I felt like a walking disaster today. Nothing went wrong at home this morning, other than the usual fifty trips upstairs to get things I forgot to bring down, and take things up that I forgot to grab on the last trip. The trouble started a block away, when I stopped at the post office to mail a few things. When I walked in the door, I was immediately struck by the smell of something burning. I thought maybe the baseboard heaters were set too high, or a box or envelope had fallen on top of them. The postmaster was in the lobby pulling things away from the wall and cleaning behind them. She had called the fire department and somebody had come over and inspected the building. She told me he'd gone back to the station a couple of blocks away to get a thermal imager and when I was pulling out of the parking area, one of the village fire engines was pulling up with red lights flashing.

I didn't think too much of it other than to hope the post office was not on fire because then I'd just wasted the time, effort and money to write and mail a couple of letters, forward a packet of mail, and send a gift. From the post office I went to Lowe's to pick up some moving supplies for my daughter. Nothing bad happened there except that they didn't have what I was looking for.

From Lowe's I went to Kohl's to see if something I've had my eye on was on sale. It wasn't, but I did grab a couple of dog sweaters that were on clearance. As I was checking out, the fire alarm above the door went off. It was loud and piercing and the strobe light was flashing. I clapped my hands over my ears, as did the cashier and my brain immediately went into panic mode and I couldn't think coherently enough to swipe my card until the noise finally stopped. There were no announcements and no efforts to evacuate the store, so I thought it must be either a test or a malfunction.

I walked out of Kohl's and just as I stepped into the crosswalk, a fire alarm on the end of the strip mall started blaring. Hm... sounds like some weird electronic malfunction going on, right? I got in my car and was busy plugging in my phone and adjusting my seatbelt while waiting for the elderly couple parked beside me to pull out when the alarm in the pickup truck behind me started honking and flashing. It was at this point I realized that I was the common denominator in all of these odd incidents.

I'm happy to report that nothing untoward occurred when I dropped off the packing supplies at my daughter's apartment and walked her dog. However, when I got to my own house, Boo kept backing away from me and barking at me. I'll be staying home the rest of the day.