Monday, March 18, 2024

Convenience Store Capers: So Close, But Yet So Far

I walked into the Gas Station Chicken Store on Saturday, to find NO ONE THERE! No customers, no clerk. I knew it was the day and time that my favorite clerk should be working. Sometimes when business is slow, she is putting ice in the soda fountain, or grabbing a bite of her dinner in the break room. But there was no sign of her this time. I stood at the counter, perusing the selections. I am never in a hurry.

Fave came out of the bathroom shortly. 

"I heard you come in. Well. I didn't know it was YOU! I didn't want to yell out, 'I'm in here!' But if I had known it was you, I probably would have!"

"That's okay. I'm never in a hurry. You don't have to rush for me."

"I think I waited a little too long! I thought I would never stop peeing!"

"You have to take the opportunity when you can get it!"

"Did you hear about Casey's having a $100,000 winner?"

"NOOOO!"

"The gal there told me, and I looked it up online. It's true. The $5 'Full of $500s' ticket."

"Dang it! Now there won't be a good winner around here for a while! I sure won't buy that ticket over there!"

I go in the Backroads Casey's a couple times a week. I DO buy that ticket, if they are out of my crossword or Frogger ticket. Oh, well. I guess somebody else needed that win more than I did.

In fact, I went over to the Backroads Casey's when I left the Gas Station Chicken Store. It's just across the moat, and over the side street from Hick's pharmacy. My favorite clerk there was working. The Older Lady with a blond ponytail.
 
"Here's my ten dollars to cash in. It's not $100,000, but better than nothing."

"Ha ha! I'm the one who sold that ticket! The girls over at 10Box said they wished I had won it. But I told them I don't buy here, I'm only the seller."

"I hope the winner remembers who sold it!"

"Oh, she did. She came in yesterday and gave me $385! I thought it was a prank! Then she told me what she won. I was shocked."

"That was really nice of her."

"I KNOW! It was the biggest tip I ever got! We had people in here all day, buying lottery. I told them, 'You know, it doesn't work that way. There's not going to be a jackpot here for a while."

So... good news for somebody, and for that clerk. I'm pretty sure I won't be hitting a big winner around Backroads for six months or more. But still, I can play to keep on playing.

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Convenience Store Capers: A Heartbreaking Find of Staggering Regret

As you know, I have ceased my quest to become a Future Pennyillionaire. I no long pick up coins I find on parking lots or store floors. The pickin's have been slim, anyway. Only a couple sighted in the first two months of 2024. However...

On Saturday, as I walked up the slope to the door of the Liquor Store, I saw a penny. I resisted the urge to scoop it up. That's no longer my journey. I went past, noting several foil discs that must have held in the contents of small energy drink bottles. They often look like coins, and Val has been fooled more that once. 

When I came out, I saw another penny. And another! In fact, there was a small grouping, then a trail of pennies! It was the most fantastic thing ever! Like when I found a gaggle of pennies on the blacktop road down by Mailbox Row, figuring that a kid threw them out the bus window. I picked up those pennies, but not the ones at the Liquor Store. Such a shame. 

There were 15 PENNIES on that lot!

Yes. The lighting on the way back to T-Hoe revealed many more pennies. As if a numismatic Johnny Appleseed had scattered them there for me to find. I did NOT stoop to pick them up. I was on a downhill slope. Such an effort might have given me a stroke from the sustained pressure in my noggin while bent to collect them at a level lower than my feet. If I had turned to face uphill, I might not have seen them all, since I'd missed them on the way in.

The end of an era. This might have been my year to achieve Pennyillionaire status. Then again, as Hick says, a monkey might have jumped out of my rumpus.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Hick's Bingo "Prices" Could Outfit Us For an Expedition

Hick continues to win "prices" at lunchtime Senior Center bingo, yet lose at bar bingo on Tuesday nights. He's always proud to send me a picture of his winnings. Like on Wednesday, when he won another blanket. I swear, we could take a trip to Antarctica and be snug as two bugs in multiple rugs, with the collection of blankets Hick has won at bingo.


