I’ve said it before, here or elsewhere, for someone like me the great adventure is living the ordinary life in an ordinary way.
Yep, I’m adjusting all too easily to life in this established neighborhood not too far from the country club. This morning I slept late. Ate buttermilk pancakes made with wheat flour for breakfast. Drove to the store and bought PVC adhesive, bug spray, ant traps (for the mower-shed), 2-cycle oil for the leaf-blower and line-trimmer fuel, a small yellow bucket and a small yellow sponge for Seventy-Six to help out with car-washing. I drove to the gas station and bought gas for the mower and other equipment, then home where to pick up sticks, run the line-trimmer, mow the lawn, and clean up after an early lunch (sandwich) with Caution-Lady and Seventy-Six who’d returned from the store.
Seventy-Six has been potty-training this past week with mixed results. He has not been enjoying the experience.
This bloom looks like it has been open a while
This bloom looked to me like a crown
The magnolia tree out front has two blooms; I photographed them. While mowing the front lawn, Caution-Lady brought Seventy-Six outside, and I gave him a mower-ride around the house, then she let him play with his new pedal scooter. Did I mention that a couple of weeks ago Caution-Lady backed over the little push-bike toy he got for Christmas? He was getting to big for it, but he really liked that toy. She thought at first it was my fault (and telephoned to scold me about it as I drove to work in Murfreesboro) but later realized she was the one who’d put the toy away last. The new toy is a real hit, too, and Seventy-Six is big enough to work the pedals.
I finished the back yard and cleaned up while Seventy-Six napped, then washed Whitecar, the cautious one’s ’93 940T. We’ve had the car for eight years. I’m guessing it’s been at least one year since I washed that car by hand, although we’ve run it through automated car-washes a couple of times. Since the car stays in the garage when not being driven, it doesn’t get too dirty. But it was freaking filthy when we got it back from the mechanic’s shop where it’d been parked outside under trees for a couple of nights last week when there for service. We’re planning to sell the car pretty soon, as soon as we locate a reasonably priced and mechanically sound XC70 with which to replace it.
I did something I’ve never done before. I washed the garden tractor like I would a car. I sliced the fire out of one of my fingers as I was using a sponge to scrub the frame under the hood. The blood, which quickly overflowed a tight band-aid, I thought might take a stitch or two to stop would have stained the dirty wash sponge if I hadn’t rinsed it out. After I finished washing and dried the mower, some tightly taped gauze finally got the bleeding stopped.
Shade-tree hull repair
Masking tape makes even the most inexpert repairs look workmanlike while in progress
Another snack, and by that time Seventy-Six had awakened from his nap. I took him outside and he played with his new scooter, and I repaired the RZ96 hull using genuine German parts. Hope the hull stays patched. LATER: Here’s an excellent thread on the subject of gluing to repair PVC hulls. Wish I’d seen it first, but I should have had the sense to do a simple Internet search for: gluing pvc hull. http://www.mail-archive.com/foldingboats@pouchboats.com/msg00169.html
I showed the little boy his new bucket and sponge and predictably, although I was surprised, he insisted on using them on something to “clean-up Now.” I asked him whether he wanted to wash his own car, and put about a quart of water in the bucket. I let him sponge some water on Thursday, too. Maybe I’ll get that one washed tomorrow.
Later, we watered the plants together using city water, but when the little monkey chose to rebel against my command to desist from jumping in one particularly muddy puddle near the front steps, I took him in to the house and gave him back to his mother for awhile. She gave him a couple of crackers and a cup of water.
Christov_Tenn 