It Happened; I Am Happy--Flat Tire

Friday was an absolutely gorgeous day, sun and blue skies. low humidity, and a few fluffy white clouds. Plus, at one point in the middle of the day, it was 83F as opposed to somewhere in the 90s. Of course, the temps will go back up and that is perfectly okay. 

Tommy went out to the washing machine and discovered his back driver side tire was flat. I don't mean low; I mean flat on the ground. I was ecstatic because it did not happen when we were gone, plus now was a good time to test the little gadget to see if it really would fill a tire from flat. We used it to fill a half-flat tire, but this was a true test. lol...okay in my opinion. I knew we would need this air compressor eventually. We did and I am happy it worked for us. 

He went into the house to find his tire gauge. I have no idea why it must be kept in the house. But, when he disengaged the air compressor, and used the tire gauge, the compressor would not start again. I remember it can only used for so many minutes before it must cool down. I just hope it will start again in order to finish filling. It did.

I love this little air compressor. We would have to call for help and pay or get a neighbor down here. I think the guy across the street has an air compressor that has wheels and is huge.  Well, he did 20 years ago. But, today, we did it ourselves, Tommy mostly. 

He took the car in and had the tires rotated while he was there. It cost him nothing because he has some sort of hazard plan. Of course, I followed him in my car and we went back in my car so he could retrieve his car. Oh, there was a screw in the tire. 

I HAVE A THEORY

Since I have developed this theory, I pick up fewer screws/nails/pieces of metal. Not all these small tire hazards on the road cause a problem. Some are thrown off the side of the pavement. Then, they rest here in the bit of gravel or between grass and pavement. They don't get thrown again and go into the grass. So, they accumulate making a hazardous place to turn around or drive across, especially if you just scooch off the road to turn around, running on a path of the grave. This is also true for old service station areas, abandoned with just the pavement left. That bit of pavement looks like a good place to turn around. It is. But, I believe it is a prime place to pick up tire hazards! Prove me wrong...lol. 

I avoid these handy looking places and beg Tommy to do so, too. But, he ignores me. You know I don't know anything! 

When he aired up this tire, it immediately started losing many pounds of air, visible when we looked at it. Thankfully, Pep Boys was less than two miles from here.

Does my theory hold water? Tell me what you think? Have you picked up an inordinate amount of tire hazards by driving in places between pavement and grass or on old, abandoned patches of asphalt or concrete? 

My car was started and driven, something I needed to do, so two chores.

Dinner--chili and cheese, hotdog and bun, and coleslaw. Tommy did not have cheese. I took one bun, put it on the plate and placed two hotdogs on the one bun, topped with chili and grated cheese and ate it with a fork. Tommy picked his buns up with his hands. He had Bob Evan's Mashed Potatoes. 

One chore and the car have been our day! Plus, he did two loads of laundry for me and I hung it inside.

No Cooking for Two Days and Eating Well, Gunshot, Pansies

 Friday, about 2:30, we went to the Greek Festival and ordered food. It was $46 well spent. Silly us went to the park to eat. We ate so late that we needed no dinner, just fruit and cereal. Then, on Saturday, Tommy had part of my meat, rice, and grape leaves for lunch. Saturday night, he had the rest of his meat and rice. Later, when I had cooked something, we both had chicken and Brussel's sprouts, he had his meat; I had chicken breast, Brussel's sprouts, and grape leaves. We ate well. The chicken and Brussel's sprouts were from a one meal dish. It would have been $7 if we had bought it. 

Tomorrow, I will write about the Greek Festival. 

The spaghetti recipe may be coming back as I sat with a pen and paper and tried to recall it. I think I almost have it complete. When I get it right, I will freeze it in pint jars. It will be a memory. It will be cheaper. It won't be in a metal jar! Okay, I think I have remembered it. I had a pen and notebook in my lap or lying beside me. I looked at what I had written and things came to me one item at a time. Can you believe garlic was the last thing I remembered?

When I got out of the car at the bread store, my eyes were drawn to a cut in Tommy's right front tire. It was a cut in a circle about the size of a nickel. And, I could get my thumbnail down into the cut for quite a way. Tommy took it to a tire place. The guy did not want to see the cut because he said the tires were too bald to repair. Their shop would not work on it. 

Tommy thinks I worry too much and pay attention to things not worth worrying about. And, he always lets his tires become bald before he replaces them! But, Monday, he is buying new tires. 

