funny stuff - car related

So, Allen went to Bend for the weekend. He is staying at the Mackey's (Muna is in Cali with the boys), and they are doing some work and playing. He called me Friday night about when he should have been rolling into Bend - yeah, he was calling to tell me he was broke down outside of Chemult...

After several calls to our insurance company - to try to use the roadside assistance we never knew we had, and to avoid being taken to a shop in Chemult that only does body work - he finally got a tow to Bend. He had his car towed to a mechanic that Chris suggested that he "thought" would be open on Saturdays. You can probably see where this is going. Saturday morning, Allen called the shop to schedule maintenance, and the shop-y no open-y on Saturday-y. Here's the thing - my husband always tries to do things the right way...sometimes to his own demise. He put his keys in the drop box. I'm going to repeat that in case the funniness was lost in translation... HE PUT HIS KEYS IN THE DROP BOX. So now, he cannot have his car towed to another shop that is open on Saturdays to have his car worked on. Nor can he go pop the hood and take a look himself - now that there is daylight and he has access to his mechanic friend and mechanical-ish father-in law via phone. Hmmm....

So, now he has to wait until Monday morning to call the shop where his car is dropped. Hopefully it will be a quick and inexpensive fix. He gets to extend his trip and fun with his friend - yay - but has an important conference call on Monday, and his phone is dying and he took no charger with him - sounds about right.

I'm blogging about it because it is a funny story. And we (well, mostly Allen) have a history with car unluckiness...



One time while in Portland, in the middle of July, Allen's CRX (awesome, I know - I can sense your jealousy) was overheating so bad, we had to turn off the AC and drive around with the heat on. It was about 95 degrees out, we were lost, and we were stuck in freeway rush hour traffic.

Allen had a rattling in his car for a while. One day, a motor mount broke, dropped the motor, and snapped the axle.

He had a funky clunky (girl speak) happen - shut off the motor immediately, collected his thoughts, turned the car back on to investigate the problem - exploding his motor.

Before a weekend road trip, Allen decided he needed to change his oil before we left. He didn't get off work until 9pm that night, but we wanted to get on the road, so he proceeded to do the oil change under the lighted carport at my parents house. Even under a lighted carport, it's still dark, and the sealing ring on the oil filter came off during installation unbeknownst to Allen. When he started the car, 5 quarts of oil dumped all over my parents driveway. It was about 11pm at this point, and we had no idea what to do...so I went inside and woke my dad up, and he calmly came out, showed us how to clean it with laundry soap, and staggered back to bed. We left for our trip Saturday morning.

Oh man, this next one is funny. I guess it was sorta my fault. I had been driving my dad's truck, and while adjusting the rear view mirror, it fell off. Then I was riding in Allen's car and when he ran in the store to buy a soda, I took the opportunity to check my face in his rear view mirror, it fell off (the mirror, not my face). So this is where the story starts. He now has no rear view mirror. He also has no side mirrors because the passenger side one is non-existent, and the driver side one is broke (awesome CRX). Knowing the law, and not wanting to get into trouble, Allen decided he needed to fix his mirror right away, before he drove home that night. Well, it was Sunday, and most stores were closed, so he could not buy the proper adhesive, so he bought some super glue at the minute market, and proceded to try to fix the mirror. He didn't know (in all fairness, neither did I) that the mirror had a little button that you are supposed to remove to glue it to the window, so he put glue on the mirror and then tried to hold it in place while it dried. As you can imagine, it was too heavy, and never adhered. By this point my dad came out to help and informed Allen of the button. Well, he had already spent many minutes and swear words with this project and the super glue adhered the button to the mirror. So, he had to drive with no working mirrors until the next day. After work he purchased a new mirror, complete with proper adhesive, and proceeded to fix the issue. He took care to remove the button, place it on his window, and then came inside to eat dinner with us while he let it cure. After dinner he went out to attach the mirror to the button - hmmm, something was wrong - he could not get the mirror back on the button. Many swear words latter, he realized he had put the button on upside down. Upon discovering this, he was able to attach the mirror - upside down and totally ineffective and useless. A HUGE swear word later, he decided to try and remove the button. So with the mirror attached, he braced his feet on his dash, grabbed a hold of the mirror, and pulled...SMASH! Shattered the windshield. Lesson learned from this story - Joah is NOT allowed to touch rear view mirrors...told you it was my fault.

