Saturday

I woke up before the alarm went off on Saturday. Alarm on a sleep-in morning? Yes, I had to be at the Volvo dealer at 8:30 AM to get my new headlight assembly.

So, I headed out into the cold. The sun was shining, which was nice, until I realized I was heading “east” (I never go “east” in the morning) and it was still too low for the sun visors to control. I have no prescription sunglasses or clip-ons that will fit my glasses (sigh).

I got there at 8:15 AM for my appointment and was the second guy there. The only thing I thought was funny about today’s appointment was that the service manager (a different guy from last week) told me that they had given the car their “complimentary” wheel alignment check and that I need an alignment. I said, “Hmmm, that’s weird. You guys told me the same thing the last week and I paid big bucks for it to be aligned. Did your guys screw up or what?”

Red-faced, he checked and said, “Oh, yes. I see it was just done last week. So, we’ll do whatever tweaking it takes for free.” Damn right you will!

He told me it would take about an hour or and hour and a half. But, I knew better. I left there at 11:30 AM and $544.00 US poorer.

I stopped in at the Kroger’s in Troy to get three items I need for my Sunday supper. In and out, right? I went to the express lane and there was just one woman unloading her few items in front of me. Unfortunately, she had a bunch of coupons and didn’t speak English well. Of course, none of the coupons matched the things she bought, but she wanted credit for them. Four people came and stood behind me (I already had my items on the counter and up to the scanner) and then left as the store manager had to be called and so forth. I finally got checked out…

I got home about 12:30 PM. I left the car in the driveway as the melting snow off the car from yesterday’s storm had left large puddles on my garage floor. So, I swept the water outside and let the floor dry.

I went in the house after closing the garage door, treated the cats, changed clothes and started the weekend wash. Then I called my buddy Leon to wish him a Happy Birthday. I told him about my car troubles and he told me his rear lights and horn quit working on his 1992 Ford truck (and its not a fuse). I said, “Maybe its time to buy another truck?” He said he was going to, but his smaller tractor threw a rod through the engine block and he had to spend his saved truck money on another used tractor, instead.

He said the winter hadn’t been too bad and that the snow wasn’t that deep, which was good as he has about run out of hay. Being a rancher can suck at times, I guess.

Since the sun was out, I figured it was a good time to go into the attic to retrieve something I wanted. There were two old pallets up there and I have been itching to get one down to play with. I know a lot about old pallets (I heated a house in Pearl Beach all winter with big ones that the steel I worked with in the factory came on when Jeremy was just a baby).

So, I rigged up a pulley to try and lower it down the ladder hole with a clothes line (figuring I’d hurt my back or kill myself trying to carry it down the attic ladder). It worked okay, sort of, but kept hanging up on the steps. I finally got it down, though. I set it in the garage and pulled the car in for the day.

Then I switched out the clothes in the washer to the dryer and started the second load of laundry.

I needed some bacon for tomorrow, so I made a pound in the oven. When the bacon was done, I let it cool and went and took a nap.

When I woke up, I realized how hungry I was, since I hadn’t eaten anything but a few pieces of bacon (just to test it, you understand) since 6:00 AM. So, I warmed up a container of the meatballs and marinara sauce I’d thawed overnight. I made some pasta, put it all together, topped it with Parmesan cheese and had an excellent early dinner.

I finished dealing with laundry and them washed up the pots and pans from dinner. I went into the living room, turned the light on and read more of the book I’d started at the car dealer for a while.

In my bedroom, I channel surfed and came up with a different show called “Texas Car Wars” (featuring four different car shops who bid on cars, restore them and then resell them). Each episode then tallies who made the most money. It’s the same theme used on the shows about long haul truckers, people bidding on storage units, etc. For some reason, I found it fascinating and watched three hour-long episodes! I finally turned it off and went to bed at midnight.