Wow, what a day today was! It needs a little context though so I'll actually have to start with yesterday, because yesterday my car came back home!
If you follow my facebook feed you know that I discovered a radiator leak on my way home from Runnings on Thursday. This was not a happy occasion, guys. Once I figured out why the temperature gauge kept going into the red, and determined that, as I suspected, there was no water in the car, I had to slowly and with frequent stops drive the couple of miles back into town and take the kids into walmart for coolant and distilled water, plus Bar's Leaks and a flush kit. I filled up the reservoir with distilled water for the drive home... then halfway home filled it up again... and it was empty when I got home. The tiny leak I'd seen clearly wasn't it. Anyway, I then complained on facebook about the weather having to be cold and windy on the day when I needed to fiddle with the radiator. The post hadn't been up for an hour when I got a call from Daddy's boss at his civilian job, telling me that he'd be by to take the car away in a few hours so he could replace my radiator.
Guys, this was such an answer to prayer. I planned to do a temporary fix until I could get it to a shop, but I was not looking forward to getting it to a shop in the first place. I would have had to have my mom watch the kids while my dad drove me, and as the virus gets more widespread in our county I've been trying to start limiting our contact, and in the mean time I had to figure out where to take it--the only local shop I've used in the past is honestly a little shady.
So Daddy's boss (who is also a faithful member of our church) came and took the car away, leaving his dear wife's beautiful car (which I vowed to myself would not be touched, despite its owner's protestations that we should use it--for one thing I'm not driving much these days, and for another everywhere we step is sullied with our property's clay mud-slime, especially this time of year). He said he thought it would be done by the following afternoon.
Did you ever take a car to the mechanic? Yeah you did. You know how you kind of listen for the phone the whole time it's gone? Yep, that was me. And sure enough, the call came: he thought he heard a bad bearing, but it was hard to be sure over all the exhaust noise at the front end, so he'd fixed the exhaust hole, and... Yep, bad bearing. (I'd thought the same thing for a while, but had also been uncertain because of the exhaust noise... So he had to keep it until Monday and put a new bearing in it; he was worried it might come apart and we could lose a wheel while driving down the road. Not cool.
I thanked him profusely for his trouble, and offered him every means of escape from his commitment, which he refused because he's a saint.
Toward the end of the day Monday he arrived in my driveway with my van, looking mysteriously less salt-encrusted than it had when it left. Turned out he had also replaced an oxygen sensor to make the check engine light turn off. We are going to come to a mutually satisfactory agreement about reimbursing his expenses once Ben gets home, but right now I'm so thankful that the car is back, is perfectly safe to drive--and so much quieter now! What a blessing.
Now: on to today!
First thing was pigs! Again, if you follow my Facebook you know that I had to sell 6 little pigs today. Their mommy has just about had it with them at this point, but that doesn't mean she'll happily tolerate my removing them from the pen; so I had to find a way to get her on one side of my makeshift gate, and the pigs on the other. They all wanted to huddle up inside the shelter because it was cold, gusty, and spitting rain. Meanwhile my buyers showed up early, all ready to watch the fun and tell me to look out because she might bite me. Yep, thanks, I'll look out.
Anyway, I had the gate as ready as could be, and momma just wanted to lay in her house under her pig pile, so I reached down and touched a pig. She made that momma sow roar noise that they make and got to her feet. The pigs all crowded behind her and she stood with her head lowered waiting for my next move. I saw her shift her weight toward the exit, and got out of her way; she walked outside the shelter, I shut the pallet gate and wedged it, and that was that: pigs separated from momma! I don't know if she thought they'd follow her or not, but they just wanted to stay warm and dry and hesitated to go after her. I caught the pigs pretty easily, they went on the truck without a hitch, money changed hands and that was it: a much more manageably sized litter for momma to tolerate until 4 more are sold on Friday (at which time I'll also separate the last 2--I don't like leaving just a couple in with mom, sometimes that makes her decide it's time to be done with piglets for a while and kills them. Wish I was kidding.)
So that was phase 1 of the day and it was done before 9:30. Phase 2 started right after lunch chores, and relied heavily on the van.
It all started because I had a chiropractor appointment this afternoon. I also needed to go to a lab and get some blood work done, so I figured I would do that while I was out. Then when I was talking with Daddy yesterday, he wanted me to mail him my ipod and a charger so he could listen to music while he studies for tech school, along with a pair of gloves that he'll need for his next phase. So that meant a trip to Runnings for gloves and an ipod charger, and a trip to the post office to mail it all. There happened to be a lab next door to the post office... which closed at 12:30 in the afternoon. Nuts. So I drove a few miles to another lab I knew of and got the kids out of the car again. That one was open! Got back in the car and arrived at my chiropractor appointment at 3:00, just in time. And then I bought gas, and then I bought Little Caesar's because there was no way I was making dinner at that point, and then I went home and ate and took a nap until evening chore time!
All that to say: I am so glad to have the van back, if I'd had to drive Daddy's unwieldy extended cab pickup to all those stops I would have screamed. At the same time, I don't think said van is going to leave the driveway for the rest of the week... I'm all erranded out. Another church friend hooked me up with 14 bananas on Sunday and that's my only real produce need at this point, so we're good at least until the weekend! So it's back to the shelter-in-place lifestyle for us, and I'll be honest--I'm glad of it! Be well out there, everybody!
