BoomerGirl Diary

I think I had a record-breaking, dog day last week: one of the most boring, frustrating, August days. Going outdoors seemed like a bad idea. You opened the front door and it felt like an oven. The air was still and humid and very hot.

Early that morning, our dog Cassie regressed and wouldn’t come out from under the bed. She periodically whimpered. I think she was reacting to Watson, the dog we were babysitting for a few days. I dragged Cassie out from under the bed, by hooking her to a leash, Watson, a large, young Labrador and poodle (labradoodle) was attached to the second leash. I tried to take the two dogs for a walk, but it turned into a disaster. Cassie pulled me hard to chase a rabbit while Watson jumped and dove for leaves, bugs and bees. Sweat pored down my face while I cussed and fumed. When they finally settled down and walked together, Cassie started a fight. I put them both in the outdoor pen. Then I realized that it had just been watered. Now both dogs were muddy, but I gave up and went in the house. Later I’d get them cleaned up. I knew I couldn’t leave them outside long because of the heat.

I guzzled a glass of water and escaped upstairs to call my friend. “It is so hot out there … And it’s only 8:30. I’m already bored.”

“Well, you want to come over and sit on the porch and watch the golfers relieve themselves?” My friend lives on the eighth hole of a golf course.

“No thanks.”

I hung up. She was taking off for a meeting in Washington. I worked on the computer for an hour I was still hot and took a shower.

Then Arna came upstairs, yelling and screaming. “I am so frustrated … I can’t believe it I don’t know what I’m going to do…”

“What’s the matter?”

“I can’t believe it. I don’t even know if I can explain it.”

“Come on. Maybe I can help.”

“I know that’s not happening … Okay, last night Paul tripped over the cord for my laptop. So then the cord broke off and there’s a tiny piece stuck inside the computer. I’ve tried everything to get it out: both kinds of tweezers, needles, pins, paper clips, straight pins, nails. A guy on the internet recommends a Q-tip cut with a drop of glue, but I don’t know about that…”

“What about a magnet?”

“It’ll ruin the hard drive …”

I can’t describe the noise that Arna made. But it was a kind of growl, whine, and groan.

“I’ll call Geeks on Wheels or some computer company.”

“Oh, forget it … nobody can help me. It’s going to cost a fortune. I’m going to lose all the work from the whole summer, maybe last school year. Why did I ever try to use my laptop down there.”

“Maybe if your room wasn’t so messy …” I interjected in a helpful manner.

“Mom, I can’t believe you’re talking about my room being messy at a time like this. It’s too hot for this. I just want to get my stuff out of this computer …”

Meanwhile, I went outside. It was getting even hotter. I took the dogs to the fountain to clean off. Then I brought them in the house. Both dogs started barking and chasing each other. Cassie whimpered and jumped around. Watson tried to jump all over Cassie. So Cassie took off. upstairs with Watson right on her tail. She scampered under the bed and Arna followed them both screaming.

“Watson’s going to pee!”

I rushed up and grabbed Watson and brought him back downstairs on his leash. Then I banished him to the kennel. Meanwhile, I guzzled two large glasses of water.

I called six computer places, mostly leaving long messages describing our computer problem. Arna and I sat at the kitchen table, both trying to get the piece out of the computer. Hours passed. It was about two o’clock by then I finally talked Arna into taking a break. He ate some fast food and then we cruised through some junk stores looking for a bookcase.

Arna found a grabber arm that picked up items. He picked up baskets, glasses, and other items. He pinched me a few times and then he decided that he needed this grabber: arm to pick up his coke while he’s watching T.V. We finally got out of there, having found no bookcase. We did find some small crochet hooks to try on the computer. It was still severely hot when we got back into the car

When we got back home, Arna sat in the kitchen trying the latest tools unsuccessfully. The Apple store called and Arna drove off to see if they could fix his laptop.

I was ready to pack it in. Between the heat, the dogs, and Arna, I was worn out. I just wanted to put this day to bed. I knew I needed to make supper, but I wondered if Bob would be satisfied with a nice glass of ice water.

I sat there totally frustrated with the day. What did I accomplish? Not much, except that I got really hot and felt totally bored. I’d wasted hours trying to stick various items in a tiny hole on the side of a computer.I drank another large glass of ice water, and then I let Watson out of his kennel. I played with him and then he settled down at my feet. I was going to turn this dog day around. I turned on the golden oldies station and then I carefully made two pizzas for dinner, cooking and cutting up veggies and meats.

“Do you remember last Wednesay?” I asked Bob a few days later.

“Was that the day we had that great pizza?”

“Yeah, it was.”