Wednesday, July 10, 2019

July 10 – “SSA”


Well … I started typing this onto my phone at 4 a.m.  Yep.  Old nemesis: SSA.  No, not the Social Security Administration.  Simple Steroid Awakedness.  I woke up another time as well at 12:30 (so did Chris, but we were both able to go right back to sleep that time).  So what happened with our day yesterday?

Hmm.  How about food?  Scrambled eggs with cheese inside started things off.  Advanced to baked potato for lunch.  Special treat in that one.  Chris snuck in some pieces of ham.  And then the best of them all … chicken and dumplings for supper.  Ain’t my wife creatively great?

We began wading through all the paperwork we have to take on the trip.  Things like passports and plane tickets and cruise ship boarding passes.  That led to another quick errands run.  To the bank.  And of course to WalMart.  This time it was for me to get another pair of blue jeans.  Chris felt sure I would need another.  Good thing about that trip, other than watching the weird people – always a treat – was that we saw Sam from church.  Always good to see her as well.  Great lady.

Bad news on the truck front, however.  Kel has been borrowing our old truck since they only have one vehicle right now.  He called around 8:30 to say that the truck appeared to be leaking from the radiator area.  He had just arrived at the post office for work.  So we jumped in the car with a gallon of water and headed out. It was leaking for sure.  I added some water into the radiator and we headed straight to Dennis the mechanic and dropped it off.  Initial reports came back soon that the water pump was completely gone.  Efforts were under way to replace it. 

Kel called us around 4:30 to see if he needed to make arrangements for a ride home.  I called Dennis and he was just finishing up, so we left right away so we could get it back to Kel when he got off work. The report was w new water pump, serpentine belt, and lower radiator hose.  Ouch.  As I was walking up I saw that Dennis was putting in the antifreeze.  That’s when he laid the bad news on me.

First, it appeared that the brand new water pump was now leaking.  It was a really slow drip, however, so he felt it would be OK for Kel to drive home and he could bring it back today.  By the time he got it down off the jacks and I paid the bill, though, the leak was barely there.  He suggested Kel check it after it sat overnight, and if there was significant accumulation of fluid underneath, to bring it back.

Then came bad news part two.  The air conditioner compressor (or is it condenser?  I always get those two words mixed up.  Whichever one, it sounded expensive) is going out as well.  Every time the AC is turned on, it causes the belt to shimmy out of position.  So he unplugged it.  No AC at all now.  The fix on that one will probably be $900+.  Nope.  Not today.

It was pretty hot driving it over to the post office, so I took a chance and rolled the windows down a bit.  We have had trouble with the electrical system for a while now.  Bad choice.  The passenger side is fine.  The driver’s side, however, went down about an inch and then stopped.  No going down, no going up.  It’s just dead.  Fortunately it’s just that inch or so.  I just hope the massive amounts of rain that are expected to come our way will blow in from the opposite direction. 

I was ready to crash when we got home.  Still not completely over the anesthesia effects I guess.  I watched the All Star game.  All three Astros started got hits.  Bregman scored on a Brantley double.  Springer singled.  Verlander pitched a perfect inning.  Presley got to warm up, but didn’t come in.  Cole just watched.  The American League won.  Now let’s get back to the regular season.

OK.  So now it’s 4:40.  Still wide awake.  Guess I’ll switch to crosswords …

Luke 6:36 says, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Father, thank you for a mechanic we trust.  Please let that truck hang in there at least as long as Kel needs it.  Amen.

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