Veterans Day ... Kind Of An Important Day

Wednesday I was assigned to work early, which meant I could leave early.  And that was good because it gave me enough time to go home and dump all the leaves at the county compost site before it got too late and too dark.  So I get there and the entrance is padlocked.  What happened?  And that's when a driver coming from the dog park parking lot right next to the compost site rolled down her window and said, "It's Veterans Day."  And I let out a huge aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think this is the first time I've been thwarted from doing something because it was Veterans Day.  Or maybe it was.  Anyway, I was at my bank a long time ago.  I was at the entryway where an ATM is accessible, but I saw that the lights in the bank were dim and no one was there.  I think I was just there to get money.  But while I was doing that, someone came in and tried to open the door.  "What happened?" he ostensibly said.  And come to think of it, I knew the bank was closed because it was Veterans Day and I told him.  And I think he groaned too, just not as loudly nor as long as I did.

No disrespect meant, but Veterans Day ain't one of The Big Six Holidays, and it is date-fixed, meaning you can't just passively remember that everything's closed, like, the second Monday in November.  So it'll trip me up again in the future, and the people who had to turn away from the compost site entrance will forget when they're doing something on a future Veterans Day.

Because of that embarrassment, I really wanted to be done with dumping these leaves.  And it just so happened I did it after work the next night, yesterday/Thursday evening.  I thought it was best to do it on a weeknight instead of my original plan of doing it Saturday morning, when everybody might be at the site.  Also, I was able to get out of work early because of this global meltdown that affected all Microsoft products; we use Outlook at work, and most of my work involves e-mailing.  So, I couldn't do any more work, and I took this act of God as a sign to dump the leaves that day, and so I went home before the Sun set, put all nine bags of leaves back into my parents' minivan (I took them out after being turned away the night before because I don't want the smell of leaves permeating the van), drove through the (unlocked) entrance, and dumped all my yard waste.  And now I'm done with it.

I thank all veterans for their service.