A near miss

This is a picture Sandy was asking about. As far as I can tell there are no hidden images though the arrow the fox is looking at is hard to notice. I find it appropriate for this post considering it looks like we dodged a bullet ourselves.


9/21/07 Friday
It was good to sleep in our bed last night though we were a bit restless. I had planned on putting the sealer on the front porch but predictably decided to go to bed instead. I was up at six and made coffee while I let Cherie sleep. She got up a half hour later because Carman kitty wasn’t as nice about letting her sleep in. After breakfast I put the sealer down and Cherie took care of her morning stuff. We both hurried so we could get the puppies. Missed em just like you would your children. Well they are our kids, ok?

Oh they missed us as much as we missed them. At the kennel I sat on the ground when the lady brought them in. It’s puppy attack time!!!! Lick, Lick, wriggle, climb on my shoulders, and lick some more. Got my face washed good. Done with me they went after Cherie next. Outside they jumped in the car in a flash. No coaxing needed here. Cherie had to work to keep them in the back seat on the drive home. Once here they have settled down a bit but still beg for attention. The kennel lady said they stayed in their cage the first day but after that came out and played with the other dogs. That’s good cause they need to get used to other dogs and people.

So back home I checked the oil, knowing it would need some after the nine hundred and sixty four mile drive to Albuquerque and back. I started it up to check on the transmission fluid and hearing a tapping sound looked closer. Whoa !!! What’s this??? I’ll be damned. You can see the remnants of where a rat started to build a nest and the surprise find is that the rat had chewed all the way through one of the spark plug wires and started on another.

We made that whole trip on three out of four cylinders. It’s amazing we didn’t break down or blow the motor. Where the speed limit was eighty I would set cruise control at eighty five. It’s a testament to the durability of the motor I suppose. Someone was looking out for us. There is no telling how long this has been in that condition. We are heading out to buy new wires and pick up Cherie’s prescription now so I’ll be back later.
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That was a fifty dollar rat. Gone are the days you could replace spark plug wires one at a time or even make up your own set. Now the auto makers are custom designing everything so you have to spend the big bucks for your parts.

When I went to start the truck the battery was once again dead. The intermittent short has returned. I jumped it from Cherie’s car and we went to Midland. First stop was Walfart for Cherie’s prescription and some oil. The truck was again dead but fortunately the lady across the space from us was just returning to her car and she agreed to give us a jump. From there we drove to Auto Zone for the plug wires. Cherie sat in the truck with it running while I went in. I wasn’t turning that truck off till we got home.

I just got done replacing the wires. Cherie is cooking something to eat. I heard her exclaim “There’s a bump” and went in to se what was up. Water has gotten under the sink of our new countertops and bubbled it up. The sink was never caulked. I think I was supposed to do that but like everything else it slipped my mind. Fact is it should have been done before the sink was installed and all the plumbing hooked up. I’ll have to unhook it to raise it up and put caulk underneath. I don’t have any of the good silicone stuff right now and the fifty dollar plug wires drained our account so we’ll have to wait for my check at the first of the month. I told Cherie to be real careful till then. The damage has already been done but there is no sense making it worse. We will run to the VA hospital at Big Spring and get the forty dollars I have coming for mileage to Albuquerque. That will come in handy.
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Got the travel mileage money and we made sure to deposit it to cover the cost of the spark plug wires. I noticed the air conditioner wasn’t cooling so I went to check on it. The water wasn’t feeding so I got my wrench and loosened it up. Chunks of what looked like thin green paper came out. Not good. This is the same stuff that had plugged up the sprinkler head on the hand unit I watered with. Called Leroy about it and he said it was probably algae and to put a half gallon of bleach down the well.

I planted the cactus we dug up on the way home. It’ll be interesting to see if it makes it. It’s depressing to see how far and fast the weeds are growing. If I had a lawnmower I could at least keep them at bay till I get the tiller running. That’s if I can get it running. The depression I fight all the time is trying to come back again. It’s hard to always be upbeat.