At first glance, I thought this was some knockoff Dollar Store version of Ugg boots. Still a viable option for our Antarctica trip. But Hick said it was a blanket. Then I noticed it was just the way that blanket was tied up with the ribbon.

On Friday, Hick crowed into my space in the kitchen while I was making chicken pot pie, to try and show me a picture on his phone.

"My new blanket is worth FIFTY DOLLARS. See???"

I did not see, being busy making supper. But I took Hick's word for it. He's pretty good with finding the prices for assorted auction finds. And the label on this one says CuddlDuds, which is at least a brand name that I've heard of.

Still... to me that blanket is just something somebody didn't want, so they re-gifted it to the Senior Center as a tax credit for charity.

Friday, March 15, 2024

The Pony Gets Back On the Horse

After a regularly scheduled day off on Wednesday, The Pony returned to work Thursday. He was apprehensive and sore. Of course I worried all day. I was especially thinking of him around 12:20, the time when his dog bite occurred on Tuesday. Then my phone buzzed with a text. The Pony sent me a picture of the scene of the attack.


This is where The Pony was walking along, having just delivered mail to the house on the right. He was headed up to the corner, where he turns to put the mail in the box on the front porch of the dog house. No car was parked there at the back porch on Tuesday. One or maybe both of the elderly people was on that back porch. The 110 lb Cane Corso was lying behind the trash cans. The Pony did not see the dog until it ran out in front of him. The Pony couldn't get the dog spray out of his satchel in time.

I mistyped the original account of the incident. The Pony said the residents of that house were not at home. Just the elderlies, who he thinks are the parents of one of the couple, and are visiting for two weeks from Florida with their dog. It was the elderly man who stayed with The Pony while the elderly woman brought out the hydrogen peroxide, ointment, and bandaid.

This picture gives me chills. WHAT IF a child was skipping along that sidewalk??? I shudder to think what the dog might have done to a child. A visiting dog should not have been off leash this close to a public sidewalk. I let my dogs run free, but they are on 20 acres. Not a few feet from a public pathway.

Anyhoo... can't go back in time and un-bite The Pony. The puncture wound looks to be healing, though oozing fluid. Here's a picture:


That's from Thursday morning, about 40 hours after the bite. The skin is wrinkly from the compression bandage overnight. Looks like the swelling has gone down.

The upper arm is showing more color in the bruise.


This one is from Wednesday afternoon, about 24 hours after the incident. I still stand by my theory that this is also a bite, not a paw scrape. It's not like this dog was a heavyweight boxing champ. That's a lot of bruising for a paw.

They don't look too bad for the aftermath of a canine attack. The Pony was a lucky dog.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Travels With My Placard: An Inconvenient Two-th

Tuesday was not a good day for traveling with my handicap placard. I stopped by the Gas Station Chicken Store for scratchers, and came out to find myself blocked in! Yes, I could have backed up a full car length, into the area where cars drove out from the gas pumps under the roof in front of the building. But T-Hoe's backup beeper doesn't work, and people these days keep driving behind you, even if they can see that you are actively backing. So I settled down to wait until I was unblocked.


There was a middle-aged man airing up his trailer tires. I waited until he walked around to get back in the truck before taking the picture. I wasn't on a shaming mission, just wanting to show how inconsiderate people are. This guy could have easily parked along the side of the road up there by the dumpster. That FREE AIR hose is plenty long. People do that all the time if both of these spaces are taken. 


They were really close, and that angle was irritating me, complicating my escape. The middle-aged man's ample middle-aged wife was sitting in the truck with her window down. Even though T-Hoe's windows were up, I could hear her when M-A Man got in the truck.

"She took a picture!"

"Why would she do that?"

"I don't know. But she got out her phone and took a picture! That's just stupid."

Heh, heh. If you don't want your picture taken, don't park like a rumpushole!

From there, I headed over to the Sis-Town Country Mart to get some soda for Hick, and some fried chicken which they did not have. Anyhoo... when I got there, ALL FIVE of the handicap spaces were taken. TAKEN! Like the seats Elaine was trying to save for Jerry and George and Kramer. Except instead of being empty, these spaces were full.

