So off to the local farm supply store Dear Farmer and the Wife go! It's date-night!
On the list: goat oats, new collar for polar bear(she's chewed off the other), and...fencing.
About three seconds outside the store the Wife realizes...she forgot her phone at home.
"Ugh!", says Dear Farmer, "Why do you even HAVE a phone?!"(This is a mute argument, everyone knows Wives have phones so they can leave them where they are not.)
The Wife says to Dear Farmer, "Don't worry. I'm a big girl! I can handle the farm supply store. I'll get what I need for the goats and the polar bear and I'll meet you in the fencing supply."
And so off they separate.
Dear Farmer goes off to the fencing supply.
The Wife detours to the kitchen gadgets, then rounds the corner to the canning supplies, over to the shoes...boots...children's boots...looks for all the sizes for the children who are needing shoes, realizes the boots cost more than she is willing to spend...over to the clearance racks for clothing..., down past the baby clothes(that are so darn cute! do we know anyone that is having a baby???), through all the garden supplies, checking out the seeds, meanders through the paint department(to grab some colors that she'll never get to paint, but wouldn't it be nice to dream), through the hunting section, over to the bikes, and the books, and the dog toys....picks up the collar for the polar bear, picks up the goats oats, and turns to the fencing...
where she finds Dear Farmer.
It's been an hour.
Dear Farmer is staring at a computer screen.
This is where he's to order the fence.
There's no one around to help him work the computer.
He looks at the Wife and growls, "I hate technology! I've been messing with this screen and I can't get it to the stuff I want!"
The Wife has two choices: Do it herself or find an associate.
She opts for the associate.
Over one aisle she finds an associate and explains a farmer needs his help.
He doesn't look surprised.
Dear Farmer tells the associate what he needs. The associate finds it, makes the screen work just fine, asks Dear Farmer if there is anything else he can help him with, and prints out the needed papers for the check out. Dear Farmer laughs with the associate about the "good ol' days" when a person spoke to another person and they handed them what they needed. The associate smiles and nods, then walks away...Dear Farmer figures the associate must be about twelve, "Had no idea what I was talking about.", he says.
Dear Farmer and the Wife go to the check out.
The cashier checks them out, she's about twelve as well.
They hand the cashier cash.
She looks at Dear Farmer almost sympathetically as she asks if he would like to open a credit card with the store.
Dear Farmer replies a solid, "No."
The cashier has to inspect the bills, draw on them with a marker, and then the computer tells her exactly what change to hand back.
She didn't have to do any math.
Dear Farmer and the Wife drive away with everything on the list. Most importantly the fencing...
On the way home the conversation is about how young everyone in looks these days, and how young the police officers are(do their mothers know they carry guns?!). They laugh about the not having to do math, and the credit card offers. They giggle about the computers that aren't Dear Farmer's friends.
It's the fun of the evening...it's the lighter side of a boring activity...it's life...Dear Farmer's life.
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