a really short trip...
So... I'm home. The trip turned into a non event, but not without it's adventures.
I left the house at five thirty in the morning, dropped off some mail and headed for the New Jersey Turnpike. I got to the next town over a little before six and when I went oversome railroad tracks, my left rear tire blew out. It was a stroke of luck it happened where
it did, as I was only a few hundred feet from a service station, so I limped the hoopdy mobile into the parking lot and asked the nice old guy pumping gas if they might have a tire. He checked it out for me and, lo and behold, they had one. Then he told me that the mechanic wouldn't be in until eight, which is when I was supposed to be way up in North Jersey at a press approval for some new Salsa labels. I called Mrs. S.O.G. on a pay phone and asked her to call the printing company's salesman and tell him I was going to be a bit late. He told her that the press run was cancelled and I didn't have to make the trip.
"No problem", she told him, "he's at a station on the way to work and I'll stop by and tell him since he'll be there waiting for the mechanic to show up at eight and I go by there at seven".
Meanwhile, as luck would have it (I thought) the mechanic showed up at six thirty and by six fifty, I was on my way with a new tire. The Mrs. showed up at eight and found out I was already on the road, so, I ended up driving about eighty miles to show up where I really didn't need to be. I turned around and drove two hours back to my office. What fun... at least I got a new tire out of the deal, and some decent mileage for my expense report. And guess what? I get to go back up there on Monday!
So, no stories about hotel bar hangers or lobby lizards for now... maybe on Wednesday.

Oh, yeah... I'm sitting here writing this waiting for the County Animal Control guy to show up... there's a poor little brown bat laying on my patio, obviously suffering from what could only be rabies. Too bad, I'm really fond of the little creatures, as you might have read here at some time. I hope this is an isolated case and not going to effect the local bat population in general. They are too benificial to loose. More on this later, maybe.
I also mowed the entire lawn proper at Stately Sad Old Goth Manor when I got home... the back forty will have to wait until the weekend.
Gotta run, I'm starving.
Peace to you all and don't forget about the eclipse tomorrow night!!