Wednesday nights
I’ve been really busy lately and I’ll blog some thoughts from that sometime soon but one of the things I’ve really enjoyed since coming to Whitehall is Wednesday nights. I’ve said before that the people here are close and have fun together. Wednesday night Travis (the School Resource Officer) gets the gym at the local elementary and we play basketball on 7’6” rims. I need the exercise especially since Dena hasn’t found a job yet.
So let me explain. I’ve been spoiled like the only child of a rich family and now I’m getting to be half of the duo on “CHiPS”...Paunch. Dena gets up with me in the morning and makes me breakfast. I come home at lunch to a fresh hot lunch and when I get out of work Dena has dinner ready and on the table. Hopefully Dena will get a job before I’m the size of both “CHiPS” stars together. Until then (and probably after) I’ll play basketball on Wednesdays.
Before any of you start thinking I’m too old for this, you’re right but be quiet anyway. When I show up at the court I can see the fear in the other player’s eyes. I’m the tallest player on the court and when I make a move for the basket....they know I could trip and fall and take them out without mercy.
Case in point. Just two weeks ago I was standing under the basket ready to gobble up the rebound like a dog on what the cat threw up. Being a giant among men I was able to reach up and do a reverse slam dunk...right into my own face. Tell me that story doesn’t do something to you. Ha! You can’t! There is also a certain karma to that.
Not that I’m a big believer in karma but you gotta wonder. Months ago I bought nice new glasses and at the same time bought a cheap pair for sports so the new glasses would have a better chance at survival than my old glasses. When I started Wednesday night basketball I forgot my “sports” glasses and went without. While this made my vision as fuzzy as a cheap stuffed animal I never took a hand, elbow, basketball or my own knee to my face. (this is where I could tell the story of breaking my own nose with my own knee but maybe some other time)
Weeks went by where I would either remember my sports glasses or go without and nary a face shot. Then the fateful week I decided to wear my good glasses. That was when I slam dunked into my own face. Just a short time later my hands functioned as a deflector shield...the deflected a basketball pass right into my face. This one knocked off my glasses, cut my nose and gave me a black eye. So now with the other players again looking like teddy bears I finished the night with my glasses intact but not so my dignity.
What the heck, I’ll still play basketball and hopefully I’ll remember my sport glasses.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
The Washing Machine
The Washing Machine
I guess that not everything on my blog has to be about the new job. There are so many things that have been affected by the move and one of them was a washing machine. When we moved we didn’t want the old washer because of the abuse it received from our salty water and I didn’t think the stackable washer/dryer we had would fit. I though we could just get by for a while and maybe even have to buy new appliances. That stackable didn’t work right the last time I tried it.
Now three weeks in Dena was a little tired of the laundromat and so was I. (What am I saying? I never stepped foot in the laundromat!) I mean I felt bad for Dena. So the this last weekend we were planning on going to Owosso to visit family and friends and play Bunko. We thought we could kill two birds with one stone and pick up the washer/dryer at the same time.
Now like most of the stories I tell this isn’t going to over soon so get a cup of coffee or tea before you continue. The story actually covers 5 days so it wasn’t over soon for me either.
Friday afternoon we headed out with a plan of efficient and swift movement but no such plan can withstand my luck. First we went to Dewitt to get the trailer to haul the washing machine but the lights that worked the last time I used the trailer now wouldn’t work at all. (Sometime I'll have to tell you some of my trailer stories.) After fussing about an hour and a half in the cold (I don’t like cold) I decided I would just have to return later.
Of course that also made us late for the next stop where we also realized that we left the gift for Becca back in Whitehall. That also made us late getting to Mom’s who was waiting for medicine we were bringing her. Okay, so now we get a night’s sleep (not a “good” night’s sleep because the air mattress was loosing air) and I’m up the next morning to fresh snow to shovel and then a trip back to Dewitt to get the trailer.
I still couldn’t get the lights to work so I figured I’d be nice to all the other cars and take back roads. That led to an hour and a half of white knuckle driving and then to get the washing machine. Manny and Amy who are renting our house in Owosso were willing to help me get the machine out of the basement but that was probably because they didn’t know how difficult it would be.
The combo is 6 feet high and weighs just a little less than a full grown elephant. The staircase to the basement is just wide enough to strip the skin off your knuckles and the steps are too far apart to use my hand truck. Moving the washing machine up the stairs gave me insight to what it would be like to move a sumo wrestler out of the ring. When we finally got the washing machine to the trailer I wasn’t up to the task of putting a 6 foot into a 6 foot tall space. I just laid it on the floor.
