The Downpour

I asked Dad if it was going to rain today. He said, “If it does, we won’t see much of it.” Boy, was he wrong.

When we left the house, it was sprinkling a little. No worries there. I can handle a little sprinkling. We set up the drip buckets for the leaks in the house, just in case. I hate this old house more and more each day. 

I wouldn’t even have bothered going out if I hadn’t needed Jack’s prednisolone and Baytril refilled. I had to go to our vet’s office for that and then over to Walmart for a few not-so-necessary necessities. We didn’t get very far when it started to rain a bit more. Still, no worries. All of a sudden the rain started coming down like someone dumping buckets of water on the windshield! Holy crap. I could barely see! The wipers were going as fast as they could go and I was driving much, much slower now. There wasn’t much traffic on this country highway but there were a few vehicles in front of us. The tail lights were barely visible. The wind had picked up and I worried that we might be driving into a tornado or something! All of a sudden we saw something go across the road…turned out to be a heavy duty plastic garbage can, used for roadside trash collection. The wind had blown it across the road! About 3 miles outside of the town we were headed to, the rain subsided. My hands were a bit achy after having such a grip on the steering wheel!

I was a wreck after that nearly 30 minutes drive in a downpour but I managed to walk and carry on my goal for the day. We picked up Jack’s meds as planned and then decided to go have a bite to eat. Our norm for lunches is Mexican food so we headed over to Los Amigos. As we were getting out of the car I noticed something dangling from Dad’s underarm. I had to laugh as I grabbed my handy little Swiss Army knife to cut the tag off his shirt. I bought him a few new shirts the week before and I guess he never thought to remove the tags! We had a good chuckle and a good meal then headed over to Walmart.

Walmart wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. I managed to get a scooter, although the battery died half-way through the store. I went on my way of gathering up what I needed, but out of the corner of my eye, I noticed someone following me. I moved to the side thinking this person just wanted to get past me. Nope. Still behind me. I started to go down different aisles thinking this person would go somewhere else. Nope. Still behind me. I thought, Son of a bitch! I had just about enough of this so I pulled to the side of the aisle, and turned around very quickly to give this person a piece of my mind because after all, he was following just a little too closely! I was a little embarrassed but thought it was hilarious that it was just Dad in his new shirt and I didn’t recognize him out of the corner of my eye. I must’ve had one evil look on my face because he chuckled and asked, “What’s the matter?” I explained and we laughed again. We finished our business and left.

On the way out of town, we stopped for gas. As if today hadn’t been strange enough already, while Dad was pumping the gas for me (I normally do it but he has decided that he needs to learn how to use these ‘newfangled’ pumps and his debit card) I happened to notice a guy pumping gas and smoking a cigarette. As if that wasn’t scary enough, he set the pump on lock to pump automatically, and then he walked away and started pacing the lot with that cigarette dangling out of his mouth. He looked like he was on something or up to something, one or the other. I was worried. I didn’t know what this guy’s problem was. When the pump stopped, the man removed the nozzle and went inside to pay for his gas, still with that cigarette dangling from his lips. I was relieved when the man came out and drove away. Dad was still trying to figure out where his receipt was. Finally, he got in the car with his receipt. He said he had been looking on the left-hand side of the pump for the receipt to come out but it came out on the right-hand side. He’s so funny sometimes but he figured it out. At least he did it without a tag hanging off his shirt!

Thankfully the rain had stopped, and we left for home. I guess it didn’t do too much raining at the house, because none of the leaks had sprung and everything was fine. Of course, Jack & his Pack weren’t too happy because the catio was wet and they don’t like that one little bit! I swear, they must think I make it rain on purpose!