Airports and Traffic

I began a post on Tuesday that never got published. Since moving everything is crazy busy. How did I ever have time to work before?

Rick flew up to our old home in Northern Virginia on Tuesday. 

It was a whopping $77 to fly up there and it costs more to drive there. 

Rick left his big truck up at the old house parked on a side street. We had a neighbor who was keeping an eye out for us. In fact last week he sent a photo of his dog with big sad puppy eyes sitting next to his truck with the caption, I miss you and Izzy. It made us laugh. 

I am not a morning person. I've shared that many times here before.

I need time, a slow wake-up and Copious amounts of coffee before I speak, do things or go places. But not Tuesday. 

That morning I had to up at 6a, you know now that my dog sleeps until 7-7:30. Having never been to the Raleigh Airport we wanted to give ourselves time. Also leaving at 8a we were concerned about traffic at that hour.

Well, we are obviously still on DC time and traffic. We made it there in 40 minutes and that was after I made Rick stop at a Sheetz to use the bathroom. He was very early. I made it home in 25 minutes. 

Now on our way, we saw a 3 car pile up. We saw fire trucks, ambulances, and flashing lights on the other side of I-40 from the direction we were headed. Rick saw this and told me he was sorry I'd have to sit in that traffic that was not moving after dropping him off.  I saw the cars for miles and just dreaded this. I have not even had coffee yet. 

I dropped Rick off and Izzy was asleep in the backseat so she did not see him leave the car. Whew. I head home and traffic is no longer at a standstill and the accident was all cleaned up. 

Another positive of the move. No traffic to speak of really. I can dig this.

I immediately made myself some coffee as Izzy herded me to her morning spot where she sits with Rick. I'm cold so I'm wrapped up in a blanket. I do spoil this dog don't I? See her overseeing all the people and dogs who walk by? 

As we are sitting here the UPS truck pulls into our driveway. Oh, that gets Izzy excited. She walks down the steps in a hurry to say hello.

Our new UPS man says, 'Hello Izzy' and gives her treats just like her fave UPS man did in VA. The new UPS man had the treats in his pocket.  

It's obvious he's been at this for a while.

But when Izzy jumped onto his truck this morning while in the driveway he was startled. The man in VA would bring her up in the truck where he kept the treats. She would get in the truck, sit for her treat and then leave. I think this guy is okay with it too. We did ask him and we explained why she did that. Thankfully this new UPS man was a dog lover and has 2 labs of his own so he was okay with Izzy. That's great so at least one thing is the same for her. This move has aged her I swear.

Now my day was to keep her from pacing waiting for her man. I did not get much else done the whole day. We walked, sat in sun, walk. We even did her 2nd favorite thing after swimming and we took a drive. 

Rick was to be home around dinner time. I was counting down the hours.

I get a text from him that he had landed. Then one when he got to our old home. We discussed that the truck would probably be dead so he'd have to use his handy dandy HALO to jump it. Then he was going to the paint store to see if he could find paint for me and then heading home. He was only going to the Sherwin Williams in our development not driving around town. I told him if they didn't have it - so be it. We'll just wait on paint to arrive to America.

This was at 11am.  

I get a text at 11:06a - he has got the truck started but when he shut his door the locks automatically kicked in and now his truck is running and he can't get in. Only Richard could do this. I said to him you know better than to shut the door. Now for 34+years I NEVER shut the door as I have explained to him each time he says, shut the door, as he is jumping my car. I have told him my father told me to leave the door open or the window. He rolls his eys. Apparently, this happened to my father I guess so since a kid I never would close the door all the way. When I asked him how the hell he did that he responded with, "George was not my father" (my dad's name) So there the idiot sat on a curb with his vehicle running while waiting on a locksmith for an hour and a half. I wanted to kill him. So the money we saved on the flight he just spent. $150 for a locksmith and wasted a lot of gas.

As he sat on the curb neighbors walked by and chatted. One brought him a Dr. Pepper. The man who lived directly next door talked about the new people in our home. Weird was all he said then showed Rick the picture below. Rick howled. He asked if they have just put them there and are tossing them. The neighbor stated they have been there for 6 weeks. They go out there and sit on them and chat. I find this so humorous. And if the HOA could see into our backyards they would have a field day with this couple!  I wonder if it's a cultural thing. They barely spoke English. All the women said to me was that my house was so pretty. I told her it was her house now. She also was upset that the flowers were dying. I had to explain that those needed to come out and then I plant mums and fall items. I don't think she understood a lick of what I said. Anyhoo we are having a field day with these toilets on the patio. This was taken from my neighbor's 2nd-floor window so the screens are showing but I think you all can get the picture here.  I guess the 3rd chair is if they have guests? LOL

Rick got his truck opened up and off he went to the paint store. He found what I wanted. YIPEE. The manager of this Sherwin Williams knows Rick and when he saw him he said, "You came up here for paint?"  No, but while I'm here...

It took Rick an additional 2.5 hrs to get home because now it's heavy traffic time. Which in NoVA starts at 3pm and runs until 7pm. Needless to say, he was not home at 5ish as we thought. Izzy was a spaz. She spent the last 4 hrs of the day before he arrived laying in the driveway facing the street to see him come home. It was pitiful. I couldn't bring her in. It was 81 degrees and she was laying in the shade so she was fine. She only got up to pee and then she was back down. A vehicle pulled into our driveway to turn around and she got so excited. I was sitting on a milk crate in the driveway at the time with her. I jumped up and said, "No, that is not Rick." She kept walking towards the car. When it pulled out she gave me the damn saddest face ever and laid back down. 

When he got here it was dark. He was cranky. 

Oh, yeah fun for us left behind. 

He immediately changed and came into the living room to tell me about his trip.

He said while sitting in traffic he got that knot in his stomach and felt the stress and the pressure that he felt each and every day in this traffic. The pace and stress were a big fat reminder of what we left. He said, I just can't do that anymore. How did we do that? I laughed and said, "we have lived in our home since October 2nd or so, you are already acclimated here?" 

He said, "With the traffic yes!"

As for me, I'm hanging in there. I got lost one day and found a salon nearby my home.  I went in and asked questions and felt okay to make an appointment. I had my hair cut on the 20th and I did not cry. Finding doctors is easy peasy, finding a good stylist is not as easy. I don't do supercuts because they are right out of school. I want someone a bit more seasoned. 

I want someone who understands hair technique, razor cutting, texturizing, and all the things I need. I called one place and asked if anyone specialized in texturizing and razor cuts. She said, "You want a shave?" OMG. Okay, I knew this was not my place. One place was spot on but I wasn't thrilled about the $93 haircut charge or the fact that she couldn't get me in until after Xmas. 

This woman was lovely and when I asked her to wear a mask for me she did. She was not vaccinated or mandated to wear a mask. 2 miles away it is mandatory. My county is not and so they don't. Stores do, restaurants do but hairdressers don't for some reason. It's all kinds of wrong but that is another story for another time.

She did a good cut but she styled it like an old lady. I got home and Rick burst into laughter and said, "Hey Grandma!"  I laughed and said, "I know! I said something about what she was doing and she said, "oh let's try it" So what the hell. 

I went into the bathroom after Rick had his big laugh at my expense and I wet it down and blew it dry again. All better. Best of all it was only $50 for a haircut. That is $20 less than what I was paying so I was happy.

Now if I could just learn to love biscuits the way these people do. Thankfully I have an excuse not to eat those dry hockey pucks, I've got Celiac. That is the only time it's a good thing when I can get out of eating things I don't like. Always a silver lining somewhere.😁