Thursday: Routine Errand Becomes Day-Brightener

Today was mostly routine. My wife talked with #2 daughter on the phone, Our son went to school, #1 daughter is still looking for work, and #3 daughter is still trying to shake some sort of bug.

On the other hand, there was a little variety in the day's routine.

I took the van to a garage, and learned about several options for getting more heat into the passenger space:

• Have a pump replaced - it costs about $500 USD
• Put a sheet of cardboard over part of the radiator during cold weather

I'm opting for the cardboard.

And, I picked up some office supplies at the Wal-Mart supercenter. Going down one of the aisles, I passed a mother with two kids in her cart. The girl was sitting in the front of the cart, the boy stood in the center. The sides of the cart were about chest-high for him, and he had a hand on each side.

Until I came in sight. His eyes locked on my face, and got very wide as his jaw dropped slightly. He raised on hand to point at me.

I try to be polite to people, so I said "hi" to him, paused a moment, and walked down the aisle. About three paces later I heard the phrase "Santa Claus" behind me.

When I told my wife about the meeting, she said that I couldn't trim my beard until after Christmas.



This is a kids-eye view of me. I don't know: That's a serious Santa, at best.