Wednesday’s Child is Full of Woe (Not Really! 😊) - April 6, 2019
I don’t need to create Sunshine stories – I just need to remember to write them down. Like last Wednesday…
Wednesday is the one day of the week when Laur and I usually go our separate ways. It’s not a spiritual discipline – it’s just the way things work out. I volunteer at the Sahuarita Food Bank on Wednesday mornings and Laur leads the Intermediate Hiking Group.
But even though we are apart, we can still have conflict. Like who gets the car? Laur says, “How can I lead a hike if I don’t have a car?!” I can think of a few ways but then I remember that I reserve the car for Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for visiting and my volunteer work. Besides I claim to love riding my bike.
Jan’s Wednesday
Rides One and Three were pretty straightforward. I tend to ride on the sidewalk because Green Valley drivers can not see bicycles – let alone the folks riding them. Ride One – to volunteering at the food bank at our church - I couldn’t remember the combination for my bicycle lock but hey, who would ever steal from a church!? (I joke, of course.)
Ride Three – all good. Visiting a friend who had a front porch to put my unlocked bike in. One challenge when I was walking my bike across a major intersection when the walk signal was on. A elderly gentleman nearly ran me over as he made a right hand turn. And a woman in her car at the intersection gave me a dirty look as if to say, “Why aren’t you driving a car like everyone else? You nearly gave that poor man a heart attack!”
Ride Two was the interesting one. I had lunch with a friend and pretty much lay my bike across the café window so I could keep an eye on it. But even if someone had tried to steal my bike, they wouldn’t have got very far. I was no sooner out of the restaurant parking lot than the chain fell off my gears. The front tire would still roll, but the back tire would not. Nothing to do but carry my bike home. If this was a modern bike, no worries, but this is one of those 20 year old war horses. Thankfully a lad stopped by the side of the road, slipped my chain back on for me, and was off within a minute. An angel…
I was supposed to arrive home about an hour after my hubs – but he arrived back at the trailer around the same time I did – looking none too happy. “I got a flat!” he said.
Laur’s Wednesday
By the time Laur and his crew and their two vehicles arrived at Quantrell Mine trailhead, Laur’s new-to-us car had a flat. No worries, he had a “donut” under the car. They went on the hike anyway and when they got back, our hiking pal Bob slid under the car to retrieve the spare wheel. Hauled it out. It was flat too.
For reasons unknown to me, everyone then crammed into Bill’s car and they drove to a local service centre. Their equipment for repairing a flat tire was broken but they could put some air into the “donut” which they did and then everyone drove back to our car. (Why wouldn’t some just stay at the car?!)
Bob’s wife told me that Laur had a look of devastation on his face – his poor car. First of all it got scratched up by the mother of all tumbleweeds. And now this – a flat tire. I wasn’t there but I’d have known what that look was and it was, “I hope no one ever finds out that I have a recharged compressed air machine sitting on our laundry room shelf that I forgot to bring today…”
They know now…
But as it turns out our tire was more than just punctured. We needed a new tire and the good folks at Firestone Tires just happened to be able to order one in for us – arriving the next day. “Well,” I said to Laur, “That was one expensive hike!” (This from the gal who bought an electronic tablet and uses it as a paper-weight.)
I was about to complain that I needed the car on Thursday afternoon when Laur assured me that as long as I stayed off the interstate and didn’t go above 55 mph, the donut would be fine. And that is what I did. There were a few unhappy travellers stuck behind me. Tough times call for tough measures.
Laur and I decided it might be in both of our best interests to go out for supper. We’re less likely to bicker at a restaurant than in our living room – we have some social grace when we’re in public 😊 And we did and it was great food. Although the conversation was a little stilted.
*****
What have we learned from this? Absolutely nothing. The air compressor is still sitting on the laundry room shelf. I still haven’t watched a YouTube on repairing my bicycle chain, let alone practiced.
Not only that, when I did one of my frenetic declutters and threw out the box that came with the air compressor, I apparently tossed out the nozzle by which the air compressor attaches to the tire.
