I baa-ack!

On Saturday, we went to DH's company picnic. Before I met DH, my experience of a company picnic was when the boss bought a keg and a HoneyBaked ham, and invivted everyone to bring their families over to his place for a potluck. As you can see, DH's company does things rather more elaborately - but with some 3000 employees in the area, they really NEED a larger venue. Free rides for the kiddies, a DJ, free food, games, face painting, a petting zoo, - we were well ccomodated! The grilled burgers, hotdogs and chicken was quite tasty, the corn was delishious, the watermelons were extra sweet, and, because it was free, I even had an

elephant ear ! Yum! I figure, as much as I love them, and as bad as they are for me (deep fried dough with extra sugar and cinnamon?) that I have to ration myself. This was my annual elephant ear. And it was delicious!!










For Dave Daniel's AssWatch Wednesday, I got a couple of firm round ones.





Oh, would you rather see the blondes?









We aim to please.





On the way home, we stopped at Ikea, thinking that since the place has been open at least 6 weeks now, it should be a bit less crowded and we would have space to consider some storage units for His bathroom. Silly us. I have kicked over anthills that were less frantic. The place is a ZOO! We decided to wait for the catalog.

Monday was another longish GED-to-the-jail day. The prisoners were very polite, and everything went well. (I even got permission to bring my knitting, pointing out that they let me bring in pencils which are a lot more dangerous than circular knitting needles. ) So I got in the car and started my 34 mile drive back to the school. On the freeway, the car suddenly started wobbling, and I heard that whupwhupwhup sound that makes you feel sick to your stomach if you have EVER blown a tire before. Rather than pull over in the midst of rush hour traffic (and me without a cell phone - that tool of the devil) I stubbornly drove for two more miles to an exit and a gas station. (Remember when we called them service stations?) They wouldn't change my tire, but they did let me borrow the phone to call AAA. And as I was waiting, with my spare leaned against the back of the car, a kindly young man came by on his bicycle and offered to change it for me. Unfortunately, I have no tire wrench or I would have tried to change the sucker myself. Still, it's nice to know that there are still nice young men who will offer to help a grey-haired old lady.

I greeted the AAA guy with open arms and a big smile, praised and thanked him, admired his dexterity, and even hefted the shredded tire into the trunk while he was wrenching the nuts down too tight for human fingers to ever loosen. He changed my flat in about 4 minutes, and when I tried to give him a tip, he patted me on the shoulder, grinned, and said, "Fly. Be free!" So I was only an hour late getting home. I have carried AAA for three decades now and have NEVER regetted it.

Tuesday, 9/11, today, I spent some quiet time with the news, then pulled my socks up and got on with life. Among my many errands, I got to the DMV and they sold me replacement tags for my car as if they did it all the time. Guess I'm not the only one who forgets. So now I need to mail off a picture of the plate with the replacement tags, and we are good to go. That's on the list for tomorrow! Along with GED at Clackamas County Jail, writer's group, and a visit to the gym with DH.