Crankiness, Kindness and Silliness

• I thought I'd do the fiscally responsible thing today and get my groceries at the slightly-cheaper Superstore instead of where I normally go.  I went in with a reasonable mood, but very quickly ramped up from zero to bitch.  The crowds were crazy - Every person there was acting like they were King Poop of Turd Island.  They owned the place, so to heck with anybody else who might need to get past.   I couldn't believe the number of people who parked their carts in the center of the aisle and walked away.  Or, the people who pulled out in front of me - so close that I had to stop my own cart or turn to prevent myself from running into them - and then come to a complete stop.  Needless to say, it took me forever to get what I wanted.  I ended up grabbing what I needed without comparing brands and focused on getting the heck out of there... which didn't work out so well.    Usually, my grocery bill comes to about $75.  This week, it was $97.  Next week, I'm going back to the slightly more expense, much less populated (and way less stressful)  grocery store where I normally go.

• On the way home, I came upon a loose dog that was running on the road.  We weren't very far from the main drag in town, so I stopped to see if I could catch him.  He was super-friendly and let me put him on leash.  We walked the three blocks to the address that was listed on his tags, only to hear that he didn't live there anymore.  The owners had recently moved and hadn't gotten his tags updated yet.  Luckily, the lady at his old house offered to help.  She called the phone number on his tag (which hadn't changed) and when the owner said it would be a "bit" before they could come get him, she took him into her house with her own dog and kept him safe until he could be retrieved.  People like that make up for the hoards of idiots that I'd encountered at the grocery store.  My mood was restored.

• I stopped to get Tallulah her winter boots for the season.  She wears boots on our nightly walk, from the time that the snow flies in the fall until it melts in the spring.  There's a particular brand that I like, but they tend to last only a year before she starts to wear through the soles.  Really, only one or two of the boots wear through, but I have to buy them in sets of four.  In the past, the only colour of these boots that I could get were red.  Last year, they were purple.  This year, the only colour that I could get was black.  Next year, I'm kind of hoping that they will come in a different colour.  That way, for the year after next, she can wear the leftover good boots from past sets, and have a different colour on each foot.