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Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Long time, no see

Summer is beginning to wind down, although you can't exactly tell from where I'm sitting. Our A/C went belly up last week and we've been toughing it out for the most part. Also semi-roughing it by setting up the tent in the back yard. My eldest padiwan ran an electrical cord out and set up the TV and her x-box. While I marvel at her cleverness, I can't help but wonder if that was time spent best. All of us have been working, running around town and generally keeping busy, only coming home at night. With temps in the house reaching the mid-nineties, I transferred all my mead over to a friends house to keep cool. It was as if I gave him the keys to the hen house, which I basically did. Then I brought out my inventory list and showed him every bottle was accounted for and not to get any ideas. His smile lessened slightly when I also reminded him these needed to age a few more months. By which time they would be back in my properly cooled house.
So just a few more days of this and we should be fine. We've gotten through worse.
The other day my mead-holding friend called me an hour before I got off work to ask for a favor. 
When you own a truck, there are two things people will ask you: 
a.) Will you help me move? and b.) Can I get a jump? I always carry two ratchet straps and a set of cables for just such an emergency. Unfortunately, I also had to get my daughter for our three times a week tutoring. About two hours of rush hour traffic later I show up, cables in hand.
The battery was dead, no doubt about it. Batteries work great right up until they don't. I wish there was a bit more warning than that. It wasn't even my friend's car. It belonged to his roommate. Adding insult to injury, my friend didn't have a wrench or pliers to remove the bolts. So, back to my house to get my tools. Upon returning, I told my friend to go ahead and loosen the bolts while I wrap the cables up. From the other side of my car, I watched him strip two bolts from the terminals. He sheared the heads clean off.
This short job just became longer.
"Righty- Tighty!" I reminded him with the most patient voice I could summon. (God, I deserved a medal for that.) Taking over for my mechanically challenged buddy, I not-so-jokingly asked him for his man card.
Three years old and the battery could only hold the bare minimum of charges: 6 to 7 volts. By the time we got back from the auto store, the sun had long set. However, the lights would dimly come on once the battery was put in. It still wouldn't turn over, even with another jump. He would have to bite the bullet and buy his roomie a new battery, there was nothing I could do for the old one.
Once home and a bit closer to my bed time than I'd like, I sent a text message to the roommate: That when the battery was bought, I would put it in and not trust his roomie with the task. What an end to a 16 hour day.
Meanwhile, I'm looking in my garage for some spare bolts that will fit and hold things together.
There are times when I don't think I have my act together, then along comes a misadventure like the one described above and I think to myself: How do some people manage to dress themselves each morning?
Because of the camp site rule, (leave it better than when you found it.) I'm considering putting a video together for my peers. 'Basic things you need in your toolbox and how to use them correctly.'


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