THE BRIDGE TO ANTIOCH

The bridge is directly above the image of the camera taking a picture of the bridge.

Today I again drove the hundred years and 20 miles from Rio Vista to Antioch.  Since there was only one errand--picking up our portable air conditioner at Lowes--Amber went with me.  Lowes is customer and dog friendly and one of the few places where I am able to buy things.  The employees there are evidently trained to be helpful, to not only find what you are looking for but to explain about how things work or what the relative merits of different models might be or how to use whatever widget you need.  In the other places I had looked yesterday, Best Buy and Target, I had to search diligently to even find an employee, and then the most information I could pry out of them was, "Against the back wall," or "Aisle 14," or whatever.  I was then left to stare stupidly at a row of boxes on which were printed letters, "BTU," whatever that is.  British Thermal Units?  Whatever that is. 

At any rate, the experience at Lowes was sufficiently positive that I not only bought an air conditioner  from them, but bought an air conditioner that they didn't even have.  The other two places actually had portable air conditioners in stock, or at least boxes for me to look at.  I thought it rather strange that I would make an extra drive to Antioch simply because of a friendly conversation with two men who told me things about air conditioners even though they didn't have any.  But the expected shipment did come in this morning, so we got our air conditioner.

Getting the air conditioner has cooled off not only the house but all of Rio Vista.  We were not able to install it because it had to be transported on its side, and has to wait 24 hours to get its innards back in place or it won't work correctly.  However, simply having an air conditioner was sufficient to change the weather, although this did not happen until evening and Amber and I spent the afternoon in heat stupors that precluded any useful activities.

But it did cool off as the sun went down, and we went to our current favorite rabbit place, the end of Poppy House Road, where the rabbits were also evidently invigorated by the cool breeze.  They were leaping about in such profusion that Amber hardly knew which one to go after next, and ran until she could hardly stagger.