I drove down into the lot to sit for a minute. One car started backing out, so I pulled up, ready to cross over the drive that is actually a street with a stop sign. But the minute that car got out of the way, another car that had been waiting at the stop sign whipped into it! That was annoying. I was pretty sure I had more insurance, but I couldn't guarantee that I was older. So I refrained from giving it a Kathy-Bates-Fried-Green-Tomatoes ramming.

Had to park way down in the lot, to be near the cart return. No way was I going to park closer, then have to take a cart to the return and walk back to T-Hoe. You can't just leave a cart on that sloping lot.


Of course when I got back and unloaded my groceries into T-Hoe's rear, there were two handicap spaces open, and another car backing out. Too late for me! Who knew that 2:30 on a Tuesday was prime time for the elderlies to be out and about with their placards? Not this old Val. It wasn't even the beginning of the weekly sales, which is on Wednesdays.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Val's Words Come Back to Bite The Pony in the Arm

Do you ever wish you could take something back? Like I did, the moment it left my lips while talking on the phone to The Pony Monday morning. I had the audacity, when discussing his skinned knee, to mention "At least it's not a dog bite."

I even mentioned my regret in the last sentence of my blog post I wrote that night:


Of course you know what happened on Tuesday! When I heard a text on my phone at 12:14, my stomach tied itself in knots. I looked. Yes. It was The Pony.

"Bit by a dog. Will call you later."

Immediately, I got that panicky feeling. Like a tingly feeling all over my body.

"Dang! Are you going to a doctor?"

"Yeah. Manager coming to drive me. Since it's on my arm."

I was really worried. The Pony usually deals with his dog bites, and doesn't leave work. Getting the manager involved must mean it was serious. I felt a little better when The Pony sent me a picture:


That is right after the dog people applied a bandaid. So it was a false sense of security for me, but probably why The Pony sent it.

"Get rabies info? Is that above or below the elbow?"

"Forearm."

"It swelled a lot."

"Yeah. It did that instantly. And yeah, she's got all her shots they say, they've got the papers."

"What kind of dog?"

"Mid size black one. Muscular, not sure the breed."

"If it let go, probably not a pit bull."

"Some Italian purebred thing I can't spell."

By 1:00, The Pony was back at the main post office.

"At the office. Gonna call Dad since not 100% trusting myself to drive to an urgent care, and don't want to make work drive me. Going to the one management said the last dog bite went to. Sent the last guy there for stitches, but we don't think mine will need it."

By 4:00, The Pony said, "Done and doctored. Meds picked up." And by 5:00, sent me another text: "Got Chinese food. Phone was dead. Could call any time if you need to talk to reassure you I'm okay!"

Of course I called immediately, and got more of the story.

The dog was a 110 lb Cane Corso. It belonged to an elderly couple who are here visiting for a couple weeks, from Florida. They were all sitting on the back porch of the homeowners. The Pony came walking along the main sidewalk, having just delivered to the house next door. He was heading for the corner, where he would turn and take the mail to their mailbox on the front porch as usual. He could see the people on the back porch, but not the dog, because the trash cans were blocking it. 

The dog (unleashed) jumped off the back porch and ran across the yard and in front of The Pony. The Pony was surprised, took a couple steps back, and was putting his satchel between him and the dog. That's the training they get at the carrier academy. 

"It was so fast that I couldn't get my dog spray out of my satchel. That's what the manager asked. There's no denying that I had my satchel out in front, because my blood ran down into it. I'm not happy about that, but at least it didn't get on the mail.

The people started yelling at the dog, and it got down. Then they came and grabbed it by the neck and took it inside really fast. The residents asked if it got me, and I said it did. Then the man stayed with me while the lady went in and got peroxide and antibiotic ointment and a bandaid. They put it on me and I called the manager. The old people had a copy of the dog's vet records, showing it was up-to-date on all its shots. The manager took a picture of it."

