Hot Pink Pepper Spray and MEN!

 
Yeah, I'm finding out that the gene pool out here isn't so hot. Nothing drives me crazier than when a man treats me like I'm not intelligent because I'm a woman.
 
 
 
I have this AWESOME mechanic (too bad he's married, lol). Lately, he hired an assistant that I know from when I used to work at a law firm. The assistant has been in prison for 20 years and who am I to deny someone a 2nd chance?  He did some maintenance work on my van recently, and later, I noticed that my 2 front tires were going flat. That same day, my windshield wipers decided to destroy themselves when it had started snowing. So I took it into the shop, told the assistant about what was going on, gave him new windshield wipers to put on once he figured out if it was the arm, the motor, or what. And then I took a seat, pulled out my quilting, and waited.... Another guy was standing at the door, watching what was being done in the shop through the window. All of a sudden he just starts ROARING with laughter and turns to me and says... “well, that guy didn't listen.... he just annihilated your wipers”. GRRR. Then the assistant comes in, orders new wipers, and goes back into the shop – I didn't say anything. I can see him through the window... he'd work on the van for 5 minutes, disappear for 15, work on it for another 5, disappear... TWO HOURS LATER, his boss comes out, tells me that when the assistant put on the tires, he didn't have the bead right and that's why my tires were going flat (GRRR) and then I get CHARGED for the wipers. HEY! So I told the boss what had happened, he went into the shop to talk to the assistant, then came out and took off the charges. So then, as I was getting ready to leave, I asked the assistant to show me what he did (so I know how to fix it myself in the future because I was sure it was going to break again), and the assistant proceeds to chew me out for telling his boss! Seriously. So yesterday, it snowed... and I turn on my windshield wipers... and they go flying off. NICE. I fixed them myself.
 
 
 
I recently got asked on a date. Actually, I should say dates. First guy – really nice – I've known him for a few years, he's about 10 years older than I am, but LIES to me constantly. He's always telling me he's out of money, can't afford his medications, and then I just happen to see him about every day going into the casino. (sarcasm – sure, I just want another relationship with a guy just like my X - NOPE.)
 
 
 
Second guy – seems nice – I know his X and she's really nice too. One day he and I get to talking about dogs, I tell him about my “zoo”, and then he goes on to tell me about how he had this dog, never kept it contained in his yard, told his rancher neighbor to go ahead and shoot it if the dog ends up chasing cattle (I'm not kidding), and then when the rancher DOES shoot at it, the dog comes limping back with a bullet in it's leg and this guy takes it out behind his house and kills it. (more sarcasm - Yeah, that's appealing... .NOPE.)
 
 
 
So last weekend, after I posted that I was interested in doing a hike on Meetup, there was only one other person who signed on.... a guy from Minneapolis who had no photo and no details about his interests. And normally I wouldn't care, but we've got two cases of missing persons out here. It appears the first one disappeared from her home after having gone grocery shopping (she's 56 years old, lives alone). Her car was still in the yard, but she didn't show up for an appointment the next day. That was October 4th, and there's been no word on her whereabouts since. The second one was apparently jogging and never returned. Searches found a shoe, but that's it....
 
 
 
So, when I saw that only one person signed up for the hike, I got nervous. Claudia told me that when she first signed onto Meetup, she went out hiking with a guy solo, and he was also new to the area. She then went on to tell me about how he wanted to go “off trail”, didn't have a map or a compass, and then as they were wandering through the thick brush, he told her that she didn't have anything to worry about because he was carrying a gun. (Sarcastically - Yeah, if some guy I didn't know was trying to lead ME off trail into the woods after saying he had a gun, it'd be GOOD BYE!)
 
 
 
And to make things even more scary, another friend said “Chandra Levy” when I told her about the solo person for my hike. Yeah, that's just what I needed to hear (I had nightmares that night). But luckily, when the morning came, 6 other people had signed up and we had a great time.
 
 
 
But the last missing person incident has really freaked me out. I have pepper spray anyways for when I'm biking (mountain lion country), but it expired a year ago, so I went to pick up new stuff. And yep, it's HOT PINK! COOL! After years of living with men, and learning to understand them (scary I know), it's kinda nice to be a little girly again.