Monday, April 15, 2013

Saturday With Some Twists

Normally Hubby and I plan as little as possible for Saturdays. It's the only day we have off together, so usually our priority is to enjoy ourselves.  This past Saturday was a bit wonky. Hubby had to go into work early in the morning, then, as he is getting ready for a race, he went for a run. I slept in and did some yoga. A bit different from our regularly scheduled sleep-in, but he was home early enough that we had most of the day left to enjoy ourselves.

Of course, first we had to get our taxes done.  And drop off the recycling. Then our plan was to go out for lunch and maybe a walk. 

The day went pretty much as planned.  Pretty much. I puttered around getting ready while Hubby watched soccer and waited patiently. His patience was rewarded. If we had left any earlier we would have missed the Girl Guides when they came to the door. Two small sales people meant two boxes of classic chocolate and vanilla cookies for us.

It was almost noon before we headed out the door. Still, we weren't terribly hungry. That might have been due to the cookies. We couldn't decide where we wanted to eat so we did our errands first.

While we were waiting to see someone about our taxes another couple came in. They had just been out for lunch at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant. Not only did they talk about their lunch, they brought pho for their tax advisor. I guess that's one way to get to the front of the line! 

The smile of a woman getting a tax refund!
Since we had been talking about the same restaurant earlier, and as it was fairly close by, we decided to head there to celebrate our refunds. We hadn't been there for years, so we had conveniently forgotten that this particular restaurant was cash only...so much for my plans to treat Hubby to lunch! 

Fortunately, Hubby had enough cash to cover it, so we didn't have to spend our afternoon washing dishes. Instead we picked up a couple of lattes and headed for a walk along the waterfront. 


New, thrifted jacket and comfy clothes for a waterfront walk. The outfit could have been easily adapted for dish-washing. (TARDIS socks not visible.)


A quick stop to replenish our beer and wine supplies then we headed for home. Hubby decided a nap was needed. Since I had slept in, and since I hadn't gone for a run, I had enough energy to mow the lawn. (I haven't "gone for a run" since high school, so I should have plenty of energy.) I changed into my grubby clothes, donned my headphones and got to work.

Not quite lawn-mowing clothes.
Also, sadly, not the outfit I was wearing to greet the fire fighters and paramedics.
Shift to a few hours later. Hubby and I had just settled in with our hard-earned beers and were getting ready to watch Doctor Who. That's when the doorbell rang. I was hoping it was the Girl Guides again, as we were already running dangerously low on cookies. The ringing quickly turned to frantic knocking, then pounding. Instead of Girl Guides there was a young woman on our doorstep.  She was in a panic and was looking for help. At her suggestion, her six-year-old sister tried to fit into the infant swing at the park next door. The child managed to get in, but she couldn't get out.

Hubby and I couldn't get her out either, and as we couldn't determine if the child's blood-curdling screams were from pain or fear, we decided to call in the professionals.  We headed back to the house. I called 911 while Hubby took a blanket, a box Kleenex, a box of Girl Guide cookies and other supplies back to the park.

So there I was, once again, dealing with our local emergency personnel. If I haven't mentioned it before, let me state here that the emergency personnel in this area are AMAZING.  Right from the 911 operator who had to help me decide where to direct my call  (for the record, for child stuck in a swing it's ambulance) to the ambulance dispatcher, who decided it might be good to have some fire fighters on the scene too, to the paramedics and the fire fighters who came to the rescue, all were caring, respectful and professional.     They freed the little girl with minimal trauma to her, and with minimal embarrassment to the sister who put her there. Watching them in action was almost as good as watching Doctor Who.



Beware of child-eating swing on the other side of that fence!

This is the second time in less than a month that I've had experience with our local emergency personnel. Dinosaurs and paramedics. I wonder what the universe is trying to tell me. 

Oh, and if any Girl Guides are reading this, I'm in need of more cookies. One box went home with the little girl, and the other somehow disappeared. 

I'm linking up with Patti and the other wonderful women for Visible Monday over at Not Dead Yet Style. Stop by and check out the excitement. 

PS. Blogger has decided to do some creative formatting today, and I just don't have the patience to figure out why. Please excuse the odd layout in the above post.




6 comments:

  1. Wow, the best laid plans . . . but you and your husband were wonderful to help out so skillfully with the frightened little girl. Hope the tax news wasn't too grim, and you'll catch Dr Who on demand? Thanks for linking up to Visible Monday!

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  2. I know Patti! What a roller coaster day. Unscheduled work day for Hubby...boooo! Girl Guide cookies...yippee! Tax refund...hooray! Cash only restaurant...oh no! Sunny walk...awesome! Lawn mowing...meh. Child in need of rescue...help! Skilled emergency professionals...bravo! Ability to pause Doctor Who until emergency has passed...brilliant! Foresight to pick up extra beer...priceless!

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  3. Oh my goodness. I was reading along, thinking oooh what a perfect Saturday, lazing, yoga {I do Eoin Finn's DVD's}, lattes...all very west coast. And then the drama. So happy that things ended up well. And two very happy little girls ended up with a box of cookies. She came to the right house for help! I hope your Sunday was downright boring, :)

    Sue xo

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  4. I know you're asking, "Why me?" Probably 'cause you kids can handle the situation. Or the gods just need amusing and tag, your're it!
    So sweet of your huz to grab cookies to take with to the emergency! Perfect. Again, he's a keeper.

    I'm such a cow, I would have stopped press record on Dr. Who!

    You look very springy in your yellow scarf with tweedy jacket! No nonsense on tax day.

    Have a great week, and thanks for the interesting tale, Onion Girl!

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  5. Hi Jan! I must admit, we did press pause before even answering the door, so we were able to come home, refill our beer glasses and settle in to watch the last half.

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  6. Hi Sue! Sadly, I worked Sunday, though it was a relatively quiet day. We didn't have to call in the emergency personnel in until Monday afternoon!

    I'll have to check out Eoin Finn. My regular class had been cancelled, so I need something to keep me going between meetings with my personal instructor. That sounds very up-scale, but she's a friend, so I'm spoiled.

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