Monkey See, Monkey Do

Monkey See, Monkey Do



I recently returned from vacation. Now it seems that everything I touch thinks it should go on vacation also. So far the only thing that’s cooperated is the John Deere riding mower that I’ve been using to shave the dead patches of grass in my lawns. Those lawns, by the way, I estimate to be somewhere between two and three acres, so that isn’t an afternoon’s minor chore.

The Suzuki four wheeler that I use almost daily in doing chores around the seven acres I own refuses to start. That’s its usual springtime modus operandi anyway, so I expected that. I added water to the battery as I couldn’t see any at all, and put the charger on it. Lots of life now, but no firing. I’m going to get a new spark plug, and if that doesn’t work, Jesse promised to come by and threaten it.

I saw Jesse in Seward today. I’d gone there quite unexpectedly because my computer and DSL connection refused to cooperate with each other. After an hour on the phone with tech support, and exploratory surgery on my part, the computer landed in the hospital in Seward. They said nothing was wrong with the computer and it worked just fine for them, except it did have 82 spy thingies on it in the form of “coupons” that Norton failed to find.

While the computer hospital was scrubbing out the spyware, I dropped by the bank on an errand, and when I left, the Toyota mini-van was attempting its first day of vacation. It did finally start, with its last gasp of DC current. Jesse’s shop was only a block up the street. I’ve been suspecting for a couple months that I needed a new battery, and Jesse confirmed that his tester said, “Bad Battery,” so he put in a new one. That’s when he said he’d be out my way in a week and would recall the Suzuki from vacation. Jesse, who has the most beautiful blue eyes I’ve ever seen, is the son of good friends here in Moose Pass.

In the meantime, I haven’t even tried the push mower and the string trimmer on wheels. Nor have I dug the chain saws out of winter storage. I should probably do that next as I have a couple trees snapped off from high winter winds and snow load that I need to clean up. So, there are four more pieces of mechanical equipment to confound me.

Also on tour is the passenger-side window on the Dodge Dakota and the left side power door on the mini-van. I haven’t de-winterized the camper trailer yet, but as that contains movable parts and equipment, there’s a whole host of possible vacation-goers there.

I thought the garden hoses had departed for places unknown as they weren’t lying in the spot where they’ve spent the previous five winters. It took a while, but I finally found them hanging on the hooks I’d installed in the crawl space—right where I’d put them last fall.

So, other than those things and the fact that Pablo the parrot continues to hiss and spread his wings and tail feathers whenever he sees me, things are getting back to normal around here. And, after a dreadful Wednesday of being totally zapped of energy, zinging noises in my ears whenever I moved my eyes, a discombobulated tummy, and a complete absence of thinking abilities, I now feel refreshed and rarin’ to get back to my normal activities.

I did, however, write five stories on that awful Wednesday. I really must go back and read them to see if they make any sense at all, now that my brain seems to have caught up with my body.

I also got the bed sheets changed yesterday, so I’m no longer sleeping in dead grass clippings….

May 29, 2008
Gullible