Blame it on George!

I am very late getting to my blog today because I spent a good portion of my day sitting in standstill traffic in my car.

I had good intentions all day...but, things just haven't worked in my favor.

First of all, I headed out early this morning to sit with my friend's sister in the hospital. My friend had broken her wrist and was needing to have two pins and a plate put in before they could "cast" it. First, I ran into a wonderful local bakery to pick up some warm muffins for her and then got on my way. Well, I totally forgot that early morning traffic out of my neighborhood is bumper to bumper for a while. So, I got caught in that. By the time that I got to the hospital, the surgery was over and the doctor had already come out with the news. Everything was fine and she would be in recovery for a bit. I had an early morning doctor appointment so I stayed as long as I could in the waiting room. UnfortunateIy, I was only able to see my friend for less than a minute before rushing out to get to my appointment on time...

After the doctor I (unwisely) decided to head down to Costco to pick up some much-needed household items. You know, like huge quantities of paper towels, toilet paper, garbage bags, as well as a 40 pound (!!) box of wild birdseed, etc. etc. Of course, I also picked up a few total non-necessities which kept me in the store for quite a while...I do this all of the time....It is so hard to resist as you walk down the immense aisles and see all of these wonderful products that you never knew you could live without. You know, like gigantic bags of pistachio nuts, enough candy for the next five Halloween's, an adorable baby storybook for my new grandson, a rotisserie chicken, and a lifetime supply of padded mailing envelopes. I guess that this is the management's plan when you shop at their warehouse stores...and, I fall for it everytime !!

Anyway, I digress. I head back to my car and head home. Normally, this would be about a 10-15 minute journey at most....BUT, not today. You see, our President, George Bush, was in town for a visit. He was here to elevate interest in our using ethanol as a source of renewable energy and to talk about the possibilities of setting up a plant here in Alabama.

Well, unbeknownst to me (still in "new baby Owen fog" I guess) all of the major highways were being closed until his visit was over. So, there I was....SITTING in my car going nowwhere for over 45 minutes. (luckily, I had ordered a fat-free frozen chocolate/vanilla swirl before leaving Costco....so I wouldn't starve to death!) I then noticed that some of the cars were making a U-turn over the median--- ironically right past a highway sign that stated: "Do not cross median". Well, I finally got up the nerve to follow the other cars and warily headed in the opposite direction...hoping to find a side road to finally get me home.

Unfortunately, as I headed down some of the smaller roads, I realized that traffic was at a standstill here as well. You see, the Costco is located in the actual Alabama town that Mr. Bush was speaking in....so, the police had pretty much closed everything down and nothing was moving. aaargh.

Well, without boring you with any more details, suffice it to say that I finally made my way back home after an hour and a half in traffic.

Thus, the lateness of my posting today.

Hail to the Chief... : )