So I reset my alarm for 8 a.m., with the thought that I'd get up and walk then, before calling into work. The funny thing was I was so anxious to walk--and I'm seriously not sure if that was "anxious" in a good way or "anxious" in a bad way--that I got up at 7:15 a.m. and turned off the alarm. Soon I was out the door and on my way.
When I got back home again, I started on the fall decorating, and I barely took any breaks all day except to eat breakfast and lunch. Because Hubby and I were invited out to Mrs. Soccer Son's parents' home for dinner and to watch the newlyweds open wedding gifts, I had to stop around 4:30 to clean up and dress. I was surprised, though, that I kept going all day long--I felt like I had more energy than normal, so maybe the exercise I'm getting from walking is helping already.
Once I had cleaned up and dressed, I saw I still had at least a half hour before we had to leave, so I thought I'd make good use of my time by sorting through some things the Wild Child had left on the desk in what used to be her bedroom when she moved to Eureka. Some things needed to be tossed out, some things needed to be redistributed to other rooms--like a handful of pens--and some things needed to be set aside to ask the Wild Child about later. I picked up one odd looking thing--it was black and red plastic and it had a clip on it for attaching to a belt or something, but I had no idea what it was. Should I toss it out, I wondered? It looked kind of like a guy type of thing from the color and the belt clip, so I was going to ask Hubby, but then I saw a little spray hole, so I turned it away from me and sprayed--yep, something came out, so I put it back on the desk to figure out later. Maybe I've give the Wild Child a call and ask.
Soon, though, I caught a whiff of something that reminded me of cutting jalapeno peppers in half and scooping out the seeds--in a second, it caught in my throat and made me start coughing. It occured to me then that it was probably pepper spray! Darn! I was out of that room pretty quickly . . . and so was our cat, Spike, who'd been sleeping peacefully on the bed up until then.
A little later, when I thought it was safe to go back into the room again, I retrieved the pepper spray canister and showed it to Hubby who said, "Well I could have told you it was pepper spray! We used to sell it all the time at the auto parts store!"
Really? The auto parts store?! I guess I should have just asked him, as I first thought. I turned and tossed the canister into a basket we use near the front door to collect mail and miscellaneous things. Maybe I'll take it with me when I walk, although with my luck, if I ever have to use it, the wind will probably be blowing in my direction.
I'm just glad the Wild Child didn't have a taser on her desk. I'm not sure I know what those look like either.
Oh my gosh. This is hilarious! Also thanks for the photo. I have no idea what either pepper spray or a taser look like, either.
ReplyDeleteActually, your story reminded me of an incident that occurred when we lived in Alaska. Apparently their were two moose outside the Corps of Engineer's office building. I guess someone thought they were acting "agressive" (This probably means they were munching on the landscaping) or something and called the MPs. They arrived and decided to move the moose along by spraying pepper spray at them. Now the pepper spray for wildlife is a much larger spray bottle, and lots more comes out and at a greater distance. Well, the MPs neglected to see that just behind the moose was the air intake for the building's HVAC. Needless to say, the building had to be evacutated for the day.
I so look forward to reading your blog - so many days, like today, doing so puts a smile on my face. I'm betting Spike will not be helping you clean again for a while. Have a wonderful day.
ReplyDeleteROFLOL, I have a pepper spray story also but there are people still working at my previous employers that may lose their jobs if they got whiff of the story...needless to say, you were smart to leave the room!
ReplyDeleteHilarious - I would probably do the same thing! Live and learn, right? Keep up with the walking - it's so good for you and you will start to notice the difference. Peace....
ReplyDeleteI too have pepper sprayed myself. It is not fun.
ReplyDeleteLeave it to you to pepper spray yourself! Hey, that might come in handy at a quilt show if there are too many people around something you want to buy!
ReplyDeleteLOL!! Made me chuckle. Cat was pissed for sure!
ReplyDeleteWell don't that beat all! I found one just like the one you found in my daughter's room just last week and she has been gone for awhile too. I had no idea what it was and so just threw it away! How ironic is that?
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