Tomorrow Laur is taking a group hiking using our car. I am riding my bike to do my various activities. Hopefully the “donut” will stay inflated. Hopefully there is more than one angel in Green Valley who can fix my bike
Wednesday is the one day of the week when Laur and I usually go our separate ways. It’s not a spiritual discipline – it’s just the way things work out. I volunteer at the Sahuarita Food Bank on Wednesday mornings and Laur leads the Intermediate Hiking Group.
But even though we are apart, we can still have conflict. Like who gets the car? Laur says, “How can I lead a hike if I don’t have a car?!” I can think of a few ways but then I remember that I reserve the car for Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for visiting and my volunteer work. Besides I claim to love riding my bike.
Jan’s Wednesday
Rides One and Three were pretty straightforward. I tend to ride on the sidewalk because Green Valley drivers can not see bicycles – let alone the folks riding them. Ride One – to volunteering at the food bank at our church - I couldn’t remember the combination for my bicycle lock but hey, who would ever steal from a church!? (I joke, of course.)
Ride Three – all good. Visiting a friend who had a front porch to put my unlocked bike in. One challenge when I was walking my bike across a major intersection when the walk signal was on. A elderly gentleman nearly ran me over as he made a right hand turn. And a woman in her car at the intersection gave me a dirty look as if to say, “Why aren’t you driving a car like everyone else? You nearly gave that poor man a heart attack!”
Ride Two was the interesting one. I had lunch with a friend and pretty much lay my bike across the café window so I could keep an eye on it. But even if someone had tried to steal my bike, they wouldn’t have got very far. I was no sooner out of the restaurant parking lot than the chain fell off my gears. The front tire would still roll, but the back tire would not. Nothing to do but carry my bike home. If this was a modern bike, no worries, but this is one of those 20 year old war horses. Thankfully a lad stopped by the side of the road, slipped my chain back on for me, and was off within a minute. An angel…
I was supposed to arrive home about an hour after my hubs – but he arrived back at the trailer around the same time I did – looking none too happy. “I got a flat!” he said.
Laur’s Wednesday
By the time Laur and his crew and their two vehicles arrived at Quantrell Mine trailhead, Laur’s new-to-us car had a flat. No worries, he had a “donut” under the car. They went on the hike anyway and when they got back, our hiking pal Bob slid under the car to retrieve the spare wheel. Hauled it out. It was flat too.
For reasons unknown to me, everyone then crammed into Bill’s car and they drove to a local service centre. Their equipment for repairing a flat tire was broken but they could put some air into the “donut” which they did and then everyone drove back to our car. (Why wouldn’t some just stay at the car?!)
Bob’s wife told me that Laur had a look of devastation on his face – his poor car. First of all it got scratched up by the mother of all tumbleweeds. And now this – a flat tire. I wasn’t there but I’d have known what that look was and it was, “I hope no one ever finds out that I have a recharged compressed air machine sitting on our laundry room shelf that I forgot to bring today…”
They know now…
But as it turns out our tire was more than just punctured. We needed a new tire and the good folks at Firestone Tires just happened to be able to order one in for us – arriving the next day. “Well,” I said to Laur, “That was one expensive hike!” (This from the gal who bought an electronic tablet and uses it as a paper-weight.)
I was about to complain that I needed the car on Thursday afternoon when Laur assured me that as long as I stayed off the interstate and didn’t go above 55 mph, the donut would be fine. And that is what I did. There were a few unhappy travellers stuck behind me. Tough times call for tough measures.
Laur and I decided it might be in both of our best interests to go out for supper. We’re less likely to bicker at a restaurant than in our living room – we have some social grace when we’re in public 😊 And we did and it was great food. Although the conversation was a little stilted.
*****
What have we learned from this? Absolutely nothing. The air compressor is still sitting on the laundry room shelf. I still haven’t watched a YouTube on repairing my bicycle chain, let alone practiced.
Not only that, when I did one of my frenetic declutters and threw out the box that came with the air compressor, I apparently tossed out the nozzle by which the air compressor attaches to the tire.
Tomorrow Laur is taking a group hiking using our car. I am riding my bike to do my various activities. Hopefully the “donut” will stay inflated. Hopefully there is more than one angel in Green Valley who can fix my bike