We were sitting waiting at a drive-up pharmacy window when I heard a noise and Tommy asked me if I heart the gunshot. Well, no, it did not sound like a gunshot. It sounded like maybe a pebble had been dropped. That was spooky.  

The pansies and mums were not doing well until the weather cooled off on Saturday. I was worried since neither plant has a problem, usually. They are not finicky as far as I know. The poor pansies were drooping and not blooming well. Now, there is a profusion of pansy blooms. I saw a variety called "Old Fashioned" that were light and medium pink, maybe a darker pink, too. I think that is the name. I want more of that variety. Have you seen or heard of the pink ones?

Tommy stalled all week and we waited a week between emptying the dishwasher and reloading it. Friday, late, I told him to come help. He did. Today, we emptied the dishwasher and put things away. I immediately loaded the only two dirty items into the dishwasher! YAY! 

Do you know someone who lets their tires get bald before getting new ones? 

Two guys and two car problems

 The battery on my car had died since I never drive it. Then, when I wanted to drive it, I could not. This frustrated me. We have a battery cable, but I did not think the two of us could handle it. I know he can do it, but often there is often a need to go back and forth from one car to the other if something slips off the post. My hands might not be strong enough. Side posts are so hard for me. The carport is about 18 inches above the level of the yard.  It would make his life too tough to have to go down to the driveway and around the yard to his car and/or back! 

Some days, it is just too hot or too wet or something...lol. Then, I was ill. There are neighbors but for various reasons, they cannot help. Tommy is loathe to call a service and so am I. Finally, he asked me about my roadside service. I called and within 45 minutes, my car was running. Why did it take us so long to think of this?!

The guy came and had a big case, a charger, I suppose. All of a sudden, he started screaming. This was quite a shock to my system, let me tell you. I am quite sure this black man could be heard down the block. Then, he started screaming into the phone again. Finally, he unplugged his case and was leaving. He asked me for my id, so Tommy went to get my purse. 

In the meantime, I told him nicely that he should not be using the phone and making such a racket arguing while with a customer and on the job. He said it was his daughter, that her dance teacher was going to charge him $10/10 minutes as he was late picking her up. The second call was from the dance teacher. He was very rough with the teacher. He was explaining all this to me, telling me had to get to Eastlake to pick her up. This was 8:15 and he said he picked her up every night at 9 pm, so he could not figure out the deal. Whew! He left without getting my id, so I don't know the outcome of his reporting the job he did. 

After the car was jumped off, we needed to drive it. One tire really needed air, so we set out to find air. There is a station with air that we could not work because Tommy cannot bend far enough and I could not stay bent down long enough. So, we wondered if maybe Auto Zone had air. When we got there, a guy was coming out  and I asked him if he knew if they had air. He said they did not. He told us to go the service station and he would put air in the tire. 

I was going to use my debit card but there was a problem, so Tommy kept yelling he had change. I went back and he dumped lots of change but only three quarters into my hand. Well, I knew the machine would not take anything but quarters, but he kept insisting, so I just threw all but the quarters into the seat.  I asked him to get a dollar from my purse and he did. The guy kept saying he would pay and went to his car. So, we only needed another quarter after he found four quarters. 

He was so nice. He and his friend with the quarter both worked on putting air in the tire. He assured me it only had 43 pounds now, but he would put more. I explained it only needed 32 pounds, so his friend took over and let some out. Whew! Nice guys, so nice. I really felt bad neither one would take the dollar I offered to repay them. 

That was last night, so if the rain quits, I will see if I still have a charge. I need to drive it more often. 

It is rainy here in Alabama and one tornado hit far from here this morning. Hopefully, there will only be rain from here on out. It was in the low 70s all day today, rather shocking temperature. 

There are four beautiful bell peppers here, so they would be put in the meatloaf tonight. But, yesterday, I thawed diced peppers thinking it was diced chicken. So, Tommy had bell pepper in his salad yesterday. thankfully, I had also thawed a whole chicken thigh. I need to thaw more ground beef and make stuffed peppers. He also loves it when I use peppers, onion, garlic and other vegetables cooked in olive oil and just served as a vegetable dish, along with whatever meat I serve. 

Tommy is not a father but since he was a chickie daddy, I always get him something small and make a fuss. His gift has not arrived even though it was supposed to be delivered here today. bummer