Catching up

You ever notice that Holiday weekends do more to tire us out and get us 'behind' in our work then help us rest? At least this is how it works for me. I always find myself 'doing or going' someplace at a frenetic pace.

This past memorial day weekend found our family headed to the Squam Lake region of NH for a family wedding. It was a weekend affair with rehearsal dinner on Friday (which HAPPENED to be my birthday!) Wedding Saturday and brunch Sunday. It was a great time. Alex and I got in a little Kayaking and I got a petite swim in. (The lake was DAMN cold out past the wake buoy) The company was great and the food terrific. My niece and new husband are off to Europe to hostel it to many countries. I hope they enjoy it.

Saturday afternoon some electrical part and/or alternator crapped the bed in my Expedition. (I know, I know...it's a gas guzzler! If I could do my buying decision over now that I am green I would! For now, I'm stuck with the darn thing) The battery light came on which basically means the battery is not charging. Holderness NH (basically 1 step away from the back of beyond) on a holiday weekend. I was not getting it fixed. So...I bought a walmart battery and swapped the dead one out. The one that was in it previously went dead as soon as I tried to drive to the motel at night. The lights basically sucked the charge right out of it in 5 minutes. So the 'new Walmart battery went in and we drove back Sunday. It looked god that we would make it back but we made the fatal mistake of using the AC and moving the windows. The AC itself doesn't draw much but the fan runs on battery power. The windows just suck the life right out of it. Wham!

So here I am in Westminster Vt (THE back of Beyond!!) on 91S. My roadside assistance won't get me a new battery, tow me beyond 10 miles, or give me a high amp charge to refill the battery. (I also found out that batteries from the store typically come with a half charge as they assume your alternator works and will fully charge it over time) We are dead in the water in Westminster at a small garden shop/convenience store. A very pleasant looking couple came buy and Andrea asked for directions and locations for garages because the woman 'looked local'. Things happen for a reason. This woman was originally from Amherst Ma and knew exactly where we were from. A short conversation later and her husband brought me to a garage while she stayed with my wife and children. Wow...how amazingly nice! I swapped in my SECOND new battery and we were off promising to 'pay it forward.' I have no idea what we would have done had they not helped us. I will looking to help someone in need to 'pay it forward'.

We eventually got home and parked the truck. I still need to get it to FORD and have them diagnose it and fix. That's probably Monday.

Ever since we got home and made it through the actual Monday holiday I have felt like I have been running and jumping to catch up. I suppose the whole issue with the truck didn't help. Thankfully, there are nice people like those that helped us, and my blessed children, who could have been off their rocker through this all, were very patient and looked at it like a neat adventure. Thanks for small miracles.

Slowly we will be back to normal on a regular schedule. Well, I'm back! Now I'm waiting to get Al Gore's new book on what went wrong with American politics. Can't wait. I hope he runs. He has my vote. The politics shooting gallery is NOW open!! ;-)