I need orange: June 12

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Running the Saturday errands.

Mailing some stuff at the downtown post office.

Mess in front of library.

Hold the phone.....

This is visible on the right side, above.

If you click to embiggen, it's easy to see this car is entirely covered in carpeting.

Now this took a sense of humor.......... Love the red wheels to contrast with the carpeting........

Unusual (thank goodness!!!) errand. Skip over all of this (to the flowers) if you prefer to avoid a rant........

The little box that goes between the cable and the tv (which it oughtn't, in the first place! -- they ought to just feed the tv what it needs over the cable, imh!!!)
died. Died while we were watching. Died when we were touching NOTHING. It just died. (And putting the cable directly into the tv did work, for the few channels for which that works. So we were sure it was the box.)

I had already spent 15 minutes on hold and finally talking to someone about this, and we had decided that our option of choice was trading the dead one for a new one.

So we carefully gathered up the box, the power to the box, the cable to the tv from the box, and the little extra sensor thingie if you don't want to see the dreaded box but would rather hide it behind the tv and only see the little sensor thingie only that doesn't work if there is any light from (gasp) the sun on the sensor.

Of course there were only two people working.

The two customers at the counter when we got there took F O R E V E R. My better half suggested that he go to the library, and get the bagels and the bread, while I stayed in line to get a new box.

Sounded good to me. Eventually those two transactions were finished, and the rest went somewhat more quickly.

Did I mention that we got there at 12:20 and they close at 1:00 on Saturday?????

Well, it was, and they did. I suspect they closed a bit before 1:00, as my watch is about five minutes fast and it said 1:02 when they closed.

Some poor man showed up just after they closed. I could hear him telling the person who was watching the door (14?-yr-old daughter of one of the workers) that he had just spent *90 minutes on hold* with the company before leaving home. She felt sorry for him, and walked closer to the workers, saying "Mom...?" Mom said "I don't care!" and that unfortunate soul will have to go back some other time...........

(Why, one wonders, do they close at 1:00 on Saturday! This is an organization whose tv commercials boast that they care deeply about customer service, but it seems to me that they clearly "don't care!")

When it was finally my turn, I put all the aforementioned stuff on the counter, and told her that the box was dead. She picked up the box, and shoved all the other stuff back at me, saying "All this will work with the new one."

More fool me for believing her...........................

I called my better half when my transaction was done, and then waited inside in the a/c for him to come back to retrieve me. I could have tested the power cord on the box 500 times, but did I try it once? Nope.

We finished our errands and got home and tried to hook up the box, but the power cable thingie won't fit where it must fit to do any good.

@)(*(*&#*$%&*%^!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been seriously hating this company for a long time.

And now I hate it more.

So I called, again, when we got home, and this time they are going to mail me the stuff (can't mail just the power cord; have to mail the whole kit and caboodle).

Works for me -- I don't think the "new" box that woman gave me was actually NEW in the first place...............

Sheesh!!!!!!!!!!!! About an hour and a half wasted, and we still are no better off than before I began trying to resolve this issue.

Hate them, hate them, seriously hate them..............

My better half spent a noticeable amount of time, that afternoon, researching other alternatives...................

Feh!

Ok.

Cleansing breath...............................

It was not that hot, on the 12th. About 80. But the humidity felt like about 80%.

Wibler and I went for our walk. We did it slower than usual (he's 11, after all), and still I was drenched when we got home.

Weeds by our driveway.

"Picture-taking boring. Let's GO already!"

Spirea.

Love the way the stamens have kinks in them. The way they go every which way makes me think of Dr. Seuss.....

We have something new in our neighborhood this year -- false strawberries.

I saw them in our yard first. They are easy to spot -- BRIGHT red berries. They look A LOT like strawberries -- the berries do (unless you have a magnifying glass, or a macro focus on your camera), and the plants look very similar, too.

But the flowers are yellow. And the plants are very small and tight
to the ground. And the berries are carried up, rather than hanging
down...... And the green stuff around the berry is determinedly
five bits which hug the berry, rather than being looser and away
from the berry and more random in number and shape........

And the berries, as you can see, look quite different, once you can see them up close and personal.

All those sticky-outy-things............

When we got home, I googled up "false strawberry" and found that it also goes by "Indian strawberry" (as in "Asian sub-continent"). They say the plant has various medicinal uses, and the berries are edible but tasteless.

I had thought I would taste one, until I got the above up on the big screen, and could tell that all those regular beige things all over it are bugs.

Eeuuwh!

Isn't it interesting how you can see something you've never, ever, seen before, and then immediately see it in multiple places?

Here's something familiar, and much bigger (feet tall).

Evening primrose.