Since this is supposed to be a humor blog, I thought I should start looking for some humor — and Red Robin Restaurant in Burlington, Washington obliged:
I was contemplating taking them up on the Whiskey River Barbecue thing when Amoeba called my attention to this sign:
He wouldn’t let me park in either spot!
We did eat at the Red Robin though. It was Amoeba’s first time there. He had a chili burger. I had the Blue Cheese Burger. Both were excellent.
Bytheway, this was not a paid post.
So I arrived at my optical appointment yesterday about 15 minutes before my appointed time. I stepped up to the counter and said, “Hi! I’m here for my eleven o’clock appointment.” The receptionist promptly welcomed me as Cheryl Jones. I gave her my correct name. She looked at her schedule and asked me to repeat my name. When she asked me to spell my name I knew there was a problem.
I said, “But you called me yesterday to confirm that I would be here!” The receptionist said, “I didn’t. You aren’t on my schedule.” Then she asked me if my appointment was in Burlington, or Bellingham. I thought my appointment was in Burlington, but I called Bellingham to double-check and sure enough, that’s where I was supposed to be.
Legally, the distance between Burlington and Bellingham is a half hour drive — on a good day, sans traffic, sans snow, sans ice. I told the nice lady on the phone I wasn’t going to make my appointment. I braced to hear her say they’d have to charge me for it anyway, but she didn’t! If I had known that I probably wouldn’t have left my island! Grrr ….
In the meantime I am standing in the optical shop of the Burlington Sears. I looked at the receptionist and said, “I’ve come a long way in nasty weather. Do you have an open appointment?” She looked at her schedule and said, “I don’t, but I am sure we can fit you in. Do you want to wait?”
Sigh. I had a novel with me, so yeah, I wanted to wait. She gave me the new patient paperwork and I took a seat. She went back to her desk. Within seconds I heard her call my name. She said, “Our 11 o’clock appointment just canceled. If you hurry the doctor will see you now.”
I hurried. So, that’s how I managed to have an eleven o’clock appointment in Bellingham but have my eyes tested in Burlington. There’s still a mystery though. When I made my appointment, supposedly for Bellingham, I was given driving directions to the Cascade Mall in Burlington. Why?
Whatever — it all worked out. And, if his behavior was any indication, the doctor had a really good time, too! But I’ll save that story for tomorrow.
For those of you who thought I must have gotten my genders confused on my post about the female Hooded Merganser, I offer this pic:
Mr. & Mrs. Hooded Merganser
Here we have the lovely couple together. Yes, she is a beauty, but as you can see, compared to him she really is quite plain.
Running into his workroom at the lab, she said, “Honey, quick, where’s my camera? There’s a duck out here I’ve never seen before.”
He didn’t even look up from his microscope. “Hmmm, probably a Hooded Merganser.”
She said: “It’s red-headed and looks like it has a Mohawk hair-do.”
Still without glancing away from his microscope, he said, “It’s a female.”
She grabbed her camera and ran back outside. Her mad dash to the waterside startled the duck.
She didn’t mean to scare the lady, but isn’t sorry she did.
After the wing flapping show the little lady settled back into the water and swam quickly away.
After capturing her photos She went back into the lab where He was still peering into the microscope.  “The duck put on quite a show for me. I got some great pictures.”
He said, “Nice.”
Sigh. She really does know better than to try to talk to him when He’s working. Would you get excited about the duck, please?!
The Rumor Mill is a restaurant not too far from the Ferry Landing in beautiful downtown Friday Harbor, WA. Last night the One More Time Band played to a full house and a hopping dance floor.
The tinny sound is because my camera couldn’t handle the volume. Amoeba says it didn’t help that they put a 17 piece band in a closet and added two amplifiers!
Note as you watch Amoeba playing with his plunger mute — yes, he bought it at the hardware store. No, he has never used it on any pipes but his trumpet’s.
The trumpet solo you will hear is played by Tom Starr, the gentlemen sitting on Charley’s right.
Yes, Charley has shaved off his beard. He had to. He had a mole removed from just below his bottom lip. It was interfering with his trumpet playing. If you notice something below his lip, it’s the band-aid.
