Patience

I have lots of patience. Tons of patience. In fact patient friends get impatient with me because I'm so patient. My patience was (were?) tested today at the DMV. I don't know about other states, but California is really suffering from the bad economy and the state offices suffer even more.
So in I went at 9AM and 2 hours later got to go to the counter. I had only one question- How much would it cost to register a truck whose registration paper I had but we had not yet purchased because we didn't know how much the registration would be. I was told I don't answer questions. Huh? I thought he was joking so I asked again and was told he wouldn't give me the information until I had the title or bill of sale. Thinking he might be trying to tell me without breaking any rules I said"How much would it approximately cost to register a truck similar to this one?" Again"I can't answer that unless you have the title or bill of sale."
I walked out frustrated and really impatient with the whole set-up. I had made notes during my two hour wait on how often the clerks got up, walked to the back room, wandered over to visit with another clerk. We could hear them talking. It was not business. At first I thought maybe it was just me, but looking at the notes I realize there was a definite work slow down. The 35 people waiting in line and sitting in chairs were of no real concern to the clerks. The lady with the two kids hitting each other, crying and then being jerked around by mom didn't help either.
The real entertainment came when a new person took a number, looked at it, then looked at the number being served. The variety of expletives were interesting, but not real creative. The looks were priceless. I was #236 and when I walked in they were serving #189. Only one clerk was working at that time.
Enough!! Won't go back unless I have to. They didn't even have a cafeteria, or taco wagon or a vending machine.
This morning at 6:15 we got a phone call from a lady, Tina, who had rescued a really thin horse. We were able to help her with ideas on how to try to put some weight on the horse. She has decided even on her very limited income to help this poor creature. If you can help Tina please, call her at 530-693-4399. Even $10-15 a month would allow her to give this horse a chance. She'd also like to have some suggestions for a name.
It's kind and caring people like Tina who make the world a better place.
Early afternoon we got a call from someone who wanted a pony. Since none of our animals are sold or rehomed we were glad to recommend HorsePlus as a place to check for a pony.
Aaron the farrier came today and several horses got a hooficure. Little Sugar really needs one, too, but she ran the three of us in circles until we were exhausted. I'll try trickery tomorrow.
Then Anna and Michael brought a pizza and 2 ice creams and we had a good dinner together.
It's been a day that makes me glad that our critters are here. The nickers, hugs and love looks make the bad things disappear. I can feel the well of patience refilling. (But I hope it's not tested for a while yet).