Needing Attention

I have always been somewhat accident prone, but rarely did it lead to injuries. However, when I was young, I went through a period of time where I had to visit the doctor every couple weeks for something. I imagine my parents were not too thrilled with me at that stage of my life. Well, I don't have kids that need to be fixed up at the doctor, but my pickup seemed to be going through a phase where it needs attention.
Today I was headed out the door on my way to work when I noticed my pickup had a flat tire - not just low, completely flat. Just what I wanted to see this morning; made my day you know. After lugging the air compressor up to the front of my house, a few well chosen words, and a good kick (which hurt my foot a little), I finally got the tire to take air so I could get it down to my garage. Here I started removing the lug nuts. Four of the six came of easily (like they should), one got stuck halfway off, and the last wouldn't budge. After applying a little extra muscle to the stuck lugs, the tire came off. However, this was only possible because the force applied was greater than the strength of the studs, which snapped in two. After all that work to get the tire off, it had a nail in the sidewall, which was not fixable.
In the future, maybe I will give my pickup a little more attention on a regular basis so it doesn't feel the need to get my attention by acting out.

Payback

A few years ago my sister discovered mice in her house a month or so before Christmas. After some discussion and planning with my father, we developed a plan to deposit several fake mice throughout her kitchen for our Christmas amusement. It worked great. My sister found the first one sitting in the cupboard as she was putting the clean dishes away. We were all there to see her jump and scream. The exact outcome we were going for. I know the payback will come at some point, but since she lives so far away, she will miss this opportunity.
Last night as I was cleaning out the basement when I discovered some mouse droppings. I didn't see any other evidence of the mice, nothing seemed to have been chewed up and no visible nests. I dismissed the idea that the mouse/mice were still in the house. They may have come in when the weather got cold this winter, but without easy access to food, went back outdoors to find nourishment. I was nearly done with the cleaning (shifting of stuff from one place to another), when I was ambushed. Maybe that's a little strong of a word since there was no physical attack, but the surprise and shock was still present. I apparently frightened the mouse into motion and I can't say that I was a solid rock of courage that would drive fear into any living creature. It jumped out of the corner in my direction and as I displayed my fear of the little critter (screaming like a girl and running in the opposite direction), it made a quick u-turn into another, currently (until tonight) more protected hiding place. As I went to bed last night (only an hour after the experience) I was a ball of nerves thinking about a mouse crawling up into bed with me. It is said that turnabout is fair play, so a couple traps are now ready to return the shock, fear, and surprise to the little creature.

snow and ice

It is winter here and we have snow and ice to prove it. As most kids do, I enjoy a little sledding and other snow activities. I do not have a sled at my house, but I did have an icy driveway. On Tuesday morning, when I went out to start my pickup so I could go to work, I noticed the icy hill and enjoyed a few moments of skiing. Only problem, there were spots of thin (or nonexistant) ice which would catch my feet as I skied the driveway. A quick little hop and I was back to sliding. Thursday night after I got home from work, I noticed there was just a little of the ice left (about 12 feet) and I figured I should take advantage of it before it was all gone. So back to skiing I went. There were now more spots where the ice is melted and the concrete which shows through is not nearly as slick. I had a few moments of joy once again, but it was chilly outside so I had to put my hands in my pockets to keep them warm. Then, on what I decided was an encore run (because the time before I told myself was the last run), I hit a small spot where there was no ice. My hands are stuck in my pockets as I am plummeting to the concrete. (Now, who reading this did not expect this to happen eventually?) I apparently managed to free my hands just before contact, because they had a couple rocks in them that weren't there before. My biggest concern however, was the thought that I had torn my jacket when I bounced on my side. On inspection, I was relieved to see no hole, then my arm started to hurt a little. After a few minutes I was able to go inside, face Mary, and explain to her why my arm hurt (I tried to hide it but she caught me rubbing it and questioned me). For some reason, she seems to think that I am prone to injury.

With the new year comes ...

