My How Things Change

I scrambled yesterday morning.  Just like my usual morning scrambled eggs, I was all over the place trying to get my act together to drop off my truck for some coffee of her own.  I'm always up very early in the morning, but I never leave the house before 9:00.  Getting out the door by 7:30 is a big stretch for me.

I went prepared with a crossword puzzle book and a REAL book to read, along with my phone charger since my battery never seems to last even two hours any more.

I pulled in and no one was home.  Come to find out, they were actually there, having snuck in the back door.  I politely asked if I could have the truck back by 3:00 since I had Elk business to attend to.  Then, in my best non-street-walker imitation, I headed out to walk the eight blocks to the lodge where I would sit while my truck glugged down some $$$$.

Gosh, has this town gone to the dogs.  I see prostitutes walking the streets all the time, along with many homeless guys, all who seem to have puppies, but THIS .... this surprised me.  There are so many buildings in disrepair that are falling down.  This one, a Kentucky Fried Chicken staple of town, was gone altogether.

I was really shocked at the number of empty decrepit buildings in spite of the City spending millions on new one-way streets and wide sidewalks.  No one goes down there any more except people looking for a place to spend the night in the bushes.  My how things have changed.  I was pretty happy I didn't run into any of them as I walked along with a stranglehold on my purse.

Here's the worst part ..... it smelled.  It smelled like someone's bathroom, right here in downtown.  That shouldn't be surprising to me since it IS the bathroom of many homeless and drug addicted folks.  Just WOW!!!

I knew there was a bakery on the way, so I stopped in without reading the sign.  It's now an Asian bakery, and full of the biggest fattest donuts I've ever seen!!  I was so entranced with this amazingly delicious piece of pastry that I almost forgot to take a picture!!

I made it to the Elks Lodge, and now I'm sitting at the bar with my phone plugged in enjoying this treat.

The kitchen crew had their music on BLAST!  Don't get me wrong, I love country music and I run mine pretty loud, but this was more than I could handle.  I escaped to the back parlor where one lone chair was calling my name.  I spent three hours here, mostly wasting time on Facebook.

Sometimes when walking around town at 8:15 in the morning, you find something that trumps the garbage covered streets.  Sinaloa, a small restaurant that has been open in the same place since I was a kid, was out on the street selling their burritos for breakfast.  

I like supporting hard working folk, so I grabbed a carne asada burrito to go for lunch.  First bite ..... YUM!!  Then I accidentally put it down on top of the salsa to get out my camera.  The salsa fell over and smothered the burrito on the bottom.  Oh well ... how hot can it be?  Well let me just say ...  LIKE FIRE!!!  Woohoo did that wake me up!!

To my great surprise, they called at noon to say my truck was done.  Okay then ... now I have to walk the gauntlet BACK to the other side of town.  I passed two street walker gals in their tightest, shortest and finest wear, who gave me the evil eye since I was in their territory.  Really girls, no one is interested in this old lady!!  

Now for the REAL shock factor.  It cost me $589 to get the oil, transmission fluid and rear differential fluid changed.  I suppose that's cheap since I can't remember if the last two have EVER been done.  Lucky for me, they found no pieces of metal in any of the fluids.  I'm good to go for another 120,000 miles.  

Then it was off to the house where I tried to get things caught up before heading out to the Lodge meeting.  That turned out to be something completely unexpected also, but I'm too tired to relay it now.  I got home at 10:30 ... WAY past my bed time.  It's a three cup-o-joe morning!!!