"WAIT! They had a copy with them? They didn't have to call and get it emailed? WHO carries their dog's vet records with them??? To me, that just says THAT DOG HAS BITTEN SOMEONE BEFORE!"

"I don't know if it has, but yes, they brought the records with them. My manager told them somebody would probably be coming to ask more questions about it."

"I am SO SORRY that I even mentioned a dog bite when talking about your knee!"

"Mom. It's not your fault."

"Well. At least you won't have to worry about it happening there again..."

"Yeah. Because they'll be taking it back to Florida. This was the last place I would have thought I'd get bit. I've seen them there with the dog last week, but it's always on a leash, or they rush it into the house when they see me cross the street. But today I was already on their side."

"The homeowners are probably afraid of a lawsuit, since the dog was staying on their property. At least the dog had its shots. I don't know what the post office does to try and get the money back for the doctor bills. That adds up to a lot, considering all the bites in all the cities in all the states!"

"I don't know either. I just know it took so long at the urgent care because they had to enter the paperwork for the workers' comp claim."

Anyhoo... The Pony sent me a few more pictures. That's your warning if you don't want to look below.


The Pony thinks those are claw scratches, but I'm not convinced it's not teeth trying to get a grip.


I guess The Pony might have put on a bigger bandaid (knee sized!) before riding over to urgent care with Hick. The medical people said it was GOOD that it was bleeding so much, because that helps clean out the wound. Then they proceeded to spray something not peroxide and not alcohol-based in it, to rinse it out. The Pony said he could see the different skin layers.


The Pony thinks this wound on his upper arm was from a paw and claws. I think not. I don't think a paw would bruise like that in the space of two hours. I think that's another bite.


More bleeding from the cleaned-up puncture on the forearm.


Urgent care hooked The Pony up with some big bandaids, like the one on the upper arm.


And one under the pressure bandage on the forearm, which they said should stop the bleeding. The Pony got a prescription for cephalexin. They said the preferred drug for dog bites is amoxicillin, but The Pony is allergic. I told him to watch out for a rash, because I had a reaction to cephalexin.

Anyhoo... I guess we're not worrying about the skinned knee infection any more.

It's kind of scary that the dog jumped up to bite The Pony's arm, rather than taking a chunk out of his leg like the other biters.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

A Pony Knee Update

The Pony sent a new picture of his recent injury. I didn't like the looks of it, but The Pony is taking precautions. He also said he sent me the BEST original picture of his skinned knee, and that the ones he sent to Hick showed the blood trail between the times he wiped it off.

According to The Pony, he was walking along a sidewalk as usual, but the residents had parked their car on the side he usually walks on. When walking on the other side, he tripped, because tree roots had pushed up the slab of sidewalk. The Pony said it's the old style of sidewalk, kind of a yellowish color, where you can see the little rocks in it, and not the smooth gray kind of sidewalk.

Anyhoo... here's what Saturday's skinned knee looked like on Sunday morning:


I can kind of see how the individual rocks in that sidewalk made their own gouge. The knee had undergone a shower and a bath by this time. The Pony said it was painful in the shower, and he'd tried to keep it mostly out of the bath water. Also, he was out of bandaids, having only an empty box in his cabinet, and headed for the store to buy some.

I said he should draw around the outline of the red area, to see if it expands. In which case he should go to the doctor for the infection. The Pony said he was planning to do that. His cousin had to do it with a spider bite one time. The Pony reminded me that at this point, it hadn't even been 24 hours since the injury.

Monday morning, The Pony reported that he had gotten large square bandaids, and that his knee had been oozing some stuff. That's to be expected. We'll see how a day of walking on it affects the wound. Which is on the part that must bend with every step.

I asked if The Pony was taking his bandaids and ointment to apply midway through the day. He was noncommittal! But surely that would be common sense. Not only in case the knee leaks, but simply in case of sweat loosening the bandaid.

Anyhoo... we'll see how it goes. It's not like a dog bite, which I made the mistake of mentioning. And instantly regretted putting that out into The Universe.