And the day started so well.

We slept (mostly) eight hours, got up for a good breakfast while I ordered one prescription online. I turned the other two in at Kroger, then we bought gasoline, then we did the weekly grocery shopping, and then we picked up the prescriptions before we left. I had to laugh. They had small Christmas trees, like the original Christmas trees the Germans originated; they were always tabletop trees. Kroger was calling them "elf trees." I remember the two years we had an "elf tree": in 1957, when my dad's mother died. Possibly in 1963 after my mother's parents had both died. Oddly, I don't remember that Christmas at all; in 1963, it was all about President Kennedy.

We put the groceries away and then decided to take the power chair on another run. We got it on the truck okay, but between the weight and the wind (it was warm this morning and we shed jackets before we left), James had to get used to driving it on the freeway and he didn't feel comfortable going over sixty. It's definitely making the truck feel different to ride in, never mind drive. However, we arrived at Sprouts in good order and did some shopping there, and bought sandwiches from the deli. We took those across the street and had delicious dark, hot chocolate at the chocolate shop at the Prado along with the sandwiches, eating outside at one of the tables (by then it was definitely warm enough), watching the Christmas shoppers go by and people lose their tempers in the parking lot. Then James negotiated the sidewalk and steered his way around inside Barnes & Noble. I bought a copy of "Time" (sorry, I was seduced by the Benedict Cumberbatch side of the Force) and the new Sleepy Hollow magazine. James used the 30 percent off coupon on the book The Martian.

By then I was already wiped out from the sun, the warm, and having to help get the chair out and off the ramp; James was having some trouble with it, as it doesn't have traction all the time, something we will have to make note of when we go back to the Mobility people for his "checkup." Plus he got his finger jammed when he was working with the lift. But we did stop at Trader Joe's and get some cranberry bars, potatoes, and a few other things.

It was better heading home—but that's when it happened. We pulled in the driveway. Now, the chair has to go into the garage when the truck is not physically in residence; it's a small garage and there's just not room around the vehicles to get the chair inside. So he stopped before opening the garage door, figuring he'd lower the chair, then open the garage door, and get it in before pulling the truck in. Unfortunately, the driveway is on a tilt, and James didn't think he was close enough for the lift to lay down flat. He wanted to pull up just a few inches to make sure the lift platform was flush to the concrete. I suggested "Why not just put it in neutral since you already shut the engine off?" Well, he did, and the truck, with the chair on the back, started to roll...really fast, because of the 500 pounds additional weight. He hit the brake but his foot slipped off it and smack we went into the garage door. The truck is okay, if scratched on the hood, but the garage door is toast. So instead of walking the dog and then putting decorations up while James warmed up the turkey leftovers, I was walking the dog and calling the insurance company. Great, they don't have any authorized repair shops. I have to get quotes. [snarl]

To feel better I put on the first of our Christmas favorites tonight, "Merry Gentlemen" from All Creatures Great and Small, "First Noel" from To the Manor Born, and "Silly, But It's Fun..." from The Good Life (Good Neighbors), and finally a little bit of Dave Allen for a good laugh. In the meantime I went online and advertised what I needed in garage repair on "Thumbtack" (I'd used this before, at work, to try to get quotes for a catering job for an awards ceremony) and already have one response. The quote seems a little bit low; not sure if this guy knows how bad the door is bashed in. The bottom two panels are completely wrecked, and that includes the handle that locks the garage when you don't have a garage door opener on it. The frame may be torn up, too.

Yes, that's my credit card you hear screaming. Again.

Oh, and I did managed to get some decorations up after all: the electric candles in the front and back windows, and the Christmas wreaths on the doors upstairs, and the mistletoe. :-) I also cleaned the Thanksgiving things off the porch and at least put the wreath and the Christmas flag up, because it looked silly to have Christmas candles up with Thanksgiving decorations. I took the decorations off the porch right after I'd walked Tucker for the night; I left him for, at the most, five minutes and don't you know he went after that poor turkey again? At least this time it only got wet! Earlier he had absconded with one of the two small, stuffed gingerbread men that go on our bedroom door and secreted it in his crate. We found it before his teeth did any damage, but we found the remains of a plastic spoon and one of the casters for the bottom of the dining room chairs there, too!

It's not like we don't give this dog chew toys! He has three chew bones, a Kong, and an antler. Sheesh!

Labels: books, Christmas, dogs, events, food, magazines, pets, shopping, television

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:51:00 PM

Comments: Post a Comment