Yay! Two lovely sites, both from the same source, on how to avoid common spelling/grammar errors and on how to properly deploy an apostrophe! 

Read them. No, really. They are both useful and pretty funny.

On the way out to South Dakota for Ides of March this weekend, I stopped to get gas. (OK, so I had failed to stop to get gas in a timely manner and my car had been crying for some miles, past several exits without gas stations.) Finally, an exit for Houston claimed to have a gas station. While that sign was *technically* correct, it failed to mention that the gas station was some miles off the main drag, which I figured out too late, and at that point I needed to stick it out since I was running on fumes. So, several miles down the road, I finally find the "gas station," - a single rather rickety looking pump in front of a dilapidated building. The front window is so dirty I cannot see whether there are lights on inside or not and the door is near-covered in poorly-spelled handwritten signs, roughly 70's vintage by the look of them. There does not appear to be anyone around at the gas station or anywhere on the street.

(Cue zombie movie music.)

There being no credit card slot on the ancient gas-only-comes-in-one-grade pump, I went in the store to see if I needed to prepay. Not better. The inside is filled with broken... stuff. Some of it is clearly car related, some I'm not so sure, but there are piles of rusty, dusty things everywhere... or at least everywhere that there is not oily cans and rags. I locate a fellow in the back room, behind the 100% manual ancient-typewriter-type-key cash register, and explain I'd like to buy some gas he tells me (displaying all three of his teeth) that the pump is not locked. On one wall there is a handwritten sign (clearly dated from the early 80's) saying that no personal checks are allowed. I have the presence of mind to ask whether I may pay by credit card and of course the answer is cash only. (Now, I rarely carry cash, but thank the gods for the $20 petty cash I stash in my car for emergencies - granted, it is much more often used-book related emergencies than cash-only gas station emergencies, but there you have it.) So, I go back out and carefully pump no more than $20 of gas. I go back in and tell the fellow my total and hand him the $20. He looks at me, looks somewhat suspiciously at the  twenty, squints at the register and slowly, deliberately, and apparently with some mental effort, pokes in the transaction and counts out my $1.23 in change. "Change," he dully said as he handed it to me. I muttered some pleasantries about thanks and nice day and fled, really pretty sure that the zombies were going to come crawling out of the piles of stuff in the corners at any second. It was good to get back in the car and out of there! :P 

******

Sadly, I did not learn my lesson adequately. On the way home, I was fighting a serious crosswind and so had significantly less-good mileage than I usually get out of the Fabulous Fit and was running alarmingly low as I approached Austin. I pulled off at the first exit (Austin City Limits?) and drove onto the driveway the name-brand gas station. Except that said driveway was loose gravel. Loose gravel with a pit big enough to eat the Fabulous Fit in a single gulp. I saw said Pit of Undercarriage Despair just in time and swerved around it. I can't believe they did not have it marked in some manner because really, if it had been other than broad daylight, the hole was right in front of the entrance, just past a little camouflaging rise, and I never would have seen it in time. Big mighty trucks may have cleared it, high-clearance vans may have been OK, but little compact cars? No way. Barely a snack for the Pit. I quickly filled the tank and carefully circumnavigated the Pit. Perhaps less dramatic than the adventure on the way out, but enough to make me think about the pattern...

******

This weekend's adventures confirms the Hixton (pronounced Hick's-ton) Rule - if a town's name advertises trouble and/or defects- Avoid! Avoid! Avoid!  (If you have never stopped in Hixton, WI, I would really recommend you not... ask for the story some time.) Apparently, Texas should be avoided too...

Well, I suppose we can make an exception for the main Austin exit, though, but ONLY for the purpose of suspicious tinned meat products - the Spam Museum being one of the great joyous wonders of Minnesota, after all. ;)

You know how when you were a kid, your mom would pack that *extra* special treat in your lunch box just so you would know you were loved? Maybe it was your favorite sandwich, maybe a home baked cookie, maybe a special sugary treat she didn't usually buy...

Here's a treat to tuck into the armor bag for your favorite fighter, so they can have that special love-through-electrolytes feeling -



That's right! An individual serving (3.7 oz) of pickles that no one else has had their nasty sweaty fighter fingers in... and a little cup of pickle juice to finish! Love in a foil-topped cup! 



(Sorry for the multi-posting today - I had several items and wanted to make sure they all had searchable tags/titles for later when I'm trying to find the links!)