Saturday, January 30, 2010

I Didn't Win the MegaMillions, or any other lottery, in the last 24 hours

I wonder if I should leave the house again today.  There seems to be a limit to the number of items I can remember to bring with me when I walk out the front door, and the keys aren't always one of those items.  I am quite dizzy today, a rising 7, and this morning, when I still wanted to take the dogs out for their walk, these were the prevailing conditions:

  • Sunny day  = hat AND sunglasses required
  • 2 barking, gyrating dogs = leashes AND poop bags
  • Cold weather (for San Diego) = jacket or sweatshirt
  • Outside = shoes 
So I walked out the front door with my sunglasses, sun hat, sweatshirt, and sneakers on, with the dogs on leash and poop bags in my pocket, and pulled the door firmly shut behind us.  Extra items in bold.

No keys.

I had to ask Frank the Fighter Pilot next door if I could climb over his wall to let myself in my own back door.  He keeps barstools on his patio (!), so it wasn't too tough a climb.  But the patio door was locked, so I had to lift my own weight over the cinder block wall into my grass backyard to go in the impossible-to-lock doggie-door to let the dogs in the apartment.  I'm pretty impressed that I managed it with only a Home Depot bucket to stand on - max height maybe 15 inches.  The cinder block wall is 6 feet high - I know this because I measured it for the grid.

Would a true gentleman have offered to climb over the wall himself and spared me the possibly ankle-spraining effort?

Should I sew a spare key pocket into the crown of my sun hat?  Or maybe duct tape one to the casing of the dogs' retractable leashes.  That would make a total of 5 spare keys to the apartment in and around San Diego: Lisa's house, Jennifer's house, the glove compartment of my car, and the keychain with the mailbox key.  I don't think Alzheimer's patients have that many spare keys to their homes hidden in case of forgetfulness.

I'm ready to get my brain back.