The best part of the story is we got home safely and got the washing machine into the apartment and bathroom with relative ease. “Relative” is an important thing to note because it really wasn’t all that easy. I’m just saying my luck was better at this point. Then because the washing machine wasn’t working right the last time I thought I would have to fix it before we could use it. It turns out that after we set it up it worked just fine without any repair and I had all the parts. Hallelujah!
Now that’s not the end of the story. On Tuesday I was scheduled to go back to Owosso and there’s no room for that trailer here so again thinking I’d try to be efficient I planned to take the trailer back to Dewitt. I just got started on the trip when Dena called to remind me that again I forgot to take Becca’s gift so I had to turn around and go back. I guess I can give up on the second career as an efficiency expert.
The white knuckle Saturday was nothing compared to Tuesday. I was on I-96 with traffic on all sides of me and wind blowing across the road when I started to jackknife and slide. You know that taste you get in your mouth right after a brush with death? They’ll never make a breath mint out of that taste.
I was about half way to Dewitt when I got a call that I didn’t have to go to Owosso after all. Strangely it was of no comfort at that point. I pressed on and got the trailer back to Dewitt and eventually returned to Whitehall alive but mentally battered.
This ordeal cost only about $100 in gas but I’m thinking next time I’ll just buy the new washer and dryer.
I guess that not everything on my blog has to be about the new job. There are so many things that have been affected by the move and one of them was a washing machine. When we moved we didn’t want the old washer because of the abuse it received from our salty water and I didn’t think the stackable washer/dryer we had would fit. I though we could just get by for a while and maybe even have to buy new appliances. That stackable didn’t work right the last time I tried it.
Now three weeks in Dena was a little tired of the laundromat and so was I. (What am I saying? I never stepped foot in the laundromat!) I mean I felt bad for Dena. So the this last weekend we were planning on going to Owosso to visit family and friends and play Bunko. We thought we could kill two birds with one stone and pick up the washer/dryer at the same time.
Now like most of the stories I tell this isn’t going to over soon so get a cup of coffee or tea before you continue. The story actually covers 5 days so it wasn’t over soon for me either.
Friday afternoon we headed out with a plan of efficient and swift movement but no such plan can withstand my luck. First we went to Dewitt to get the trailer to haul the washing machine but the lights that worked the last time I used the trailer now wouldn’t work at all. (Sometime I'll have to tell you some of my trailer stories.) After fussing about an hour and a half in the cold (I don’t like cold) I decided I would just have to return later.
Of course that also made us late for the next stop where we also realized that we left the gift for Becca back in Whitehall. That also made us late getting to Mom’s who was waiting for medicine we were bringing her. Okay, so now we get a night’s sleep (not a “good” night’s sleep because the air mattress was loosing air) and I’m up the next morning to fresh snow to shovel and then a trip back to Dewitt to get the trailer.
I still couldn’t get the lights to work so I figured I’d be nice to all the other cars and take back roads. That led to an hour and a half of white knuckle driving and then to get the washing machine. Manny and Amy who are renting our house in Owosso were willing to help me get the machine out of the basement but that was probably because they didn’t know how difficult it would be.
The combo is 6 feet high and weighs just a little less than a full grown elephant. The staircase to the basement is just wide enough to strip the skin off your knuckles and the steps are too far apart to use my hand truck. Moving the washing machine up the stairs gave me insight to what it would be like to move a sumo wrestler out of the ring. When we finally got the washing machine to the trailer I wasn’t up to the task of putting a 6 foot into a 6 foot tall space. I just laid it on the floor.
The best part of the story is we got home safely and got the washing machine into the apartment and bathroom with relative ease. “Relative” is an important thing to note because it really wasn’t all that easy. I’m just saying my luck was better at this point. Then because the washing machine wasn’t working right the last time I thought I would have to fix it before we could use it. It turns out that after we set it up it worked just fine without any repair and I had all the parts. Hallelujah!
Now that’s not the end of the story. On Tuesday I was scheduled to go back to Owosso and there’s no room for that trailer here so again thinking I’d try to be efficient I planned to take the trailer back to Dewitt. I just got started on the trip when Dena called to remind me that again I forgot to take Becca’s gift so I had to turn around and go back. I guess I can give up on the second career as an efficiency expert.
The white knuckle Saturday was nothing compared to Tuesday. I was on I-96 with traffic on all sides of me and wind blowing across the road when I started to jackknife and slide. You know that taste you get in your mouth right after a brush with death? They’ll never make a breath mint out of that taste.
I was about half way to Dewitt when I got a call that I didn’t have to go to Owosso after all. Strangely it was of no comfort at that point. I pressed on and got the trailer back to Dewitt and eventually returned to Whitehall alive but mentally battered.
This ordeal cost only about $100 in gas but I’m thinking next time I’ll just buy the new washer and dryer.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)