Time's a Flyin'

Dude. Has it been a month? Yeesh.

In that month there have been four Saturdays (as is usually the case) and three of them were beautiful. Sunny. Warm. Beckoning. Tantalizing.

Three Saturdays ago, I had to do yard work. This wasn't just a mild courtesy for the neighbors. I hadn't mowed since probably mid June, the leaves were starting to come down and I still had some plants to get in the ground from the last bestowal from my plant benefactrix. I really needed to be able to get my mower started (the carb was fouled and I couldn't even get the ruddy thing to turn over). Thankfully, Mr. Rogers is my neighbor, and he is kind enough to doctor my lawn mower when I can't get it started. While I sat on their deck and visited with his wife, he took the carburetor off the mower and cleaned it out, putting everything back together, with Riley sniffing alongside, wanting to be a mower repair assistant. It was wonderful to hack down the weeds, plant the summersweet and trumpet vine, and rake a huge pile in the side yard. Riley enjoyed the cushion of leaves in the sun Sunday afternoon when I got home after church.

The next week, I started getting all fixit lady minded (drip), and on Wednesday decided to (drip) tackle two items that had long (drip) been plauging me. One was a (drip) particularly abominable light (drip) fixture in my dining 'area' ('room' is too grand a term), and the other was a (drip) faucet that had (drip) been leaking for probably two or three, or mmrfphg months, and it had finally started to annoy me. I took the cartridge out of the cold water handle side on my American Standard gooseneck that I'd put in about five years ago and headed off to Home Depot. Normally, they're all over you, asking if you need help, if you've found what you need, if they can help you, or if you need them to peel you a grape.

Wednesday nights are evidently not normal, because there wasn't anyone to be found with a helpful lift to his brow. I walked from the plumbing department to the lighting department and managed not to be accosted. Didn't see what I needed in either department, and finally got a warm greeting as I was walking out the exit. Drove to the HD in Greer, and found more of the same...Wednesday night is not their forte. I finally managed to tackle someone who was trying to mind his own 'Kitchen' business and he took me to the plumbing area I'd missed, and called on his little walkie talkie for someone to come to the plumbing department. Apparently no one informed him of their Wednesday policy, because no one showed up. Ever. It ended up with a 'sorry, but you probably need to check up at the plumbing supply place up the road because I can't find what you need and really don't have a clue.'

After my two quests at Home Depot, I did stop in Lowe's to see what they might have, but they carry not the American Standard brand. I browsed their ceiling light selection while there and found something that I thought would be serviceable. It wasn't great, but it was cheap and passable...enough to get past the flickering antiquity in place. Once I got back home, I tried to put the old cartridge back into the faucet, but now it had gone from the occasional, though regular drop to a drippity drippity, drippity, drippity, until I had to just turn off the cold water at the shutoff valve. I mean, cold water at the kitchen sink is over rated anyway, right? At least I had the light I could put up. I turned off the breaker, took down the old, crusty, brittle mess and put up the new little modest globe light. It looked small on the ceiling, but if it did the job...that's what counted, right? When I flipped the breaker, it came back on obediently (no sparks), but it had two massive strikes against it. It only held two 60 watt bulbs and the globe was amber, and when it was the only light source on that side of the room, it was dim, and it was a very yellow dim. The room suddenly had a bad case of jaundice. The ceiling ceased being white. The wallpaper took on a sickly hue. I thought the last light was bad, but that was just because it flickered and it was old and dirty. This new one was painful to look at when it was on. It was depressing! If I turned on the light by habit, I had to turn it right back off as a reflex. Yech!

Thursday, I found out the plumbing place up the road actually had the part I needed (happy dance!) and they had 15 in stock. They were $6 cheaper than ordering it online from the manufacturer and they opened at 8 a.m., so Friday morning, I got my faucet cartridge in hand (I'm loving Imsco!) and Saturday morning I returned the awful light to Lowe's. On a whim, I stopped in to a local lighting store down the street from Lowe's and ended up finding something that I thought would meet my needs. The faucet took about 15 minutes to fix and the light took a little longer. About 98% of my tools are at a friend's house, so I was having to strip the lamp cord with scissors and round up some odd and end screwdrivers, but I managed to get everything put together before going to a dinner with church folks Saturday night. If the old light was dim, the new light looked like I'd managed to somehow tap into the sun and would need a nuclear plant built nearby to sustain the draw. I like it :)

The windows were open at the house and I heard a lot of bikes ride by as I was laboring inside, but having the drip dry up and the light replaced were enough of a tradeoff, that I was able to wait for another day to ride.

This past Saturday, it started cool, but ended up being a mild and beautiful day, which was a perfect day for the wedding of one of my best friends. She'd asked me to be a bridesmaid, so instead of riding off into the mountains, I was sitting in a chair at 9 a.m. having my hair crafted and makeup applied to go with the black dress and three inch heels (and I'm no shorty!) It's kind of nice to get cleaned up nicely every once in a while just to prove that I can :) I forgot to take my camera for the big day, but I might get some pics later to post. We'll see.

So in light of the fact that I've not ridden for the last three beautiful Saturdays, I plan to make up for that and ride out on Thanksgiving Day up to Kentucky to visit some cousins I've not seen for years. I'm especially looking forward to spending time with one who lives outside of Seattle, and with whom I spent a few summers with while growing up in Kansas. The forecast has been its usual fickle self, and up until this afternoon, it was showing snow showers in the forecast for Lexington on Friday. It's calmed down now to a.m. clouds and afternoon sun, but the lows are still going to be dang chilly, down to 27 on Friday. Lord willing, I'll be heading back on Saturday afternoon, so it will just be a short trip, but I'm in the mood for a mini trip :) I'll see if I can have some kind of adventure while I'm gone...just to keep it interesting.