Slowly, I slip further and further behind, but in the number of words written and in the material that I have been hoping to cover. If I ever do get some time to really sit down and write without distractions, I’ll have plenty to say.

Yet this evening is another evening of distractions. As the work day was winding down, I saw an alert flash by on Twitter about an overturned motor vehicle on the parkway near the exit I normally get off on, on my way home. The alert said the road was closed and it could be four hours before it would be cleared.

Kim had an evening meeting for work, so I was supposed to pick up Fiona from extended day at her school. It wasn’t clear if I could make it on time. We exchanged phone calls and she tried contacting various people to be able to pick up Fiona if I couldn’t make it on time.

I checked Google Maps which seems to take into consideration at least some traffic information, and it projected my commute home would take over an hour. I would not make it to the school on time. However, I had plotted a different course that takes less than an hour.

I set up the GPS on my cellphone to let me know of the turns. It also tells me how long it was expecting me to get home. Initially, it was saying an hour and ten minutes. As I approached the next exit, it suggested that I get off at the exit and turn around to go back to the my normal route that I knew would be significantly delayed.

When I passed the exit, the screen would flash, “Recalculating”. It would then say that it would take even longer for me to get home, and suggest I turn around at the next exit. The phone repeated this several times until it was saying it would take me an hour an a half. Then, it recalculated a new route, the one I had been planning on, and all of a sudden, it was telling me that I would be home in forty minutes.

That was at about 5:18. If it was right, I could pick up Fiona with two minutes to spare. I called Kim and she called around. She let her father know that I would pick up Fiona. She let the school know that I might be a little late, but I shouldn’t be that late.

Yet coming from the new direction I was coming, I would pass the school before getting home, so I would actually be there even earlier. Ultimately, I arrived with about ten minutes to spare.

It was still crowded at the school. Not only were many parents delayed because of the traffic on the parkway, but others we delayed by the traffic that had spilled off of the parkway onto the side streets.

At home, the immediate order of business was to attend to Wesley. I took him outside and he sniffed around for a bit and then went back inside. He didn’t seem to need to go pee. However, he was very thirsty and I got him some water. With the cone around his head so that he won’t lick his wounds, he also has problems getting to his food dish, so I sat on the floor, holding a small food dish for him. He ate voraciously.

There wasn’t much for food in the house so I ordered pizza. There is a great new pizza place the next town over and we ordered two small ones. As we waited, I sat with Wesley on the floor. He really seemed to need the attention.

A bit later,, he asked to go outside again, and after a few trips, he finally went pee. As we walked around outside, we could hear the horns honking on the distant parkway. Through the woods, I could see the lights of cars backed up a long ways.

Finally, the pizza came. Fiona and I ate several slices and she gave a couple crusts to Wesley.

When I got a chance to sit down and write, I saw other news alerts flashing via twitter. Normally, it is a distraction I don’t mind. I pick up important information along the way. The accident on the parkway apparently claimed two lives. Other distractions can be amusing. There are a few people that I follow on twitter who post some various humors messages. Other messages become humorous only because of the mixed contexts. For example, this evening there is another GOP debate going on. At the same time, there are Tweetchats about health care and about cooking. I sometimes have to stop and figure out what people are looking for a recipe for.

I grabbed a few minutes to write, but I really need to sit down with Wesley a little bit more.