2 hugs and twenty bucks too

 

When I went to sleep last night, the weather geeks were saying that the REAL snowfall wouldn’t start until the afternoon today.  I woke up at 7:10 to find myself in a white world.

Since the boss had texted me last night about loading times this morning, and since I hadn’t looked at said text yet, I did and I saw a projected load time of 7:20.  Sheee-it!  I called the plant immeadiately and was told there were five dealers ahead of me… and looking out my windows, I realized that there was no time to make coffee; I had to GO.

I did stop at a Plaid Pantry on the way, got a cuppa coffee and some Camel Wides, and SLOWLY drove downtown.  It was snow the whole way.  I took it real easy – there’s the vehicle behavior I remember! – and got to the plant with only one dealer ahead of me.  No pickin’ ’em up off the ground for me today!

86 bundles of eights (TG  – lighter papers) fit easily into my stepvan and I drove out of the building and onto the freeway and off again an exit later, drove the maze through downtown to the Ross Island Bridge… and found my way to the entrance ramp bocked by some old gal in a Volvo going the wrong way.  I grinned.  Could be me in a minute!… but no, I got over the bridge and to our Saturday meeting point and gave the other driver her 36 bundles.  All in snow inches deep.

Yeah!  No troubles!

(except… I forgot to change the cheet sheet for how many papers are in how many bundles. 6’s. 7’s, 8’s, etc.  The sheet was set for last weekend’s papers which were in bundles of 6… and I gave my Safeway 14 bundles and three loose… but instead of 75, like it’d be if the bundles were in sixes, I gave ’em 99 papers because the bundles were in EIGHTS today.  I was more than 24 papers short at the end of my run… but me and the boss figured it out and he marked Safeway down for 99 instead of 75, and it’s all good)

Well, but I did have some trouble gettin up the hill on Holgate at Milwaukie.  My stepvan got partway up Holgate there and…slid sideways as the rear wheels lost traction.  I steered into it and got it corrected but now I was set sideways to traffic… and had no traction.  Ok, reverse.  Got gravity and a little traction… and what traffic there is is merciful and I have room… and, well, I didn’t need to get to Milwaukie right there anyway.

I drove through a neighborhood at Zero miles an hour and made it up to Milwaukie Ave with no troubles a little farther north… and that was pretty much my only oops!, other than giving away too many at Safeway.  (but… they used to get 100 today and 120 tonight. the boss said… so I had an excuse offered to me by the boss himself.  I’m golden)

I got a call from the boss and heard him say that New Seasons market was inaccessible… but I saw the boss at "our" store, and he said, no, New Seasons was good, go give ’em their 21 papers (not 30 like what was on the drop list… but the 21 I had left.  D’oh)

New Seasons was BUSY but I got in and got my papers in and I was out in the stepvan when a guy knocked on the door and said "do you have any jumper cables?" and looked real ernest.

Now, I had just made my last drop.  I wanted to be done, and I thought about it, but I knew from looking just a few hours before, that yes, indeed I do have jumper cables, and that yeah, it’s snowing big time, and if it was me I’d be hoping I did have jumper cables too … and so, said "yes, I do".  He pointed arcoss the lot at his red SUV and I saw open space on both sides, and pulled around and up next to him… and my cables were too short for the distance.  He and I pushed the SUV while his (wife?) woman jumped in and pulled the brake off and put it back on when we had the rigs aligned… and the cables were still an inch or two short, so I got in my stepvan and manuvered it that much closer.  We each got our ends of the jumper cables hooked on and the woman looked at me,  and I gave her the signal, and the red SUV fired up like that.

Put a grin on my face – I like being helpful.  The woman got out of the SUV, a tear leaking down her face, and gave me a tight hug.  "Thank you thank you thank you" she said and held out a $20 bill. "Oh wow, you don’t need to do that – just buy one of my papers please…" but she insisted, and well, who am I to tell a tearfully happy woman "No"? T’was a nice hug too.  Wouldn’t have minded another either.  Black haired tasty lookin’ MILF… yeah. probably wouldn’t have minded a bit.

‘Bout made my day.

So I was a grinnin’ fool when I came in the back door of my building.  I’d already seen my car buried under powder snow, looking pretty and blue and a whole lotta white, and I ran into a woman who shares my birthday here.  We had realised it back in March, and had hugged (ok, well, maybe there are some Dog genes in this NWCat).  She saw me today as I came in, all happy, and gave me another hug.

And took me up to her place and gave me the Christmas ornement she’d made for me and a card.  Got a card from the old ladies at Union Manor on McLoughlin too – they’re always waiting for my Sunday First Editions at their stop, a rack in the lobby. It’s nice to have people pleased to see me comin’.  Makes it worth my while.

Soooo, I’m thinking that maybe I don’t REALLY need to drive my Caliber downtown to check the PO box – it’s about recovered with snow; I brushed off most of it when I got home

from the papers, but it’s comin’ down pretty steady-like..  The boss has the stepvan chained up and ready to go for tonight, and the papers is SUPPOSED to start printing at 10 instead of 11:20 tonight…So I guess all I gotta do is eat and sleep and go get the papers.

(but driving my car in it sounds good too.  Hmmm.  Coffee time )

*****