October 2, 2004
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NO PIX
No pictures from today’s water run, dammit! And it wasn’t just a
routine run, either. We had a flat tire, probably drove down
there on a flat. That would explain the rough ride. But I
was too busy worrying about the parking brake to think of a tire.
I’d put the brake on when we stopped at the mailbox, and it froze in
place. I’m not in full winter mode yet. I know better than
to use my parking brake in winter.The neighbor who came while we were filling our buckets stated the
situation succinctly: “Winter’s early.” Indeed, we skipped
fall altogether. Literally skipped a lot of the falling of the
leaves. Having snow on the ground while there are still green
leaves on trees is not usual here. I still have some adjusting to
do.This water run was a spur of the moment decision. I noticed this
morning that we were running low and would need water before Tuesday,
Doug’s next scheduled dishwashing day. He has been keeping the
kitchen clean, washing dishes every Tuesday and Friday for three
weeks. I love it and I’m not likely to let him run out of water
and have an excuse to let the dishes pile up. It is
slightly inconvenient having to snake a plate that’s too wide to go
through the door straight, off a stack that’s a bit too tall for the
space, but I can fix that by packing away a few of those plates to give
us room to tilt the plates and get them out diagonally. Now that
he’s doing dishes regularly, we really don’t need that many plates
anyway.Anyhow, since it had clouded up overnight after yesterday’s brilliant
sunshine, I decided to check the weather forecast to see if there might
be a more pleasant day coming up tomorrow or Monday. Both the
National Weather Service and weather.com told us that this morning was
the best time available, and it’s supposed to precip this
afternoon. Whether it rains or snows will depend on variables
impossible to compute at this time.I’ll try to paint you a few word pictures of the trip:
At the mailbox, I got out to see what was sticking up at the edge of my
windshield and making little thumps each cycle of the wiper. It
was a piece of the weather stripping from the bottom of the windshield,
torn loose in some over-enthusiastic ice-scraping by Doug. Oh,
well, at least I hadn’t had to do the scraping myself. Life has
its tradeoffs.As I crouched by the spring filling water jugs, the neighbor pointed
out our flat tire to Doug. He yelled down to me and I yelled back
that it explained the rough ride and funny noise he’d noticed. (“I
really must get into the habit of a preflight walkaround.,” I thought. This is something I’ve been telling myself for how many years now?)
I looked up a bit later to tell Doug to get out the little inflater
that plugs into the cigarette lighter, and saw him reaching into the
back seat. I assumed that he’d anticipated my instructions.
I was wrong. He was getting out the spare tire. He also
moved the full buckets he’d already loaded into the hatch, to get out
the jack.When I stood up to shift some buckets around, I looked under the car
and saw the jack, and yelled out my alternate suggestion. When I
was all done filling, I carried one of the buckets up, and sent Doug
back down for the rest while I finished setting up the tire
inflater. Meanwhile, the magpie up on the bluff behind the spring
was laughing at us.If I’d been able to use the camera, I’d have gotten a pic of the bird,
and one of the leaf beneath a glaze of ice on one of the big rocks
beside the waterhole. Doug pointed out the leaf and said it would
probably still be there next spring. I had the camera in my
pocket, but it wasn’t working. As I’d been stuffing it in my
pocket before we left here, Doug backed into me and I dropped the
camera. The battery door popped open and I scooped the batteries
up and put them back in and put the camera in my pocket. At the
spring when I handed it to Doug, he discovered that it wasn’t
working. A small bit of plastic that holds the battery door shut
and maintains the electrical contact had broken off. We looked
the situation over, and I uttered the solution: “duct
tape.” If that doesn’t work, I’ll be forced to use the bigger and
more complex Fuji more, no more pocket Kodak. Ah, well, so it
goes.
Comments (6)
can’t go wrong with duct tape. it’s our new lock on our tv remote’s battery cover. you know what they say…if you can’t fix it, “duck” it.
snow…brrrrrr!! (oh and thanks for reminding me to check my brake in the morning. i set it when we parked in the driveway here this morning b/c my parents driveway is sloped down the hill.)
watch your step on the way to the loo.
Another thing we have in common, Kathy. How many years have I been telling myself I need to do that pre-flight walkaround. Still not doing it…always in a hurry to get someplace. sigh
Please don’t break the Fuji.
Or squeeze the Charmin, for that matter.
When I first read the words water run, I am not sure what I was envisioning but it wasn’t you all having to go get water for chores. Now I feel all kinds of stupid.
Though- as far as tires are concered- I need air thanks for the mental reminder.
I should do my dishes.
The “pre-flight” check is always a good idea….for me it’s making sure none of the six or seven cats that hang around my place are snoozing by my tires.