I’ve been back from China for 4 days now and I’m still suffering the effects of jet lag. At 3 am, I’m bright eyed and bushy tailed… lying on my back, staring into the dark abyss… thinking. Thinking about getting up, doing something, counting sheep. I’m thinking I should cook something today for my boys. It’s been awhile.
At 4:30 am, I finally decided to get vertical. My lab, Bailey, occupying 2/3 of my king sized bed, just looked at me like “I ain’t gettin up…” She did, however, follow me downstairs and fell right into the routine which begins by going outside to pee. She comes in and nudges the dog food cabinet door with her snout, as if to remind me to feed her. Before she eats her dog food, she’ll scour the house to find her purple bone…. a rubber toy that has little places to put treats. She’ll drop the purple bone at my feet. I dutifully go the dishwasher, where I keep her treats. (I don’t use the dishwasher to wash dishes… that’s normal, right?) I place a mailman shaped biscuit in the center and put one “pupcorn” on each each. I then put a tiny dab of peanut butter on it. Bailey opens her mouth, I give her the purple bone… and she takes off.
Now, for Bailey to eat her purple bone treats before her real food is akin to eating dessert before your meal. At my age, I’m all for that…. F the rules….
By 7 am, the cellar is clean, I’ve washed 3 loads of clothes and successfully removed the brown stain that the Chinese put in my blue checked shirt. (not sure what that was… yuck)
I made a quick shopping list and Bailey and I jumped in the truck for an early morning Giant Eagle trip. Bailey loves the truck!
It’s rare that we get to park close to the door at Giant Eagle, but when you go at 7 am, you can park most anywhere you want. I pull in, cracked the windows, and went into the store. Bailey always jumps over to the drivers seat, like she’s driving. She just watches everything… like everything. Sometimes when I come out, I’ll remote start the truck and it really looks like she’s driving it! I try to do this when there’s an old lady walking by the truck. I wish I could remote honk the horn!
One good thing about late September… early in the morning at Giant Eagle is that you have your pick of pumpkin spiced everything. I love pumpkin spice and it seems to fly off the shelves. Why don’t they have it year round? Today I bought pumpkin spiced coffee cream and pumpkin spiced tortilla chips. Yeah, tortilla chips… go figure.
In Giant Eagle, there are 4 customers, 3 produce people, 3 butchers, 1 checkout lady, and 1 self checkout lane.
I queued up to the checkout lady behind two other men. It was clear the we all were going to cook today. Carts were full of fresh parsley, meats… you know… “I’m gonna make it right now” stuff.
The guy in front of me was one of those types who didn’t own a Giant Eagle card and paid cash. It seems the early morning hours attract the “end of the roaders” and those who wish to live anonymously. A plentiful supply of beef jerky was in his cart. Now, let’s be clear that I’m not one of those… I just have jet lag.
Another guy was standing at the self checkout aisle. He had one peach… that was it… one peach. The light was blinking for an attendant, but there was no one around. He walked around looking for someone to help him and couldn’t find anyone. The light kept blinking. He finally just left… the peach left on the counter.
When I got up to the checkout, I recognized the cashier from previous trips. She was the “let’s see how heavy I can make your flimsy plastic bags weigh” lady. Seriously? She over stuffs each bag like she’s getting a bonus for saving Giant Eagle a half cent per bag! Older checkout people do this….! I used to think it’s because they lived through the depression, but they didn’t… all those people are too old to work at Giant Eagle!!! I just smiled, thankful she wasn’t Chinese. This is another way of saying I’m glad I’m home.
On the way to the truck, I remote started the vehicle as Bailey sat in the drivers seat. There was no one around, but I still chuckled….
Untamed Traveler 