Mary suggested that I do my 3 miles indoors today since it was hot and
muggy out. Nuh-uh, winter is long enough. It was indeed hot and
muggy but there was a brisk south wind.

By the time I returned, I was sweating profusely and draggin' a bit.
My tee shirt was soaked. I haven't sweated like that since Army days.
Sweat in my eyes behind my shades. But I was ready to go again
after a 5-minute rest and half a pint of iced tea. Dr. B has my meds
so the idle jet on my cardiac carburetor is set at just barely ticking
over with BP at 100 over 65 or so, but he keeps saying "you can do
more, you have no limits, keep pushing the envelope." Eeeyahhh. I
need a freakin' drill instructor at age 68 in my golden years?

Mary wiped me down once I stopped sweating, about 10 minutes after
return. She asked if I wanted a wipedown just because I craved the
attention. I said "wull yah!" She said, "I like that about you."

Then we went to the Toyota dealer to get the recall done on her
Corolla. That and an oil change would take 90 minutes or so. Geez,
I'd expected more like 30 minutes. I'd brought a book, but still.
Hey, we need a new rope for the flagpole and there's a Wal-Mawrt
within walking distance so out the door I went. I walked another 45
minutes, fartin' around in Wal-Mart and Cub (grocery) and back and
forth. Wal-Mart once again has ammo in stock. 100 rounds of 9mmp
that used to be about $18 is now about $23, but they do have it. They
also had .40S&W, didn't check price. Didn't see any .380 or .45ACP
but I didn't really look that hard. Just curious.

I didn't like the rope they had. "Synthetic" clothesline. Synthetic
could mean anything, recycled Chinamen for all I know. I want
nylon. The wind bangs that rope against the pole a lot, and if it
breaks and falls out of the top pulley I've no idea how the hell I'd
get a new one threaded. I'm not about to shinny up that flagpole
and I don't know anyone with a ladder that tall. I want good rope.
Line to y'all sailors.

I noted that Cub had a book by an author I like, new release in
paperback, but Wally's usually has better prices. But Wally's didn't
have the book so I stopped back at Cub with the lovely stiff-nipples
air conditioning suggesting that the whole damned store is the frozen
foods dept. Grabbed the book, went to check out.

A scan didn't work. The publisher's printed price was $9.99 and the
stick-on tag said the same, but the barcode wasn't working. The
cashier, an attractive cocoa-colored woman with dreadlocks, tried
entering it manually. No luck. I suggested that when a scan
doesn't work the price is $7.54. She laughed, said she'd go check
and went to the book dept which wasn't far. Came back with no news,
fancy that. She tried to call someone. That didn't work either. She
looked at me as I stood there patiently grinning at her. She dug out
some sorta pink electronic gizmo and pushed buttons for a minute, then
entered $7.99 on the cash register and that worked. I asked her what
the pink gadget was. She gave me a 300-watt grin, said it's a
calculator; she'd knocked 20% off publisher's price and it worked.
I think she liked me. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.