Day 445

It's amazing how the smallest of tasks can escalate into a big mess. When we go to take the dogs for their bath this morning, the coolant level light comes on in Janet's car. I check, and sure enough, the overflow tank is a little low. I look at the manual for the LR2 and it says the car needs to use Texaco antifreeze. Why? I don't know. Where did all the Texaco stations go? There used to be a Texaco station on just about every street corner. I drive around looking for a Texaco station and notice that everywhere there used to be one, there is now a bright yellow Shell station instead. When did this happen? Was it last month, or three years ago that this big switch happened. I haven't really been paying attention. Ever since gas started getting expensive, I stopped buying gas at Texaco and started filling my tank at Sam's Club instead.

Eventually it dawned on me that there weren't any Texaco stations in our neighborhood anymore and I got some generic antifreeze at a Chief Auto Parts store and went home. When I opened the hood of Janet's car to fill the reservoir, I noticed that there was a dent right in the middle of the hood. Under the hood I saw some weird shards of glass up near the windshield wiper motors. When I asked Janet why there were strange looking pieces of glass inside her engine compartment, she said that a street lamp had fallen off a pole last week and landed right next to her car while she was at work. "I'm sure glad it didn't hit the car," she said. "Uhhh, you'd better come look at this," I say. We notice different things. I would notice a dent in my hood instantly, but I never seem to notice when something has gone bad in the fridge.

Dot really didn't want a bath this morning. She refused to get out of the car when we pulled up in front of Vhea's LaundroMutt. When I finally had to resort to lifting her out of the car, she growled at me. Strangely, Dash was actually pretty good about his bath. He had one of his quietest, most uneventful visits to the LaundroMutt in several months. Tomorrow, the dogs take part in the city of McKinney's annual Krewe of Barkus parade. The theme for this year parade is "The Wild West." Dash will go as a cowboy and Dot will go as a horse...complete with a tiny leather saddle that I found on eBay.

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