I took these off a neighbor's pecan tree tonight:

I feel somehow ... diminished.

Everything around here is greener and bigger than usual thanks to two months of daily rain. Only in August did we get a week of our usual 100º days. Now the grass is crawling out over the sidewalks and the fruit trees hang like willows. It hasn't been this nice a summer since I moved here 18 years ago.

In other news, the half-life of the new-improved Taco Bell I wrote about has passed. Today's experience included:

• A Moonie haranguing customers on their way in. The least management can do is chase such irritants off.
  
  
• A smelly hobo haranguing customers inside. (This never happens at Chipotle.)
  
  
• At least a five-minute wait for three tacos. These people don't even dispense beverages anymore, and they still can't keep up.
  
  
• My order in a plastic to-go bag, after I had stated "for here."
  
  
• The same hobo asking me for money in the parking lot. I had to warn him of a car approaching, but he took no notice until the driver blew his horn.

The customer maniacs are running the asylum. I only heard the bell clang once, which was kind of a relief.

Later in the day, I took Mom to the doctor for her bi-weekly appointment. In the lobby I wondered about the very special moment that led their receptionist to print and post this sign:

Sometimes humor is in what you don't see, rather than what you do.

And what, pray tell, led to this one, spotted in an industrial area:

I mean, you don't put a sign like that up as a precaution. It had to have happened at least once already.

I'm sorry. I know it must have been an expensive episode, but I still think it's funny, some clown prying the door up with a forklift. How exasperating that must have been for the shop foreman: "What were you thinkin'?"

With that, I wish you a good night.

Posted by: Michael Rittenhouse at 08:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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