September 10, 2016

• A Day in the Life of Twoberry

  Not a Typical day, exactly, but it's a lot More typical than I wish it was.

  Translation:  My ambition is to have a day with no responsibilities whatsoever.  But that will never happen.

  ******************

  So here's what yesterday was all about.

  I work 6 to 8 a.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. six days a week.  Unlocking office buildings in the morning, locking them up at night.  And a few other duties, such as changing trash can liners and picking up trash left in parking lots and parking garages.

  Alan had invited me to his house 40 minutes south of where I live.  Show up at 11 a.m., play two games of Scrabble, have lunch, play three more games.  I can do this, I told him.  Thank you.  But I do have to leave by 5:20 p.m.

  Those were not the only thoughts on my mind as I arrived home at 8 a.m. from the morning rounds.  There were six dogs in the house:  my four (Dagmar, Margie, Max, and Daisy Mae) and the two guests Deacon, a Jack Russell, and Sophie, a toy poodle.

  On my Friday morning schedule were to call Deacon's owner to let him know that Deacon could be picked up after a week at my house, and to cross my fingers and hope that the lawn guy showed up in time for me to open the doggie door for my animals to use while I was at Alan's house.

  So the first thing I did was check phone messages (Barbara's in Orlando for the weekend at the NAACP convention), and a geriatric dog I know whose name is Happy is owned by an equally elderly lady who's recently been having physical difficulties and we were walking Happy twice a day until just a few weeks ago when the owner felt well enough to walk Happy without our assistance.  But Friday's phone message was urgent.  Serious complications, sleepless nights, could Barbara or Bob please come over and walk Happy?

  I called.  I explained my tight schedule, and was told that the morning duties had been taken care of and could I come over in the afternoon.  I said I might not be there till 6, and that was OK.  I do have SOME flexibility in my work hours.  Not much, but enough.

  So the lawn guy showed up at 9:50 a.m. PERFECT!!  I let Sophie out to pee right before I left at 10:20, and got to Alan's at 11.  The games went well and lunch was delicious.

  One slight problem.  Alan's housekeeper had recently quit and he desperately needed to arrange to hire new help.  And when a call came into his cellphone at 3 p.m. or thereabouts, that turned into a 45-minute timeout while they talked and negotiated.  I had had my hopes up that I could head home in time to change clothes, take care of my dogs, take care of Happy, and get to work not too late.

  We were done and I was on my way at 4:50 p.m.  Fortunately, I have a tile floor throughout my house and Sophie's messes were easy to clean up, so I was able to drive straight through to Happy, get him walked and relieved, and the day would end satisfactorily.  I revised my schedule so that after I locked up my first two buildings, I could go home and feed the dogs (and let Sophie out) before going to the last building to lock up.  I TOLD you I had some flexibility, see?

  This morning, Saturday, also needed some careful schedule revisions, and Happy's owner was finally able to get some sleep, so she's doing better, but still needs help.

  I'm there for her.

  And I'm here for my readers.

  • 10:42 am
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