Spiffy in the Airport...

I had a few minutes to kill in the airport today waiting for my flight to depart.Nothing like some shiny shoes to make for a comfortable flight, I say.

Luggage Report: Where is Mine?

This is the beautiful view flying into Washington Dulles International Airport, presumably somewhere over Virginia. Little bit of snow, nice landscape.This is the view of happy travelers at Dulles, walking about with their luggage, eager to get on with their day - perhaps check into a hotel and brush their teeth.This is the baggage carousel at Dulles where United was supposed to put my luggage after it came on a direct flight from San Antonio. You might note that no luggage seems to be coming out. That's because most of the other people on the direct flight from San Antonio to Dulles all had their luggage, but for some reason, my colleagues and I, all who arrived over an hour before our flight, got on our plane without delay, but our luggage didn't.

These things happen I suppose. I did get my luggage (and my toothbrush) just after 5AM.

The Package has Been Shipped...

Like some sort of covert operation underway, I sent my daughter a text message moments earlier; "The package has been shipped" and with less than a year in the military under her belt, she responded with a quick text, "Roger That".

And so I returned to the house empty handed and the big dog, Gracie looked at me with puzzled eyes. I had only left a short while before with the little dog, Panda, and now I was home, and now it was Gracie laying in the coveted dog bed beneath the desk in my office that the two dogs would often compete for.

When my daughter and her husband moved to New Jersey, she had made it pretty clear that she wanted Panda, her little dog, to go live with her in the snow. And that is fine, but I guess I didn't expect it to really happen. So when she called me Thursday and said she was ready, I was a bit surprised. I immediately started in with all the required details and forms and logistics and such, only a little hoping to convince her to forget the idea. But she was pretty confident in wanting Panda and willing to pay.
So, Friday, Panda and I made a little trip to the vet to make sure she was up to date on shots and such and to get the certificate of health to fly. Then, my wife and I went to PetSmart to get a bigger dog carrier because the one we had seemed awfully small for a trip between San Antonio and Philadelphia.
And it is cold in New Jersey, so Panda had to have a new jacket to fly in.Last night I gave her a nice bath just to make sure she would smell fresh for her big day of air travel - though if she pees or poops in the cage, that freshly bathed smell won't last long.

I had to be at the Air Cargo terminal by 6am this morning to drop Panda off. I never use an alarm clock since my natural body clock wakes me up around 5am every day. But just to be sure, I asked my wife to set her alarm for 5:05am. Sure enough, when her alarm went off at 5:05am, I was sound asleep. That's odd. I got up to brush my teeth and for some reason the clock in the bathroom said 4:06am. I looked at the clock on the wall and it also said 4:06. When I was done brushing my teeth, I went out to the bedroom and my wife's alarm clock said it was 5 but my digital clock said it was only 4. WTF? Oh well. So I've been up since 4:05 this morning.The girls got up with me and I let them run outside into the chilly morning air and do their collective business and play around in the yard as I brewed a pot of coffee. I don't think there is anyway to tell two dogs to hug one another or say their goodbyes, so I just let them play. And then I grabbed Panda's travel cage, went out and heated up the van and set the Garmin for 10000 John Saunders Road. With that, I put Panda's little pink jacket on and we were off. Gracie went back to bed.
Here is a nice little piece of information for you if you ever have to go to 10000 John Saunders Rd, Suite 39 by the San Antonio Airport. You can't get to that building from John Saunders Rd. Yea, turns out that the building may technically located at that address, but it is fenced off by an Avis car rental place. You have to get to the Air Cargo place near the Airport Post Office over off of Jones-Maltsberger. But we found it, filled out the appropriate paper work, paid the man and chatted with a lady who was shipping a little Chihuahua some place. She is an old pro at shipping dogs and told me not to worry.

But as I left building to walk out to the van, I could hear a slight whimper. It could have been Panda or any of the other dogs (apparently, lots of dogs get shipped right before Christmas), but regardless, it gave me that little wince of sadness. Just a little.

And as soon as I got in the van and turned on the radio, the whimpering was gone and I thought happier thoughts of how excited my daughter will be this afternoon when she finally gets her dog and Panda gets to pee in the snow for the first time. I hope she takes pictures...