In all fairness, Allen isn't the only one who has had bad car luck. Once, I was driving my Samurai, and all 4 of my tires shredded at the same time. It also rolled though the parking lot at the mall, jumped a curb, flew off an embankment, and hit a tree. In a similar story, my Blazer rolled out of our driveway, down the street, and hit the neighbors Semi truck that was parked on the street (don't worry, his vehicle wasn't damaged).

I wrote all these down because they are FUNNY. Well, Allen probably doesn't think so, but he might someday. And, well, you just can't take yourself too seriously....funny.

great weekend

What a great weekend we had. Allen and Gage headed for "Fish Camp" on Friday for a boys only camping trip. They had a great time canoeing, shooting "bones and arrows," bike riding on a trail (a first for Gage), and drinking lots of hot chocolate. Allen also warned me to never, ever again send him into the woods, with a bunch of men, and a flowered pillow (I guess our sheet set isn't very manly).

The girls and I stayed home with Grammi and Poppi. Friday night was pretty uneventful, mom and I went on a walk after we put the littles in bed. Saturday though, was full of adventure. I went and bought 3/4 minus rocks and soil for our planter boxes. Then Grammi took Marissa on an errand, so while the baby was taking a nap, Abby and I unloaded all the rocks, and soil into the sheep troughs. Then we planted carrots and cantaloupes in them. Next, we made hills in the pumpkin patch area, and then, planted the pumpkin plants that we had started in the kitchen window.

After the farming in the morning, we spent the afternoon swimming. Abby loves the water and is getting so good at diving. Marissa likes the water, but not so much swimming. And Rachel got a new pool floaty, so she got to enjoy her big sister pushing her around the pool. For dinner we had La Burrita (my favorite), and then we headed to Wendy's for their new coffee-toffee-twisted-frosty (whew, that's a mouthful!).


That evening Uncle Butch and his girlfriend, Suzette, showed up in town. That was fun for my mom, I think. The kids loved having new people around to entertain. Suzette was very nice and interested in the kids. She helped them brush their hair and teeth, and let them sit in her lap, soaking wet, after swimming. She sent Abby inside to get a comb so she could help her brush her hair, and as Abby passed me she whispered, "I like our new maid."

Sunday, after Allen and Gage got home, we cleaned the kids all up, and spent the day swimming again. I also took my van to the car wash and had it detailed - a gift I was planning on giving Allen for Father's Day - I thought he would think it was a gift for him since he didn't have to do it...but he informed me that was a lame gift, and that I should go get it detailed AND get him a Father's Day gift. Whatever.

We had barbequed hamburgers outside for dinner. It was very nice sitting in the yard, gnawing on watermelon, watching the kids swim, again. We had to quickly retreat to the indoors when a crazy thunderstorm struck the valley. It rained so hard - harder than I can remember it raining in a very long time. The gutters were overflowing and sheets of water were falling off the roof. The fire pit we built on Saturday was completely under water. Gage was freaking out about his pumpkin plants..."don't worry little boys, Daddy is right here," he was yelling at them out the window.

After we put the kids in bed, while it was still storming, Allen and I stuck to our commitment, and did Yoga X. I really like yoga, even though it is very tough. I struggle through the first 45 minutes, so I can get to the last 45. The "happy baby" pose is my favorite. It really makes me feel like a happy baby.

It was just a really great weekend...hanging with family, enjoying the outdoors, loving my life and where I live...it was the kind of happiness and joy that comes from within, that money cannot buy, that is given as a pure and sacred gift from God. Thank you Almighty Father.