Whether Weather; A trip to WalMart; Traveling to CVS; A return home and a break for lunch; A visit to the the hardware store and the reason why; A stop at Big Lots and the problems of uncontained candles; A sojourn to Barnes & Noble; Selecting an Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery; An aside about pardoning soldiers executed in WWI for battlefield cowardice; Selecting a John Rain novel and discovering a surprising fact about the largest ethnic Japanese community outside of Japan; A tramp to Best Buy and Bed, Bath and Beyond; Heading Home; Life-sized replicas of a nude Daniel Radcliffe in an aroused state; Life-sized cardboard display of Greg Louganis

Tuesday and Wednesday were warm.

But yesterday was blustery and rainy. And, of course, the day for running around doing first-of-the-month chores. Once or twice, the rain lashed and shook the car so severely, I wondered if I should get out and start building an ark.

(This reminds me of one of the most droll moments from "The Avenger." Parts of the kingdom of have been hit by tremendous rain storms. Steed and Mrs. Peel, "top professional, talented amateur," are sent to investigate. Along the way, they meet the usual number of eccentrics. One of whom, with long beard and flowing robe is convinced that it's the precursor to a Noah-like flood. Mrs. Peel visits him, and he immediately confronts her with, "Mrs. Peel, you should be out preparing for the flood!" Mrs. Peel (Diana Rigg), with a flip of her wrist, retorts, "Oh, I've made a down payment on a canoe.")

There used to be a house I would pass on the way to lunch from work, and there literally appeared to be a crudely-made white wooden arc in the backyard. And it was no small affair, for you could see several feet of it protruding above the top of the side fence.

Now, it feels chilly, but I know it will warm up as the day progresses.

Since, at present, I financially squeak by from month to month, there's always an accumulation of post-due chores that MUST be done on the first day of the month.

First was a quick zip through WalMart. Fortunately, I know where most things are, so I can map out a route ahead of time. The only item I couldn't find were matches, which instead of being in hardware were in the midst of an accumulation of small assorted kitchen gear.

Next stop was to pick up a partial order of Levacet at CVS. When I first called in the prescription a couple of weeks ago, the didn't have any. I went back a couple of days later, and they still didn't have any. A few days later, I stopped by again, and they had twelve of an order of sixty. The normal dosage is two every six hours for headaches. By now, I was out of money and couldn't go by. So finally yesterday, with wampum in the bank, I was able to pick up the remaining 48. Which was perfect, because I developed a nagging headache last night. And this morning, it was so bad, I was almost seasick.

I raced back home and threw everything on the kitchen table and headed for lunch. I try to get a table by the window, so I can catch the external light for easier reading. The inside lighting is a little too dim to read in comfort, I keep having to fold and twist and angle my magazine to be able to read anything. I wonder if I should give thought to buying a miner's helmet, one of those with a built-in lamp.

And I try to get there early to avoid the boisterous, surly crowds . I hate to say it, but the worst are those with two-or-three-year-old darlings. Because the urchin has no idea what it wants to eat, the adults go through a lengthy routine of trying our various dishes. All the while, I can feel myself turning into W.C. Fields. "How do you like little children, Mr. Fields?" "Parboiled, parboiled," he replies.

Next up was a stop at a hardware store to pick up special-ordered air filters for my heating/cooling systems. Most homes have filter areas that are standard in size. But not here, when the system was first put in, it was replaced within a couple of weeks, and the area re-configured. The air-handling unit opens onto a box, that used to be the bottom portion of a closet, and should be fairly air-tight, so that any incoming air must flow through the filter. The opening obviously had to approximately fit the size of the box. And somehow, the opening became 18-inches by 20-inches which is an odd size. which is only available by special order.

Through the rain I went to stop by Big Lots to buy some candles. I've discovered that unenclosed candles look lovely, but they burn very rapidly. And if they are not sitting in a bowl with raised sides, the wax will flow all over the place, as the candle reaches its bottom. Months ago, I sat a beautiful candle on a flat raised stand. It made a cheery flame and gave off a wonderful woodsy odor. Alas, I did not pay attention as it burned down. I came in to find that the wax had covered the stand, dripped over the side unto the storage unit in a puddle about the size of a large pancake, down the side of the storage unit onto the floor

By accident, I've discovered that Big Lots has the best prices on candles in a container, Elsewhere, the costs are at least double.

