The Universe Continues to Mess With The Pony

Going about his job in a workmanlike manner on Tuesday, The Pony was once again the target of The Universe's warped sense of humor. I got a text on around noon. It included pictures.

No, The Pony does not have measles. Nor a rash from contact with a shipped substance.

The text itself initially made my heart skip a beat. Several beats.

"There has been a mishap and I, unfortunately, have been caught red-handed."

Then I saw the pictures.

"A thing of fruit punch flavoring mix tore open too far and my hands were sweaty!"

Let the record show that I bought The Pony a couple of boxes of plastic tubes of flavoring mix to add to his water bottles. One was lemon-lime, and the other was fruit punch. No good deed goes unpunished, I suppose. 

I showed Hick the pictures, and all he said was, "Is The Pony wearing gloves???"

No. That's the rubber bands that hold different packets of mail together. Most carriers do this to keep from dropping them in yards.

Anyhoo... it was a relief to find out The Pony was fine, though discolored. 

"I hope they don't think I'm a red-handed thief at the casino!"

Surely that won't be a problem... Hopefully that coloration will wash off or wear off by our upcoming casino trip.

A Lot of Rumpus-Chapeaus

Val doesn't ask for much. But one of her desires is a vehicle that will get her to town and back once a day, and a close place to park with room to have T-Hoe's door open fully when exiting and entering. Apparently, that's TOO MUCH for Val's wish list.

Monday, I was over in School-Turn Town, at the Casey's, for scratchers. When I pulled onto the parking lot, there was a truck parked next to the handicap space. It was within its lines, but close. So, seeing this problem ahead of time, I parked T-Hoe a skoosh over, leaving myself room to open the door and get out. 

You can clearly see here that I parked off-center. Not a big deal, because on my right side was a striped walkway thingy. So I wasn't in anybody else's parking spot. UNLESS they decided to park on top of a striped walkway.

My wildest dreams were that this truck would still be parked here when I came out. But that was not to be. 

At least, with the truck gone, there were two empty parking spaces on T-Hoe's left. I know, because I walked across them, rather than down the sidewalk, which would have been taking a chance on catching a toe on the pallets holding their cases of water.

Anyhoo... I made it to T-Hoe, and opened my door. Just then, a little copper-colored car came along behind T-Hoe, wanting to park in that space. I don't know why! There was the other space beside it, right in front of the door. But Copper wanted to park by me. Too bad, so sad. I was there first. I already had my door open. I climbed in as usual. Not rushing. Nothing good comes of rushing.

The Copper car sat there, half in, half out, of the adjacent parking space. Once I was in, with door closed, it pulled forward.

It's not a great picture, taken through T-Hoe's dirty window, in a hurry, while the Copper driver was sitting inside. I was not quite sure she might take offense, and try to open up a can of whip-rumpus on me. However, you can see that after all that waiting, and with an empty space still on her left, she PARKED OVER THE LINE! Good thing I was already in. That doofus could have parked within her lines while I had T-Hoe's door wide open. But noooo. Had to sit there waiting, just to park badly.

This wasn't the only rumpus-chapeau on the parking lot that day! Looking out T-Hoe's passenger window, there's another example.

That is NOT a parking space!!! There could be three or four spaces here. I usually park there at the far right, when the handicap space is crowded or not available. You can see the yellow line where a car should pull up to with its front bumper. Some weirdos park parallel to that yellow line, which also ruins three parking spaces. I don't know why people are such rumpus-chapeaus.

The way this Angle Car was parked made me want to pull up alongside it, and fling T-Hoe's very heavy door open. Again and again. Whoopsie! A dent? Oh, well. I'm pretty sure I'm older, and positive I have more insurance.

Roadblocks for The Pony

Saturday, there was a "Sauces and Shows" festival on the streets leading to the post office. The two municipal parking lots were closed, as well as the lot where The Pony and his postal brethren and sistren park during the day.

The Pony decided that he would just walk to work on Saturday, because even though one street would allow him a route to get there, he wouldn't be able to park much closer than his house, anyway. He's probably between 1/4 to 1/2 mile from the post office, depending which streets he walks.

"One of the rural carriers asked if he could park at my house. I said that was fine. There's street parking in front, and I wouldn't even care if he parked behind my car in the driveway, since I'm not using it. The worst part is that it's going to be so hot. But I don't mind to walk. It's not that far."

The Pony has Sundays off. He decided that he wanted to try making some soup mix he had gotten at his favorite wine shop last week. 

"Are you sure? It's a little hot for soup."

"Yeah, but since I'm off the next day, I'll have time to stay up and let it simmer for 1 1/2 hours. But I DO need to go to the store for some chicken stock, and sausage, to add to it. I can walk over to Country Mart after work." [It's one block away from the post office.]

"You'll have to carry your groceries home! Maybe you should just pick something up at one of the food booths or food trucks as you walk past."

"Maybe. But I want to make my soup! I'll just wear my satchel, instead of leaving it in my locker. I usually leave it in the car, anyway. I hope I have time today to pick up another bottle of that new wine I liked. The Honeydew Melon."

"You'll have to carry that home in your satchel, too!"

"Mom. That will be nowhere near the weight I usually carry in my satchel!"

Oh, well. I know The Pony made it home, because he sent me a text. I'm not sure about his shopping trip, because he said 

"One of the rural carriers offered me a ride home, since we were walking out at the same time."

This was a rural carrier who drives her own vehicle on the route. Some, like ours, use an LLV (Long Life Vehicle). Probably the same for the rural carrier who asked The Pony to park at his house. Anyhoo, the one providing the ride did not have to find a parking space this day.

I suppose giving up making soup for another day is well worth a ride home after a hard day of work during a heat warning.