Road Trips

I rushed through my morning preparations and left at 7:00 AM to go and vote in the Michigan primaries. To be honest, I was more concerned with the proposals than the candidates. I wanted to make sure we save the Detroit Institute of Arts and we pass the millage to provide funds to keep up the jails (we don’t need more criminals on the streets around here). Sidebar: In talking with friends and family, I think I am the only person my age that DOESN’T use absentee ballots.

I had called in Saturday for a refill of pain meds, (I used a lot more than usual in South Carolina) so I had to go to the doctor's office in St. Clair Shores at lunch to pick them up (since these can’t be called in to the pharmacy). Just before lunch I got an urgent request for a wireless adapter (either internal or USB) that was needed before 5:00 PM today. So, I stopped at the Green Box PC store just off of I-96 on Merriman (across the street and a little north of the Post Office). They didn’t have either kind. So, I sent a text to work, letting them know I’d look on the way back.

I got the scripts and turned right around and drove all the way back to my CVS in Redford, dropped off the prescriptions and then went to Best Buy in Westland. They didn’t have the internal one, either, but did have the USB style. I bought it and drove back to work, up Wayne Road.

By that time, it was past 1:30 PM and I was starving. So, I stopped at Jake and Carla’s favorite nearby Chinese restaurant, TenYen, and got some chicken fried rice to go. I messed up, though, and asked for a quart rather than a pint. I still ate about half of it and took the rest home for snacks or lunches.

After work, I stopped back at CVS to pick up my pills and then went to the gas station on the corner to fill up my tank. I’d been waiting for the prices to drop, but my long journey today left me with no choice but to do it now.

Finally home, my yard looked really nice. Not only was that huge pile of garbage and the love seat gone, but they had cut the grass today as well.

I watered all the container gardens in front, the mailbox garden and then the window box in the back. Next I set up the oscillating sprinkler to water the gardens around the reflecting pool. I went back inside and set the timer for an hour.

While waiting for the hour to pass, I cleaned out and rearranged two of my upper kitchen cupboards (something I’ve been meaning to do for a while). The timer went off at 8:15 PM, so I went out and repositioned it to water the raised herb garden and the new garden at the rear of the house.

You may have noticed I never said anything about changing clothes. That’s because I knew I’d end up going out after dark to shut the water off and didn’t want to get bit by any West Nile-carrying mosquitoes!

Inside for another hour, I messed around on the computer and listened to the Olympics in the other room. I was drinking coffee and not really hungry (I ate a very late lunch, you may recall) so I purposely delayed eating dinner.

The timer finally went off and I went out to shut off the water for tonight (turning on the security spotlights, of course). Back inside, I just heated up the rest of the chicken fried rice and ate that, topped with a decent soy sauce (instead of that mystery soy sauce they give you with takeout). It was still tasty the second time around!

I watched a few taped shows until I was sleepy and then turned off the light and TV and went to bed.