Adventures before work

Friday morning was a real blast.

Sleeping all night in 20 minute naps makes me a little delirious.  (My best four-legged friend, Solomon, an almost 10 year old pit bull,is back in chemo treatment and seems very restless all night long.)

Got sidetracked by a phone call Thursday night and forgot to go looking for the holiday wrapping paper for my Secret Santa gift…..which ultimately, was in the attic. Something great to look forward to in the  morning – the ole drop-down ladder to the attic trick….on almost zero z’s and a few drops of coffee. Nice. 

But, I brought down the outside string light tree and a tabletop tree while I was up there. Why not spend an hour on the front patio in the cold to add to the light-up-the-corner efforts? And give Creepy Cat something new to knock down (he’s never seen a Christmas tree).

Then came the wrapping.

Note to self: Never choose dumbbells to give as a gift.

I was happy to see a 15-year-old boy asking for free weights – healthy, fit, maybe a little attentive to his appearance. One of his wish items was for 10 or 20 lb weights.  It’s all good til you realize that even with 10 lb weights, you have to get TWO….and 20 lbs in a box is a real treat to wrap! Even more of a treat to lug up the side of the mountainous parking lot at work first thing in the morning. I never want to gain 20 pounds – I thought I was going to need a sit-down break at the top of the steps before I entered the building!

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Before I could get out the door, my Dood rushed me wearing his pitiful cone (lampshade, post-surgical). Bad enough when he rushes me without it. He gets a good solid bite clamped down on one foot, at least. With the cone, it’s a bigger fiasco, and when it’s from behind, the cone can buckle my knees and leaves him grabbing my ankles or calves instead of my shoes.

Friday, he rammed me so hard he busted the cone and knocked one of the tabs out of the slot. Got the tab in, but the huge crack in the cone created a very large flap. Not only could he find a way around it to get at the incision on his knee, but he tripped over the big waving flap every time he took a step.

Already late, I grabbed the packing tape dispenser I’d just used to tape shut the box of weights. Using the tape roller doesn’t work the same on a cone as it does on a box. Tape stuck to itself everywhere, even after I grabbed the scissors to cut it. Try applying tape to a cone flapping around the head of an already upset pitbull. It’s a real treat.

I left with the cone semi tacked in place to resemble a cone, backed out the front door with my 20 pound gift in a re-usable fabric shopping bag, and heaved a huge sigh.

It took me most of the ride to work before the overwhelmed tears actually started rolling out from under my sunglasses (after I called the neighbor to ask him to go over & do a better tape job on the cone).

Back to the walk up the mountainside……I finally made it. Obviously, hugging a 20 lb package and balancing a sloshing cup of coffee caused me to activate the night-blinker attached to my coat zipper - the one I use for night walking with the dog. I arrived at the guard station, huffing & puffing, sweating, red and runny-nosed, and BLINKING! The guards found it hilarious!

Thankfully, I was able to laugh along with them by then, but it sure was a little too much adventure to have before work!  And a great reminder to ease up on the holiday feasts & treats - I'll never make it up that hill every morning if I have to carry an extra 20 pounds!