Fuel pump's in

6/6/09 Saturday
Here’s the update for the continuing saga of the Westbrook family. I GOT THE NEW FUEL PUMP IN. And it works. The sucker cost $290 after tax. Hope it lasts. Putting the truck back together is the final issue. Cherie was ecstatic when I told her. I had just gotten it hooked up at 4:30, which is when I must leave to pick her up from work. By then I was done working on the truck. I can’t really remember but I probably hurt too much to try and lift the bed. Now I remember, we had stopped by Matt’s garden on the way home. I had seen him working there on the way to pick up Cherie and it dawned on me that he would be able to help me put the truck bed back in place. Before that I couldn’t think of anyone I could ask to do that. Well, there are a lot of people I could ask but I just was uncomfortable imposing on them. Unfortunately Matt was busy getting everything picked and cleaned for his farmer’s market the next day so it was a bad time to ask. We talked as he worked and then I excused us to get out of his hair. Cherie fixed dinner and then we went out and weeded a bit. I should have gotten my wheeled seat so I wouldn’t have to bend over but didn’t. Just enjoyed working alongside Cherie. It didn’t take long before I had to call it quits and come in, take a pain pill, and lay down. That was pretty much it for the day.

I had turned on the water to most of the garden plots and set the timer on my cell phone to go off when it was time to shut it off. Good thing I did because I had totally forgotten about it. I’d already stripped out of the dirty clothes and was in bed when the alarm went off. That was about 10:30 so I just put my boxers on and my slippers and, grabbing a flashlight to check for rattlesnakes, went out and turned it off. I like living in the country where you don’t have to worry about walking around in your underwear, at least not after dark. During the day is different as there is lots of traffic. A funny thing happened a few months ago when Cherie had called me to check out the curtains she had just put up in the living room. I didn’t have a stitch on and didn’t think about it but it was a night and the lights were on. As I examined the curtains in the window a van drove by and honked. There’s no question that they got a full shot of Bob. I instinctually waved at them, not thinking about my exposure until seconds later, after they had already gone by. Cherie laughed so hard she almost peed her pants. No telling what kind of gossip that generated.

This morning I went to pick up the puppies. We planned on giving them a bath and brushing their fur to make them as attractive as possible for the adoption thing at Pet Smart. Both of the puppies are sick and the nurse said they might have Parvo. That is usually deadly for puppies, very few survive. We will know more Monday. I sure wish people would stop dropping their dogs off here.

I worked on the garden much of the day and planned on trying to put the truck bed back on after it cooled off. That was about an hour ago. Cherie came out to see if she could help. I had her just try and lift a corner to see if she could do it with out straining something. She could so we worked on getting it back in place. Cherie gave out after a few minutes but by then we had gotten it over the biggest hurdle. Unfortunately a big thunderhead was getting close and had kicked up quite a sand storm so we all had to come in, even Rascal and Trixie. But the truck bed is in place. All I have to do is bolt it in and put the bumper back on. If the storm settles down I’ll do it this evening but otherwise it will have to wait. The blowing sand is much worse at ground level and even when it’s not blowing hard there’s a ton of it moving at six inches or so off the ground. When your laying underneath a truck that’s a lot of sand in the eyes, ears, mouth, and any other orifice it can find. Hell, I had my pockets filled with sand when working at ground level.

So that’s the update. I think I’ll skip church tomorrow to try and get as much done as I can before we hit the hundred degree mark again. It was a scorcher today and is forecasted to be one again tomorrow.

We went to Aldridge nursery at 2:00 today to attend a seminar being given by one of the owners of an organic enterprise in Austin. The seminar was canceled but the owner was there with a booth she had set up. We talked quite a lot about my plans for this place and she was a wealth of information. They have quite an operation and much of it is similar to what I have in mind. We’re talking a million dollar operation with an eight acre base. I’ll post their website later. I don’t know about the million dollar part for sure but had heard that from the person who told me about the seminar. Regardless, she is well connected in the organic community and is excited about what we want to do. She wants us to keep in touch and she will help as much as she can.

That’s it for now. If the wind has died down I’ll crawl under the truck. If not I will weed and perhaps finally plant some seeds in the seed starting set up that I have yet to use.