Saturday, January 09, 2010

Any day that starts with the sledgehammer really isn't good.

Yesterday, I took the day off from Hyphenated Co. Last night, Mom and I went to calling hours for a friend's mother, who just died from pancreatic cancer. Mom has known the family for a very long time--one of the daughters was her student in college, the father was an attorney with an office in the same building as Mom's first office, another daughter is also an area attorney. I never met the dad, because he died quite some time ago, but the attorney/daughter was someone I got to know fairly well in the years I worked for Mom, and came to like and respect very much. I know that Mom will be available for her friend as the months pass, and I will try to do the same.

After the funeral home, Mom and I had dinner at the Olive Garden. We split an appetizer of their new mozzarella fondue, which was wonderful and very rich, and some garden salad, which was a good contrast to the fondue if somewhat lacking in nutrients (really, would it kill them to use something other than iceberg lettuce?). When we parted, I headed to BJ's, where I planned to get gas and then pick up a few groceries.

It snowed all last week, and last night was no exception--it was snowing, the wind was vicious, the cold was intense, and when I got to the gas station, I couldn't get the door over my gas tank open. I had the attendant cancel the pump transaction for me, and came home.

My garage is unheated, so if there was a freezing problem with the gas tank door, it didn't change. I smacked the door several times with a sledgehammer, and when that didn't work, took it to the local auto shop. The owner had me pull up on the latch release inside the car while he pushed on the door, and that got it open. Feeling obligated, I filled up there at $2.90/gallon, then got went to water-walking. Mom and I had a good class, after which I came home, ate lunch, took a bath and had a long nap.

Must clean, shovel and do laundry tomorrow. Ugh.

4 comments:

Murphy Jacobs said...

Sledge hammering your car in general is sort of...indicative.

Snow! Snow! Snow!

Otterboyy said...

I wish I could have used a sledgehammer on the thermostat that ended up costing $350+ (and that's after talking the guy down from $464!)

Anonymous said...

I guess your car is on in age that you would consider such a drastic but promising approach to a common problem.

My Ford Fiasco is 10 years old and I love to hate it. I used to just hate it, but like me its in codgerhood and merits some affection.

So you can imagine my ambivalence when I found that a huge block of ice had fallen onto the hood of the old fart. There are two nasty dents that aren’t coming out and a cracked what-ever-you-call-that-thing-that-covers-the-headlight.

- tyro

Jammies said...

Sherri, it was not a good day!

Otterboyy, I'm sorry about your thermostat. :( That's about 50 Lush bath bombs!

Tyro, I've always loved my little wagon, and still do, and am willing to put up with a lot to keep it. I'd also put up with a lot to keep you around! *hugs*