With the new year comes new resolutions, or the old ones revised to seem more desirable and attainable. This year I didn't go with a societal standard resolution like exercising more or losing 15 pounds, although both are things that I should attempt. This year I came to the conclusion that my goal should be to try to finish the projects that I have in progress and fix the things around the house that are not working. I was gung-ho and got an early start, on Dec. 31 of last year (2010) I fixed the light to the basement and put up another light in the basement so Mary wouldn't have to walk to the washer and dryer in the dark. By the time the new year came around, my ambition for finishing and fixing things was greatly diminished. To re-energize the resolution ambition, I started a new project - a chest of drawers to go in our bedroom which is tall enough that I can lay in bed and watch the tv (which is set on top). I suppose it is worth noting that one of the projects that is in progress is a chest of drawers that my dad and I started building about 6 years ago (just need to stain and finish it). This plan worked, I was re-energized. After a week I had the chest ready to install the drawers and realized that it was slightly out of square. No problem, just a little tug here and tap there and it would be straight. Well, the tug didn't help and neither did the hand tap. But the hammer did wonders and made it fall apart. I'm not sure, but it seems that my design and skill were both faulty. I was not a happy camper and pretty much lost the desire to work on projects. I have always wanted to learn the piano, so I got my first lesson yesterday afternoon and practiced for a while before going to bed. I'll hopefully be able to stick with learning piano, for at least a few more days. I have no committment issues.

Golfing again

Golf is once again the topic of today's entry. This time it is not because of a great score, but rather a notable event during the round. This past weekend I went golfing as part of a friend's bachelor party (although he was sick and unable to attend the golf portion of the outing). I have been dealing with issues with my driver for most of the summer and this round was no different. After hitting the fairway on the first hole, I played most of the other holes from an adjacent fairway, out of trees, or dropping a new ball near where the old ball was last seen before it vanished into whatever hazard could be found on the hole. I wasn't going to give up on the driver though, that's just not my style. I just kept trying something a little different each time in hopes of finding the trick that made the ball go long and straight. On the 12th hole of the day, I was needing to hit a straight ball as the road (and trees) were on the left and a couple large trees make playing from the right side slightly difficult. I take a big swing and as I look up to see where the ball is going, I catch a glimps of it about two feet in front of my nose. I didn't even think about it, I just reached out, grabbed the ball as it was on it way back to the ground, put it back on the tee. While preparing to swing again I explained to my group that rule number 92 in my rulebook stated that if you catch the ball before it hits the ground you get a free swing (knowing the rules is a real advantage in any sport). Now the free swing was a disaster as hit it way right. I played the remainder of the hole from the adjacent fairway and posted a rather large number for the hole.
So if you didn't catch what took place, here is a summary of the event. On the first swing I topped the ball so severely that I drove it into the ground only 6 inches in front of the tee, the ground being a little soft acted like a trampoline and shot the ball straight up in the air about five feet, at which point I located it and snagged it before it could hit the ground. My next tee shot (the free shot) went to the right to where the trees were looming.
Overall on the day, I turned in a good score for me, as I made up for the failures off the tee with improved iron play and some luck on the greens.

record low

This is just a quick note to share my excitement.
My golf scores have always been less than impressive. 100 has always been a great day until this year. Earlier in the year I dropped my best ever score to a 95. Then yesterday, I was able to drop that record best to an 81 (nine over par), and that was actually a little disappointing considering after 5 holes I was 3 under par and finished the front nine at -1. With 4 birdies and 5 pars I was on a role. Two of the birdies came with chip-ins from off the green, one being a slam dunk (who needs the ball to roll on the green to put it in the cup?). I was glad that my golfing buddies were with me to witness the round because they would never have believed me otherwise.

Not together

I left home in a hurry this morning after waking up a little late. Mary made me breakfast to go, I loaded the softball equipment for tonights game, and was off. A half mile down the road, I had a visitor. Somehow a wasp had found it's way into the cab of my pickup overnight. I am not scared of much, but I do my best to keep my distance from wasps and bees. I am not alergic to them, but am afraid of them just the same. Upon catching a glimpse of the wasp as it was hovering about a foot from my head, my attention went immediately and entirely to the wasp. That would be fine normally, but I was also driving; or more appropriately at that moment, I was in a moving vehicle behind the wheel, really wasn't doing much driving. The wasp disappeared behind my seat before I could open and window and usher it out. Now I just had to wait until it popped out and stung me from behind. This is the point that I realize that I was lucky not to hit the other cars on the road which were all around me. So the first place I can find, I pull off the road, get out of my pickup, and try to find the wasp to get it out of the cab. This was probably a little funny looking at I was poking around and shaking the seats. I found a lot of dust but no wasp, so I had to get back in and go on down the road knowing that the wasp is just lying in wait to attack. Moments later, it appeared (seemingly out of nowhere). This time I was prepared as I had opened all the windows so we would not be in a totally confined space together. This turned out to be a great idea as it found a window to escape moments after coming out of hiding which kept my anxiety from being overwhelming. The rest of the drive to work was uneventful.
It's always interesting to start the day with such a heart pumping, adrenaline rushing situation. It really makes me wonder what is in store for the rest of the day.