is that the trunk was already mostly full of shovels, clay pots, landscape fabric and some tools. So now it is more full.
Um, what am I forgetting?
I sat down to have a drink of water.
There must be one more thing I need to put in the car. What was it?
Oops, the dog!!!
Here Jack, see if you can find a place to sit. No, there’s not enough room.
Okay, stand. You can stand all the way home. It will be fun. Each person should be able to have fun on their birthday.
It’s my birthday!
(Originally written in August 2014)