Andy put on a show for Larry and Virginia.

They were in Alliance to visit Larry’s brother and me.

They’d just arrived from Grand Island, where they’d stayed the night rather than driving the eight or so hours from Lincoln to Alliance. They’d gone to a Husker home game the day before, and they were tired!

Andy snooped around the table…

…while Larry, Virginia. and I chatted. (Larry and I have been good friends since third grade.)

In the meantime, Andy decided to check out the new grass.

As a Persian, eating the grass is problematic because his whiskers push the grass away from his mouth when he tries to eat it.

He tried to think about how to eat this desirable treat!

“Hi!” He finally noticed Virginia was watching him.

He started to leave…

…but that grass was too tempting!

I enjoyed the chat with my friends, if being a bit concerned Andy was putting on too good a show. I assured them that I don’t eat off this table! Well, I do, but food and utensils don’t touch it. Cat people know the routine.

Time to leave the table.

Andy bid Virginia and Larry goodbye.

He returned later to try to eat the grass. I help him by holding blades for him, a tactic that works sometimes and sometimes not.

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Tomorrow’s post is about Andy’s trip to the veterinarian this last Monday.

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When I came home from the veterinarian appointment yesterday, this car was parked going the wrong direction, blocking the lane to my apartment. That was 11:55 am.

I had to go around two blocks and drive the wrong way down a one way lane to get to my parking spot.

While waiting to see how long the car would be there, the USPS mail carrier had to drive her van over the grass to get around this car to get to the place she parks it while delivering mail.

I talked briefly with my mail carrier, who, like me, finds this matter of lane blocking instead of parking in one of the public parking spots on either end of the lane an inconvenience. It requires that one drive on the grass or come in from the wrong direction till the parked car is moved.

The alternative is to block the offender’s car with your car by entering the lane from the right direction or driving around it on the grass!

I’ve done both, but the mail carrier has a route to complete and a methodology that necessitates coming up my lane from the right direction.

Awhile back, apartment management sent residents an f-u letter**  outlining what would happen if we were reported to be parking on the grass, driving on it, or taking longer than fifteen minutes to park on the lane to unload groceries or take care of business. 

** (“fu letter”, a strongly worded, insensitive, offensive missive bound to offend everyone who gets it!)

The penalty for first abuse on the grass business: $35. After that, each new incident becomes more severe till they throw sulfuric acid on your car and kill your pet. Well, maybe not quite that extreme, though the letter was very insensitive and lacking understanding.

I note that every time, the ambulance is called to this lane, including three times for me and the same number for my next door neighbor, it always comes down the wrong way and parks for as long as the medical emergency takes to stabilize, then get the patient loaded. Guess which direction the police car comes from? Yes, the wrong one again! Public Transport: yes, the wrong direction again.

While I was typing this at the door after the yellow KIA Soul left: a black compact pickup drove by, going the wrong direction.

What about the apartment maintenance pickup? Yes, occasionally, we see them driving on the grass or parked on it.

FedEx and UPS? They generally come from the correct direction.

How long was the yellow KIA Soul blocking the road, facing the wrong direction? Forty (40) minutes! And that’s just how long I was home to witness it.

I spent almost 36 years in various quality functions in a hydraulic and industrial hose factory. One of the basics of making rules, standards, laws, or specifications is that they must be realistic and they can be fairly and consistently enforced. If they aren’t realistic or can’t be fairly and consistently enforced, you don’t have a rule, standard, law, or specification, you have chaos, a mess, disrespect for the issuing authority, and routine abuse of a regulatory system, however disagreeable it may be! You know, like here at Serenity Lane Apartments.