Lights alone, Fumbled, Rural King??

On Saturday morning I set the alarm to get up and play pickleball. I went solo. Sue hurt her foot this week playing and will likely not be able to play for awhile. My lower body was still hurting from the crash and a less than great IT band. I played for around two and a half hours. I did ok although I have a significant loss in my ability to move longer distances quickly which affects my effectiveness. I just want to feel normal again. I made arrangements to have breakfast with Sue after playing to catch up since it had been a couple weeks since I talked to her.

Later Saturday afternoon I made my first trip to Rural King in a very long time. When I was in the heyday of chicken ownership Cindy and I would be there nearly every weekend. I am not sure that I have been to Rural King once this year. I went to a department I never frequented before in all of my previous trips, the gun barn. I have recently had some interest in buying a gun, not because I am particularly worried about my safety, more of a curiosity. It seems that at least in Florida, almost everyone owns one.

They had a sale on a hand gun that I took advantage of. I asked the clerk what was required to purchase a gun. He said if I was a Florida resident with no felonies there was nothing else I needed. I had to answer a 26 question “test” to verify I did not have anything that would disqualify me for gun ownership. After completing that the guy said I had to wait around 15 minutes for the background check to complete. Wow, was he wrong.

I came back after 20 minutes and it was not complete so I grabbed a seat and waited another 20 minutes. When I asked another guy if the check came back yet he said no and he advised that I just go home and come back on Sunday. He said the checks have been very slow and he had one guy that waited four hours for his. I took his advice and went home with plans to pick up the firearm on Sunday. I have a number of friends with guns that have invited me to go to a shooting range in the past. I figured that would be a good way for me to gain familiarity.

Saturday night I decided to go out and do a ride around my neighborhood looking at Christmas lights. In past years I used to ride Victoria Park with Cindy and Katie but I had no desire to deal with the quagmire of people that brings with it. I took out my Inmotion E20 for the ride which was perfect. It’s slower speeds and stability with two wheels was a good combination to take it all in. There were a number of houses that were done up in an impressive manner, mine not being one of them.

My Sunday was very low key. After paying my bills I headed back to Rural King to presumably complete my purchase. I walked up to the counter and gave my name. The same clerk I originally dealt with said my background check was fine but I had to wait 3 business days to pick up the gun. I was confused. I told him I was told that once the background check was done that I was good to go. He said that he assumed I had my concealed carry permit. If I did then I could have picked up it up. Since I don’t this additional wait time is required. Because of the holiday this translates into me not being able to get the gun until Friday. It’s not a huge deal but annoying none the less since it is at least a 40 minute trip each way for me to get there.

I watched the Eagles accomplish something that is very hard to do, lose a game after winning the turnover battle 5-1. Hurts went out early with a concussion but the Eagles still were ahead almost the entire game until giving up a game ending TD to the Commanders with seconds to go. The defense, which has been surprisingly good this year, just could not shut Washington down when it mattered most. The game could have been locked up on the next to last possession if Devonta Smith caught a pass that would have been an easy first down and would have allowed the Birds to run out the clock. Instead it bounced off his hands and the rest is history. It was a bad loss, I can only hope this does not trigger a massive slide as what happened last year at the end of the season. They need to win their next game.

I was not in a good mood prior to the game. The end result amplified that negativity. I think the upcoming holidays that have a rather dim outlook combined with an overall sense of blah since I returned from the trip are contributing to a dark state of mind, not what I want. For decades I looked upon this time of year with anticipation and excitement. To instead shoulder shrug the holidays feels very foreign to me and something I don’t enjoy nor wish to replicate down the road.

We are off the next two days. Let’s see how it goes.