Thursday This n That

 We have smoke in the air again.  Last I checked, they weren't sure where it was coming from, but it encompasses an area from middle USA across the Gulf to Mexico.  We usually get smoke clouds floating across from California or down from Canada.  WTF?  Is Mexico on fire?  

I found these little packs of imitation crabs legs for a buck a pack.  Crab for lunch.  Yay.

Hubs was reading me a news story about a teacher in Utah who made her students write an essay about how eating bugs was better for the environment because  cows are killing the planet or some such nonsense.  They couldn't write it as an argument against such tripe.  Why does it seem like English class is more often than not a vehicle for indoctrination?  I guess it's the natural choice.  Or as Nathaniel Hawthorne said: "Words -- so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them."

I've had to spend some time on the phone this week with the DMV.  Fun fun, I know.  I bet you wish you could be me right now.  One phone call had me 'waiting for a representative to assist me' for like 20 minutes and when I finally got him, he couldn't help me other than to tell me what I needed to do so he could help me.  I tried doing the stuffs only to find I couldn't do the stuffs.  I called again yesterday to find out what I had to do so I could do the stuffs I couldn't do.  On hold only 5 minutes and the gal who got on the phone told me the stuffs I thought couldn't be done had been done, they had all my paperwork in their computers now, and it's pretty much ready to go.  Nothing left to do but a stop in to pick up the tags and pay for them.  (A thing I do not personally have to do, so yay.)  I could've cried with joy.  I asked the gal for her name and the way she said it would've made one think I was about to yell at her.  Poor thing.  I praised the hell out of that gal for all her help, told her she made my day, and wished her a great rest of the week.  I had been prepared for a long, uphill battle and she made it easy.  I love that gal.  Always take extra time to praise people when they've earned it.  

They have the cutest puppies at the rescue right now.  Puppies!  And kitties, too.  We're still not ready for a pet, though.  

Errands after work tonight.  I was going to leave them all for Saturday when I had the thought to do a couple of them after work, to cut down on my Saturday driving time.  I mean, what kind of hothouse flower am I that I can't run errands after work?  Sheesh.  If I do the north stuff today, I only have to drive south on Saturday.  When I do them both in one day, it's like 30 miles north and then 60 miles south and 30 home again.  Yeah, it's still the same distances, but not all at once.  Yay.

I used to do all sorts of stuff after work.  I got out of the habit.  Now that I'm working again, I need to get back into the swing.  Maybe if I teach myself how to do it all again, I can figure out how to write after work, too.  Hmm....

And on that note, I'll let you get back to your lives.  Have a great day, everyone!

Time for a Drive

It's time again for me to go get my license plates renewed.  And the boat registration, too.  I detest the drive up to the county seat.  It's all hills and curves through the woods.  I mean, it's lovely.  If I could take it slow and meander, that would be great, but invariably there are numbnuts in so much of a hurry they feel the need to be right on my tail.  And there's no place for them to pass me safely.  (They still try.)  It's worse when the sun's out because sunlight through the forest turns the road into a strobe-licious disco trail.  

I'm planning on going up today.  It's nice and cloudy.  But without rain or wind.  I just have to see if I can get the car inspected today.  One thing about living in the back of beyond is wondering whether services will be available when you want them to be available.  There's only one dude at the local place authorized to inspect vehicles, and he doesn't do it every day.  So, you have to call ahead to make sure he's there and that's he's in the mood to do inspections.

By the way, here a car inspection consists of him walking around the car while I use my turn signals, headlights, and brakes.  Honk the horn once and we're good to go.  Costs $12.  And like I said, you have to be authorized by the state to do that.  Woohoo.

In addition to the inspection certificate, I have to take my driver's license, proof of insurance, and property tax receipts.  Cuz they won't give you your plates (or itty bitty sticker for the plates) if you didn't pay your property taxes.  I wonder what people without property to tax have to show to prove they don't have taxes to pay.  Hmm.

(Hubs just got off the phone.  The dude will be there at 9:30a.  Yay.)

The government office where I get my registrations renewed isn't too bad.  I mean, it's TINY, but the gals there are pleasant and the wait generally isn't too awfully long.  

Between the car reg (2 years) and the boat reg (5 years) it'll cost us about $100.  :shrug:  Totally not bad compared to other places I've lived.  

In the eight years since we moved here, I've encountered deer in or near the road a few times.  Fingers crossed the critters are sticking to the woods today.  

Yeah, not the most interesting post.  But that's life.  What are you up to today?