If you follow my facebook feed you know that I discovered a radiator leak on my way home from Runnings on Thursday. This was not a happy occasion, guys. Once I figured out why the temperature gauge kept going into the red, and determined that, as I suspected, there was no water in the car, I had to slowly and with frequent stops drive the couple of miles back into town and take the kids into walmart for coolant and distilled water, plus Bar's Leaks and a flush kit. I filled up the reservoir with distilled water for the drive home... then halfway home filled it up again... and it was empty when I got home. The tiny leak I'd seen clearly wasn't it. Anyway, I then complained on facebook about the weather having to be cold and windy on the day when I needed to fiddle with the radiator. The post hadn't been up for an hour when I got a call from Daddy's boss at his civilian job, telling me that he'd be by to take the car away in a few hours so he could replace my radiator.
Guys, this was such an answer to prayer. I planned to do a temporary fix until I could get it to a shop, but I was not looking forward to getting it to a shop in the first place. I would have had to have my mom watch the kids while my dad drove me, and as the virus gets more widespread in our county I've been trying to start limiting our contact, and in the mean time I had to figure out where to take it--the only local shop I've used in the past is honestly a little shady.
So Daddy's boss (who is also a faithful member of our church) came and took the car away, leaving his dear wife's beautiful car (which I vowed to myself would not be touched, despite its owner's protestations that we should use it--for one thing I'm not driving much these days, and for another everywhere we step is sullied with our property's clay mud-slime, especially this time of year). He said he thought it would be done by the following afternoon.
Did you ever take a car to the mechanic? Yeah you did. You know how you kind of listen for the phone the whole time it's gone? Yep, that was me. And sure enough, the call came: he thought he heard a bad bearing, but it was hard to be sure over all the exhaust noise at the front end, so he'd fixed the exhaust hole, and... Yep, bad bearing. (I'd thought the same thing for a while, but had also been uncertain because of the exhaust noise... So he had to keep it until Monday and put a new bearing in it; he was worried it might come apart and we could lose a wheel while driving down the road. Not cool.
I thanked him profusely for his trouble, and offered him every means of escape from his commitment, which he refused because he's a saint.
Toward the end of the day Monday he arrived in my driveway with my van, looking mysteriously less salt-encrusted than it had when it left. Turned out he had also replaced an oxygen sensor to make the check engine light turn off. We are going to come to a mutually satisfactory agreement about reimbursing his expenses once Ben gets home, but right now I'm so thankful that the car is back, is perfectly safe to drive--and so much quieter now! What a blessing.
Now: on to today!
First thing was pigs! Again, if you follow my Facebook you know that I had to sell 6 little pigs today. Their mommy has just about had it with them at this point, but that doesn't mean she'll happily tolerate my removing them from the pen; so I had to find a way to get her on one side of my makeshift gate, and the pigs on the other. They all wanted to huddle up inside the shelter because it was cold, gusty, and spitting rain. Meanwhile my buyers showed up early, all ready to watch the fun and tell me to look out because she might bite me. Yep, thanks, I'll look out.
Anyway, I had the gate as ready as could be, and momma just wanted to lay in her house under her pig pile, so I reached down and touched a pig. She made that momma sow roar noise that they make and got to her feet. The pigs all crowded behind her and she stood with her head lowered waiting for my next move. I saw her shift her weight toward the exit, and got out of her way; she walked outside the shelter, I shut the pallet gate and wedged it, and that was that: pigs separated from momma! I don't know if she thought they'd follow her or not, but they just wanted to stay warm and dry and hesitated to go after her. I caught the pigs pretty easily, they went on the truck without a hitch, money changed hands and that was it: a much more manageably sized litter for momma to tolerate until 4 more are sold on Friday (at which time I'll also separate the last 2--I don't like leaving just a couple in with mom, sometimes that makes her decide it's time to be done with piglets for a while and kills them. Wish I was kidding.)
So that was phase 1 of the day and it was done before 9:30. Phase 2 started right after lunch chores, and relied heavily on the van.
It all started because I had a chiropractor appointment this afternoon. I also needed to go to a lab and get some blood work done, so I figured I would do that while I was out. Then when I was talking with Daddy yesterday, he wanted me to mail him my ipod and a charger so he could listen to music while he studies for tech school, along with a pair of gloves that he'll need for his next phase. So that meant a trip to Runnings for gloves and an ipod charger, and a trip to the post office to mail it all. There happened to be a lab next door to the post office... which closed at 12:30 in the afternoon. Nuts. So I drove a few miles to another lab I knew of and got the kids out of the car again. That one was open! Got back in the car and arrived at my chiropractor appointment at 3:00, just in time. And then I bought gas, and then I bought Little Caesar's because there was no way I was making dinner at that point, and then I went home and ate and took a nap until evening chore time!
All that to say: I am so glad to have the van back, if I'd had to drive Daddy's unwieldy extended cab pickup to all those stops I would have screamed. At the same time, I don't think said van is going to leave the driveway for the rest of the week... I'm all erranded out. Another church friend hooked me up with 14 bananas on Sunday and that's my only real produce need at this point, so we're good at least until the weekend! So it's back to the shelter-in-place lifestyle for us, and I'll be honest--I'm glad of it! Be well out there, everybody!
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| Easter egg hunts are fun around here, by the way |
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