The heat, doggies, biggest losers, and broken down cars

Wow, for a weekend that I did not have a lot of things planned, it ended up being a bit chaotic. I started out with a 10 mile run on Saturday - through downtown. It was hot, but at least it was slightly overcast, which made a big difference. Along my way, I saw a LOT of doggies. That was due to the dog show downtown. Many of the owners did NOT want their primped doggies patted, though (tsk). But I did get to see all kinds of doggies!

[side note: I did not get to see Cesar. Tickets were about $100, discounted to $50 for rescuers, but NO DOGS were allowed. I wasn't sure $50 was worth it if he could not fix my doggies' problems on the spot.] Anyway, I turned the corner and there was the line for The Biggest Loser auditions. There were many very large people in line, but none of them beat me for pure sweatiness. I was soaked.

As I rounded the corner to spot where my faster running buddies and our cars were waiting for me in the park, I came across Adam Moran, who was chained to a tree like a dog (ironically, with a chain from a dog he had been called in to save the night before). Adam is a dog rescuer, who convinced me to foster Driver, the badcat, for a deployed solider. He was trying to raise awareness that chaining a dog is a BAD idea by staying chained to a tree for almost 12 hours in the San Antonio sun. He had some good coverage from local stations and Unavision; so, hopefully, his message was well broadcast. Having run for over 1.5 hours in the early morning heat, without fur, and with frequent water stops, I could still only sympathize with a dog who was left chained out in this heat. MESSAGE: Stop chaining dogs and donate to Dogs Deserve Better.

When I returned home, Lowe's had delivered (but not installed - grrr) my new above-the-range microwave. So, instead of hitting the couch like I planned, I spent a bit of time on the phone attempting to reschedule installation (for which I will have to take leave from work). Last time I order from them. ** note - my 2.5 y/o car began struggling to start, so I began to back into all parking spots after the run **

On Sunday, after cleaning, I ran some errands and was heading home in the 100+ degree heat to take the dogs to the dogwash when the car did not start. There was no indicator light on the newish car, nothing, just sluggish starting. Luckily, because I have driven a "living on the edge" car in the past, I had parked nose out with spaces next to me (the easier to get jumped/towed/etc.). Unfortunately, it was also in the sun. Thank goodness I did not have the dogs in the car. I finally got someone to jump the battery and, since it was Sunday and the paid-for-under-warranty dealership was closed, I just drove straight to the auto parts shop.

As was my practice with my last 10+ y/o, almost 200k miles vehicle, I left the car running and ran in to make sure they had a battery for me. As I was waiting for the guy to bring out the battery, I surveyed the parking lot and experienced old-car nostalgia. The parking lot was full of vehicles that were left running, with the hoods up, and nobody in the car, as the owner tried part-by-part to fix the problem, while still keeping the vehicle running (just in case-a running car can generally make it home). Ah, I almost missed my 96 Geo Tracker and the many weekends we spent in parking lots such as this. Anyway, I now have a new (out of pocket) battery, and all is well. I had done the math (in the heat) in the Walgreens parking lot and realized it was cheaper to pay for it myself than to take leave from work tomorrow, find someone to jump my car a couple of times in the morning, and get the dealer to fix it.

So, the dogwash was closed by the time I returned home all sweaty. Perhaps we will have to take a spin on the new battery tomorrow and go to the dog wash.