flat tire, cat hair

I've been neglecting the blog lately.  I think I'm putting too many hours in at work!  I've been going in as soon as I can in the morning, so I haven't been blogging before Alli gets up or after she gets on the bus like I used to.  By the time she's in bed at night, I'm too tired to blog - I'll fall asleep on the keyboard!  Unfortunately, I stayed up after 11:00 last night to finish a book, and Alli was up bright and early at 5:20.  Bummer!  Oh well, it was a good book, worth staying up for.  Maybe I can sneak a nap in this afternoon!

I finished up more of the bookmarks for the book club.  I was on a roll yesterday and wanted to make a few more, but....I ran out of 2013 pennies.  I have the bare minimum done now, so I can get by with what I have, but....it means I don't get one, and I don't have any extras, so - I'll be scrounging pennies in the next few days, looking for more.

On the way home from work Friday, as I was getting close to my exit on I-5, I hit something in the freeway.  I looked in my rear view mirror and didn't see anything, so just shrugged it off.  When I stopped to get on Knighten, I looked, and sure enough, my tire pressure gauge was indicating a problem.  Bummer.  Since I was so close to the truck stop (and I figured I was safer driving there with a flat tire than stopping on I-5) I drove over the freeway to the truck stop and tried to air up my tire.  It inflated some, but not very much (I thought it might just be a combination of me and a pay-for-air compressor) so I decided to try to get home (since I knew our air compressor worked).  No go.  As soon as I pulled out, the tire was completely flat again.  I pulled back into the truck stop.  First I called Ralph to come get Alli - no need for both of us to sweat to death in the parking lot, and then I called AAA.  I got my text alert from AAA that they had logged my call at 5:44.  The tow truck got there around 6:30.  Not too long a wait, considering, but....it was hot out there!  I was pretty much wiped out by the time I got home around 7:00.  Lucky for me, Ralph had started dinner, so I just finished up around the edges.  Steak dinner - almost waiting for me when I got home!

Here's what they found in my tire when Ralph took it in to get it replaced:

It looks like it might be part of someone's brakes.  I'm glad it stayed in the tire - it that had gone flying in the air when I hit it, it could have put someone's eye out!

This morning, I decided that Rufus needed to be brushed.  He is getting all sorts of clumps (not quite mats yet) in his fur, so his winter fur must be coming in (like he needs that!).  I brushed him as long as he would let me - and just a little bit longer.  (It stopped bleeding pretty quickly!) and had a huge pile of fur (and this doesn't count what fell on the floor, or was stuck to me that I didn't get added to the pile!)

I only got the front half of him done - and not much of his belly.  I'll try for more later.  If nothing else, this is hair I won't have to vacuum up!