(I was interrupted writing this li’l story of 5 June 2008, so it’s being posted quite a bit later.)

Thursday was going to be one of those get-things-done-so-I-can-be-gone-a-week days. Pleasantly busy, all day, but with time to get things done. Just no extra time.

Thursday morning I was at school. Had a hitch in the plans (computer program didn’t cooperate with me … imagine that). I did enjoy visiting with the Gravleys and we accomplished some other work. Now those report cards needed to be printed and the program wouldn’t cooperate on that computer. So … I plan to finish them at home. Remember that bit about no time to spare?

I had lunch at my favorite eating-out-place in Laurens … the Hub. Good food; good company; good service.

The real time-eater was ….. I arrived home just after lunch. The animals (five of them) were supposed to be ready to go to the vet (some at 2:30 and some at 4:00) and Ben was going with me. Ben wasn’t home. The cat carrier was ????%^&????. The dog leashes were ???^&*@???. After about 30 minutes I decide the heck with these animals, just take Gizmo and pick up the cat that’s already at the vet’s office. I can handle Giz without a leash and then borrow one at the vet’s. Only ….. Giz is nowhere to be found. Not in the house. Not outside. Didn’t come when I called. Oh well, it’s a hot day maybe he went to the creek.

So ….. I went to the vet’s office. I picked up Li’l One and borrowed a leash. At home, I deposited her near some food and water. At this point, we still haven’t seen her kittens; not sure how many there are.

I found the other cat carrier. Put it together. Nabbed a black cat, not sure if it was Shadow (who had been to the vet a couple weeks ago …. injured back leg and they caught up her shots) or Midnight (who needed to go to the vet on this day for shots). Giz had appeared; he easily went into the car.

Ben arrived home. After a not-very-calm discussion he found one leash and started getting Icy and Casper (the outside dogs) into his car. That suited me better anyway. Dianne and I had plans to leave Friday for NC; Icy has been known to pee in a car; I really didn’t want to risk that.

Ben identified the caged cat as Midnight (yeah!). Into the other carrier, held together with twist ties, I put Mac …. the cat that weighs about 15 pounds. Carried it to the car. More correctly, I carried it toward the car. Just before I got the carrier into the car, it fell apart. That’s okay, Mac will behave. Toss Mac in the car and put the carrier on the seat. So we leave … Ben and his friend with the two dogs; I am taking two cats and a dog. Ben and friend walk Icy and Casper. I put the cat carrier back together and carry it by the bottom this time. Needless to say, it took a few minutes for the receptionist to get straight which animals were there and what they needed (mostly rabies vaccines). It looked like a small petting zoo in the lobby of the vet’s office. We were finally seen at about 4, which was when I had an appointment for the second group of animals. (I had planned to take two or three and then the others, not all of them at once.) Susan later joins us so we have three dogs, two cats, and four people at the vet’s office. Maybe I should have had the four of us vaccinated, too.

Back at home, Susan helped me with the report cards. I packed for the weekend in NC and a week in Westminister (Chuck and I got away for a few days alone). Seems like we had some other things to do, but now I have no clue what they were.

Friday Susan and a family friend carried flags to a PGR mission near Columbia so I could ride Dez . That poor ride captain. It was the first mission where he was in charge. He saw three of us riding down I-26, recognized me, and thought, “Oh no. My first mission and we won’t have any flags.” He learned soon after we arrived at Ft Jackson that when I say, “I’ll get the flags there” it means the flags will be there; not necessarily that I will bring them. How he saw the three of us on bikes but not Susan’s red truck with flags in it right behind us ??? It cost me breakfast, lunch, and gas money, but hey … I got to ride I had expected to arrive home around 3. It was closer to 4:30. I cooled off a bit, picked up Dianne, went to Simpsonville and picked up Carla’s birthday cake, and on to Raleigh. We had a good weekend. Chuck had gone on to “The Fox” on Saturday. I got home mid-afternoon Sunday. I rested a bit, saw the four new kittens scamper about, put my bag on Dez and took off up the backroads to Westminster.