I made a fairly rare trip to B&N. Rare because I no longer live in the area, and I've had to drastically curtail buying books - one of my great public vices.

B&N sits on the bottom end of a northern slopping terrain. A fact that has literally flooded parts of the southern section of the store. Several years ago, they went through what appeared to be considerable reconstruction of the sidewalk outside. On one side and then the other of the entryway were these pits that resembled nothing less than an archeological dig. When it was finished, the only difference were these small drainage vents near the doorway. I'm not sure if or how that solved the problem. (You wonder what on earth the engineering firm had in mind when they designed the site.)

What it did not address was the parking lot. When it rains, there's a stream several inches deep along the drive in front of the store. And there's no way to bypass it to get to the store. I thought I'd be bold and butch and placed my already semi-soaked Nike into the stream. Well, it was no longer semi-soaked; now it was totally water-logged.

Once inside, I wandered around, looked for a couple of authors that I could remember. Their fiction section is not very deep or varied. I bought an Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery, by Charles Todd. The series of books take place after WWI, and Rutledge's "companion" is the voice of Hamish, the Scottish soldier he executed for battlefield cowardice. Something of a twist on the Holmes/Watson comradeship.

(In August, 2006, many soldiers who were executed received formal pardons. See "Pardon at last for shell-shocked soldier shot for war cowardice" "It is now thought that many of those shot for cowardice were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after enduring months of artillery bombardment in the trenches." One of the soldiers was Private Harry Farr, shot for cowardice in 1916 aged 25. "After Wednesday's announcement, Pte Farr's daughter Gertrude Harris, now 93, said: 'Well to be truthful, I'm overwhelmed. I prayed that it would happen in my lifetime but I never realised really that it would. It's come really as a shock today.' " Ah, the insanity of war!)

I also picked up a book on one of the discount racks, "Rain Storm" by Barry Eisler. The protagonist is Japanese-American John Rain, a hired assassin, employed by the CIA. I really did not think I'd be impressed, but I read a few pages last night, and was immediately hooked.

I read a few more pages this morning and came across a surprising fact. Do you know where the largest community of ethnic Japanese are outside of Japan? San Francisco? Nope. Los Angeles? Nope. New York City? Nope. London? Nope.

The answer is San Paulo, Brazil! I would never have guessed that. According to "Rain Storm," there are approximately one million ethnic Japanese living in Brazil with 600,000 in the San Paulo area.

Best Buy is around the corner, literally, from B&N, so it was my next port-of-call. I needed new external speakers for my laptop - for two reasons. The first set were cheap and crapy. Second, one of the felines had chewed through the laptop connector wire.

I wanted something not too expensive, but decent. I was not prepared for the fact that most cost over a $100. I found a set for about $40, and I'm hoping they will prove worthwhile.

Bed, Bath and Beyond is next door to Best Buy, so I was curious as to what they had in the way of incense. They have an impressive array of candles. But the second I saw a "Reed Diffuser," essentially sticks stuck in a small glass vial of aromatic oils, I knew I would not find any incense. In fact, an employee and I had a conversation about the inventory, and he was certain they no longer carried incense.

There's something about the use of Reed Diffusers in place of burning incense sticks that flies in the face of thousands of years of tradition. If I should ever visit a shrine in Japan, I'll be sure to take my Reed Diffuser with me. Maybe, I can just burn it, instead of incense.

By now, I was developing a headache, and I could tell I might have done too much, so I figured no more stops for me.

Even if a store had been given away latex. life-sized replicas of a nude Daniel Radcliffe in an aroused state, I would have passed on it. WELL, maybe I would have stopped purely for artistic and scientific analysis.

Years ago, WalMart had a life-sized cardboard display of Greg Louganis for Coppertone suntan lotion. I've been mad with myself ever since for not asking what they did with such displays when they were finished. "I have this poor little ten-year-old crippled niece who is such a big fan. She doesn't get a lot of attention with her mother being in the iron lung, and her father is always down at the bar drinking away the welfare check. I just know this would mean so much to her."

PAX! Erin Go Braugh!