random thoughts – Day 2,349 (Thursday) – water and storage

The city is under a mandatory water ban from 9 am to 5 pm which went into effect May 11. The ban states that “Nonessential outdoor water uses that are subject to mandatory restrictions include:

-          Irrigation of lawns via sprinklers or automatic irrigation systems;

-          Washing of vehicles, except in a commercial car wash or as necessary for operator safety;

-          Washing of exterior building surfaces, parking lots, driveways or sidewalks, except as necessary to apply surface treatments such as paint, preservatives, stucco, pavement or cement.

Unfortunately, my adherence to rules that benefit the public good often causes me to resent those who disregard them and potentially endanger the public or abuse public resources (like the water supply).

What water ban? Let's wash the shed.

Today, my resentment was provoked by a neighbor who spent several hours this morning washing his house, carport, shed, planter boxes, snow plow that has sat in the driveway since he took it off in the spring, back deck, and all his lawn equipment which he had pulled out of the shed. This same neighbor washes his truck practically every other day. 

I didn’t act on my resentment and feelings of moral superiority and stayed inside my house reading a book, looking out the window once in a while and observing the activity, and telling him off in my head for being a selfish water wasting dipshit.

Stuffed animal storage chair!

Anyway. After the domestic washing event was done, my social media scrolling delivered chuckles. One of them was in an ad for Five Below, chain store purveyors of inexpensive trendy things. A featured (and fascinating) item in today’s ads was a “stuffed animal storage chair.” 

Damn skippy, I could have used that storage chair when I was young and had tons of stuffed animals and I have adult friends and family who would probably like it now.  It might even look really cool stuffed with all my belly dance practice scarves and veils which are currently crammed into and overflowing a basket. New decorating quest? We’ll see.