WOKE UP THIS morning with a hacking cough and a runny nose. Found a box of the soft tissue in the kitchen and a platter of fudge and like Charlie Brown’s Linus I dragged a blanket with me to the den. Before I even looked at my e-mail I decided I should jot down a few things from yesterday. A couple of weeks ago during my check up I had some flags pop up on some blood work. Dock Burriem acting like the DOC Burriem of old told me I should go down and see a friend of his in the big city and so I did. Yesterday I had to go down again as the flags were confirmed and now sometime after the holiday’s I am going to have to get a real looking over. I think a few of my lifetime warranty parts are failing. I did get to the doctor's office early so I had time to sample the candy bowls which I was told by the receptionist held only healthy dark chocolate. Hearing that I put a few extra ones in my coat pocket.

My visit with the DOC was neither long nor short and I had to wait on some tests to get processed. Gave me time to check out some herbal tea and look over the novels in the waiting room. I found one book that looked interesting and had a couple of book marks in it. The receptionist told me that I could go ahead and start it if I wanted to and he gave me a bookmark that I could mark my spot. Next time I come back I can pick up reading from where I left off. That was my first clue I will be coming back to this waiting room. I had to sign some paper work and will be getting a call for my next visit sometime after the holidays. To say I was not a happy camper would be putting it lightly, but not a lot I can do. With blood tests I can’t even go back home and study.

As long as was in the big city and it was getting to be supper time I drove off thinking I should treat myself to dinner. I drove around some but nothing really caught my eye so I headed to the local Al-mart for some shopping. I wandered around some but I guess I was not really in a shopping mood so I picked up a big box of biscuits for Duncan and headed to the check outs. The express lane only had a couple of people and I got in line. It was slow because there was an older clerk that was trying to engage customers in small talk. I figure they are trained to do this to try and give customers that friendly old fashion service vibe. When it was my turn I gave her my best smile and figured I would do my best to engage her in conversation.

Welcome to Al-Mart, did you find everything all right today?

Yes, I did as a matter of fact I did and also a few other things to.

That’s good.

Yes, I certainly do like coming and shopping here, the cashiers are so friendly!

She laughed some and started to ring up my box of dog biscuits.

So do you have anything special going on tonight? I asked

She looked at me and "Hey that is my line!"

I nodded my head because I had heard her say it to the two customers before me. I then said "We sure could use some snow"

Before she could say anything an older gent behind me pitched in with "without snow it is not going to feel like Christmas this year" and then the clerk stopped and turned to the older gent and gave him a little wink and said something about making Christmas cookies. I was going to say something but the two were now going down memory lane about some kind of Christmas cookie. A lady behind the old gent rested some powder sugar and marshmallows on the counter and the clerk said "Are we making fudge?" The old guy turned around and laid the charm on the lady behind him and just said "Fudge, did I hear you make home made fudge?"

I watched as the three of them starting to talk about double boilers as the old guy said he likes making home made toffee. Kind of out of the loop of the conversation I grabbed a bag if beef jerky from the impulse rack and put it down on the counter. The clerk running on auto pilot rang up the jerky and made change never looking back at me. I walked away and when I got to the door I turned back to now see the front end manager patting the old guy on the back and they looked to be exchanging recipes and the express lane was backed up. I had a smile on my face and I felt a little better, I also had the hankering for fudge here at Lake Iwanttobethere