(Almost An) Exercise In Futility

Huh boy.

After a four hour drive home to Connecticut from New Hampshire Motor Speedway yesterday, we arrived at 8:30 p.m., hungry and tired.

We unloaded the car, and shepherded two dogs, a weekend's worth of dirty laundry, and various and sundry possessions into the house, and I started to throw something together for dinner.

Naturally, I needed Mr. W to dash to the local convenience store for a needed ingredient. That was the moment we realized that I had misplaced the car key...

I retraced my steps from the time I exited the car in the driveway to the time I stood keyless in the kitchen. I went out and searched the car. I checked the ignition switch, the cup holder thingy between the front seats, the floor, the back seat, the back seat floor ... nothing. It was too dark to see the driveway, and of course the only flashlight we could find had no batteries. I came inside and scanned the floors, the shelves, the mantlepiece, the coffee table, the kitchen counters ... nothing. I checked my coat pockets, my jeans pockets ... nothing. I sifted through the pile of mail on my desk ... nothing.

For much of the night, I lay awake trying to figure out where the wretched key could be. It isn't at all like me to lose things! I am really very organized and tidy!

This morning, I started the washing machine with our weekend's worth of laundry in it. Then it dawned on me that perhaps the key had been accidentally tossed into the washer yesterday evening, along with the clothes. I stopped the cycle and pawed through the wet, soapy load ... nothing. I went outside and combed every inch of the gravel in the driveway ... nothing. I peered into every blade of grass lining the path from the driveway to the house ... nothing.

Today's challenge is "Exercise", so I decided to put aside my key worries and take Sally for a walk with my camera at the ready to record our energetic progress, and when I reached into the basket that holds all the dog paraphernalia, guess what I found?