Howie's in bed, Micah is watching That 70's Show. It's after 10pm. First day I didn't have to drive to Bozeman at all. Might have to be the soccer dad tomorrow, hoping not so I can go to Howie's baseball game and watch him pitch. So today began with getting the dogs walked and Howie some breakfast. His 4th day in a row having his chocolate chip pancakes that his mother made him on Sunday morning. I gave him his usual 2 pancakes warmed up in the microwave, but he only ate one and I kept asking him if everything was O.K., then finally in tears he told me, I sneezed on that one. I offered him another one, but he went downstairs and got dressed. Then off to the Conoco with the dogs in my car dropping Howie off with Barbara on her way to gymnastics camp in town. And then off to work I went driving behind a big garbage truck with stirofoam peanuts one by one flying out the top of the truck.
Work. I let the dogs out of the car and didn't leash Buddy. Greeted by Paul, the beer driver, restocking beer in the beer aisle. Crystal looking tired in the produce section. Went outside to check on Buddy. He was still there. Chelsea arriving around the same time as me not too excited about rolling the new t-shirts with rubber bands. Laila cutting a hang nail. Drew looking a bit tired. I was feeling up, excited for my time without kids. Went outside to check on Buddy, not there. I wandered around outside looking for him calling his name. No Buddy, went back to the front of the store. And there he was next to Murray, who I never worry about anymore. I tied Buddy on the leash and went back inside. Went over the produce order with Crystal, continuously interrupted by other thoughts, she patiently awaited my answers. I got an e-mail from Jackie, all is great! Paul went over the beer order with me because he was worried the salesman didn't send near enough beer up for the week, so we did another order of beer and wine that would be brought up later in the day.
Micah called from Cooper's wondering about his haircut, which I left a message to change yesterday and again this morning, but without word from the salon, but we decided he would go at 2 because that was with Jackie Clack who he preferred to cut his hair.
I did the deposit and walked the dogs over to the bank. The bank loves dogs and Buddy loves the bank. He gets biscuits and buries them in the upholstered chair. He runs all over the place and everybody laughs. I tried to wire Evans the money for Jackie, Andrew and Sawyer's Mt. Kenya trek, but the bank needed street addresses so I had to e-mail him for the info. Back to the store, I put the dogs in the car and made a few phone calls to make sure Howie would be dropped off at the store even if I weren't there. I told my employees to feed Howie and let him work. And I went to the gym to work out my knee. I woke up with hip and lower back pain, wondering if I screwed up when I worked out on Monday or was it just too many hours in the car or did I lift something badly. At the gym I had Chris check out how I used the knee machine and she said I was doing well. Mark showed me a hip stretch on the ball. I had a good workout and then it was back to the store just in time to take Micah to his haircut.
Micah is so funny when it comes to haircuts. He's like a conoisseur. Jackie cut his hair, but he wasn't happy - the bangs were too perfect, so she went around and made everything more jagged and less perfect.
Back to the store, Micah had some lunch, and then his friends Cooper and Carly showed up and he left with them.
Howie and I took Murray and Buddy for a walk behind the store to the river. Then we went to the baseball field to practice pitching, but there were people using the field already so we went to the nursery to see Kelly (Cooper's Mom) and to buy some flowers to put in our pots at home. We bought a tray of pansies and some daisies and geraniums and some herbs and some hang over the side plants and of course one spike. We took it all home put it out on the front porch and then went down to the yard to play catch. Howie pitched to me for at least 3o minutes and then we went back up and potted all the flowers. It was fun. Howie helped get the flowers out of their little containers and helped design the pots. It was raining on and off the whole time. Micah called to get picked up.
After cleaning up and putting the flower pots along the front porch, I left Howie home with the dogs and drove to get Micah and Cooper. I drove Cooper home, went to the store to grab dinner. Walked in, no one saw me, grabbed a package of chicken, some garlic and asparagus, and walked out, with still no one seeing me. Not sure how good that is. At home, put the Mets game on the tube and started dinner. Stir fry and rice.
Dinner ready, the three of us ate and then watched the end of the Mets game. They lost. My Dad called. We talked for quite awhile, he's coming here on July 4th for 5 weeks. He told me that they fitted him for a hearing aid at the V.A.. He's excited, but won't get it until some time in late August. He says his sister paid $6,000 for her hearing aids, and his are free. When he gets home from here, he's flying to Chicago for a week just a few days later. He told me you can't win baseball games by coming from behind to tie, you have to take the lead. He told me he has permanent acid reflux, his body is falling apart. I said, "You're getting old." He said. "I'm not getting old, I am old." He is sick of taking pills, he takes too many pills, and he can't really see what he's taking. "See you soon, sonny."
Howie and I walked the dogs one last time. Last night I had my first new bed companion, Buddy slept with me the whole night. There's lots of extra room there. He's asleep right now in his own bed, but I'm leaving his door open to see what happens. Usually we close the door - he sleeps and eats in the guest bathroom, but I think it's time to let him have some freedom. If he pees downstairs again I'll have to lock him back up at night, but for now we'll give him a chance.
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