Day 171
I am watching Gertie eat a bug. It is the size of a gnat (and probably is one) and yet she has chewed it like it were a piece of salt water taffy – pineapple flavored – as she is making a face like someone who has just eaten too much pineapple! I guess the bug wasn’t so tasty!
Today was cooler … what a difference 20 degrees makes! I’m not joking! It was 20 degrees cooler than it has been, than it will be … so, I was, again, a painting fool. One would think by now that I’d have painted the entire house 3x with 3 coats of paint! Nope … still at it!
Anyway, I ran out of Manchester Tan (which is lovely, by the way, and more akin to melted coffee ice cream than anything “tan”) and ran off to my local Ace Hardware (thank you gods of retail stores for putting one so close to me!) … because it is to be 102 degrees here tomorrow and I want to get this portion of the painting DONE!
So, at 7:25 I got the last can of Benjamin Moore Eggshell Base 1 549 1x (or whatever it is) … and while I was off looking for brass colored nails and while the girl was using that paint shaker contraption to mix the paint … the can exploded!
Did I mention it was THE LAST CAN?
Did I mention it’s to be a zillion degrees tomorrow? (You can’t paint when it’s a zillion degrees!)
However, the clerk was really nice, called the closest store and had them mix up a gallon for me so that after the 20 minute drive over to the place all I’d have to do was grab it and go (well, and pay for it, too, unless I wanted to spend the evening in the slammer)! So, I zipped off to locales unknown.
I should do this more often! Oh, the things I found!
I haven’t been out and about enough since my arrival to really have much of a grasp of the roads and stores yet and where things are … other than a beeline to Home Depot, Ace and Starbucks. So, I got to drive a bit tonight and figure things out.
I passed Algonquin Road on my way out to get the paint … and realized that that was a diagonal that would take me almost directly back home … so, that’s the route I took on my return instead of the road I was on.
Enroute to the store I passed the ORIGINAL McDonalds. Yes, it’s here … in Des Plaines … looking just like it did when they opened in April 1955. Actually, the original building was torn down, but then rebuilt and is now a museum. I think I’ll have to go take a look one of these days.
On my way home I passed the old Methodist youth camp that always looked sooo desirable when I was little. Of course, then, it seemed like it was hours and hours away from home and not a mere 15 minute car ride!
I passed the garden center that everyone raves about. I will have to go back soon as their flowers are half off and my patio is in need of some sprucing up as my summer plantings have either roasted or drowned … or both.
And, when I was nearly home I saw Li’l Abner’s girlfriend, Daisy Mae, out walking her little chihuahua. I mean, it really WAS Daisy Mae … complete with off the shoulder belly shirt and the shortest of short shorts I’ve seen on anyone in a really long time … they made Daisy Duke look like she was wearing Bermudas!
So, it was a successful and enlightening evening … I got my paint, I found some treasures, I got an (unwanted) eyeful and I’m feeling more confident in getting around.