Speaking of Wolves

So Mr. Cardui and I were off on a brick and mortar shopping expedition because after a long and blustery life one of our fans died in the middle of an off-season heat spell.  What I mean to say is, we actually needed another fan to blow hot air out of our bedroom window and we needed it NOW.

The fan that died looks similar to the one in the top photo, except it was made by Bionaire and was in no way marketed as or considered to be "retro" when we bought it, which I guess was many years ago.  Suffice it to say the little guy did well by us, not only pushing a lot of air but also fit perfectly perched on the window sill and looked kind of cute as well.  A well built item of stainless steel, it finally bit the dust just as the early morning low hit about 78 degrees one day at the end of the soon to be legendary September 2012.  Hot weather predicted into the foreseeable future; we decide to try our luck at the local retailers.

I believe both the mister and I knew in our hearts this would be a futile quest.  Back to school had passed, Xmas was less than three months away.  The clerk at CVS directed us to the area where the fans had been replaced by portable heaters.  Similar experience at Walgreen's.  A saleswoman at Kohl's just shook her head while humming "Jingle Bells" or else that's what it sounded like.  Bed Bath and Beyond had a small stack of sorry dysfunctional looking leftover concept fans as close to the exit door as they could be without being outside the store . . . good bye summer merchandise!

At Lowe's I got momentarily distracted by the small display of Halloween decor in danger of being crowded off the shelves by Xmas stuff.  Before I knew what was happening, I hear Mr. Cardui's voice from way over in the far end of what used to be the patio shop, now chock full of fake trees and boxes of holiday lights.  He's calling: come quick, hurry.  I'm thinking, fans in the Xmas section?

Anyway turns out there was this cool, large spider on the floor by the 12 foot tall display of mini lights.  I believe some sort of wolf spider.  The body length (measured against the only tool I had in hand, my cell phone) including legs was 3/4 of a flip phone.  The critter skittered along the floor in an odd floating way; Mr. Cardui swears he saw it move sideways.

Did the spider come in a box of red and green lights?  Did it pop out of a freshly unfolded plastic tree, fresh from wherever such things are made and freed at last to roam the floor of Lowe's in search of unfamiliar prey?

After playing with the wolf spider awhile we did buy a fan at Lowe's, a large cheap inelegant plastic box fan that, admittedly, did feel pretty good the next couple of ridiculously hot October days.

Note to Retailers:  Southern California is a warm climate.  Sometimes people's stuff like fans break, and it's hard to plan ahead for this circumstance.  Fans are also often used to improve ventilation in dwellings, outbuildings, garages and places of business.  Air has been known to get stuffy even when it's not summertime.  There is no real reason consider fans a seasonal item.  Better to remove shoe polish to make room for fans year 'round . . . who polishes their shoes except at Xmas?

Stop making people that simply need to buy stuff feel like tools in your big genius marketing plan, okay?

Even though the heat wave is over, and maybe even rain in the forecast, no reason to rush through the season.
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