I AM A SENIOR

OMG. Earlier this month I celebrated my birthday (55). I now qualify for a senior discount at some restaurants. I am a SENIOR. Now I just need to remember to ask about senior discounts. Do problems remembering also signify being a senior?

I CRIED

Yes, I cried this morning. It was after I buried a kitten who was only a few days old. Mom had two in my backyard a few days ago. For some reason this one did not survive. I knew last night when I briefly held this little one that it would be gone by this morning. It was. Its' little body was cold last night and it was barely alive. I moved it closer to its' sibling hoping that it would help and that it would make it. Unfortunately, it did not. So after I buried this little one I went back in the house and cried. I cuddled a few of my indoor feline "pride" for comfort. It helped some but I still get teary when I think about the little one from this morning. I hate it when something like this happens. It seems so unfair.

THE BEAST

The Beast, my name for my van, has a leak in the power steering system. This means that periodically I have to add power steering fluid to the reservoir. Well, last night on the way home it started whining, which means it needed more fluid. I pulled over into a wide-open parking lot at a Catholic church to take care of the problem. I left the van running and added some fluid. I started to check the level in the reservoir and dropped the dip stick. It fell into the engine compartment. Luckily it did not get into the serpentine belt and pulleys but it also did not fall through onto the ground. After shutting off the engine I started looking around with a light to find it. I found it down towards the bottom of the engine compartment. It was too far away to reach, so I was going to have to crawl under the van to retrieve it. I trained the light on the area where it was so I would know where to "look". I crawled under, avoiding all the hot engine parts, and started feeling around for it. Could not find it. Crawled out from under the van. Checked on the location, found some "landmarks" and crawled under again. I found it using the landmarks. I finished filling the reservoir without dropping the dip stick again. The shirt I was wearing is now in the laundry. Luckily, it is only dirt from the parking lot that is on the back of it and no oil. I really need to get the leak fixed so I don't have to worry about low fluid levels in the power steering. I will, I just have to figure out when.

READY TO SCREAM - PART 2

Oh nuts. Things continued to be screwy last night. Went to put "go juice" in The Beast. Watched some guy disregard the "Exit Only" sign and the arrow on the pavement. Came close to almost having a collision with the idiot when he came whipping around the end of the gas pumps. Finally got to a pump only to discover that the gas had gone from $2.46/gal to $2.62/gal overnight. Talk about pissed. I think I would have almost dumped everything last night except for my critters and told the world to "take a flying leap".

Things are better today. Not as manic as yesterday afternoon and early evening. Took Duchess (feline) to vet for a general checkup. The Lady is 17yo and is hyperthyroid. All in all the checkup was good. Got her some more meds. Test results (blood) Monday.