A Trip to the Vet and Then a Parade

Saturday morning was time for The Tide’s annual appointment at the vet’s office for shots and a check-up. I scheduled the appointment a couple of months ago to insure that we would have the first appointment of the day, otherwise, we would end up waiting for who knows how long. A vet’s office is just like a doctor’s office; the later in the day you go, the longer you have to wait.

We arrived about 15 minutes early for our 8:00 a.m. appointment. I planned to just sit in the car, but The Tide would have none of that. The Tide, you see, loves to go to the vet’s office. I’m almost certain she’s the only dog in the world that looks forward to her annual visit. The only thing I can think is that she remembers fondly the days she lived there after her hip surgeries. Who knows; but at any rate she always gets excited when we turn into the parking lot.

As we were sitting in the parking lot, The Tide started whining and pacing in the back set and nudging my shoulder with her nose. She couldn’t wait to get out. I was a little slow to get out of the car thanks to my fall the night before and my impatient dog kept nudging me and nudging me until I finally got out of the car. She ran over to the door wanting to go inside but not realizing that she was still going to have a bit of a wait.

The Tide, anxiously awaiting the opening of the vet's office.

Once they finally opened, she ran inside as if she might not ever get to go again; even the guy working there said to her, “You sure are glad to be here.” We were finally called back and The Tide was weighed (64.2 pounds) and tested for heartworms (negative) and also had her nails trimmed. Then she got her yearly shots, a year’s supply of heartworm medicine, and some ointment for a sore she has on her belly and a lot of money later we were on our way out the door.

We made it home a little before 9:00 and I did some cleaning and then a few minutes after 11:00, my dad came and picked me up for the parade. My mother didn’t feel like going and I made the decision not to take The Tide along as she can sometimes be unruly when she’s out in public.

We found a spot down close to the front of the route near Church Street and snacked on sunflower seeds until the parade began. The Rocket City Rednecks were the Grand Marshalls of the parade; an odd choice in my opinion but no one asked me I guess.

The Alabama A&M band was the first band to come through and one of the first groups as well. I always enjoy seeing them

Mayor Tommy Battle came through on an old fire engine.

There were search dogs from HEMSI.

The downtown trolley made an appearance as well.

There were clowns from the Huntsville Hospital Klown Club.

Lots of horses made the parade, even ones with Christmas painted hoofs.

Mary and Joseph even showed up!

There were old cars.

And my favorite car – the Volkswagen Carmengia.

The J.O. Johnson band as well as Grissom and Huntsville and Lee marched by too! The Grissom drummers decorated their drums with tinsel.

And of course, it wouldn’t be a parade without Santa at the end!

In all, it was a pretty good parade. Oh, and there was a lady across the street from us who cracked me up the whole time. Each time a car would go by she would yell, “Rev it up!” and she also yelled at all the dancers that came by which was hilarious! It was a lot better than we thought it was going to be. Maybe we had really low expectations because Candy didn’t think it was that good. My dad wore a crazy Santa hat and got lots of compliments on it. I wore an Alabama sweatshirt and got lots of “Roll Tides!” The parade last a little less than two hours but it was an enjoyable time if I do say so myself.

My dad and his Santa hat

Ready for the parade!

I would like to go to the parade of boats at Ditto Landing but haven’t been able to find any information on it. Does anyone know if they do that anymore? It’s the time of year for lots of fun activities. What have you all got going on?