Happy Saturday !
It's quarter till one PM now. I stayed up late last night as is my norm on the weekend nights. I slept in till 9 am to make sure I had enough rest to get me through the day as I know I will stay up till the wee hours of tomorrow morning today too. I had an important mission first thing. A couple of days ago I went out after work to put some trash in the trunk of my car to take around to the bins and do a couple of errands, only to find that my car would not start. Not only had it not started but my key fob would not open the trunk or the door lock. Sheesh! Dead battery. I had not driven my car in about 10 days at the time, so I guessed to myself that I had left the dome light on inside when I came back from Mom's Sunday before last.
It was not going to be long before the light faded away and I made an attempt with my booster battery starter to jump it off, but it is not a fancy booster and if the battery is totally dead, it does not want to start it. If there had been a partial charge on it, the booster would have worked famously I am sure.... but no, not this time. I have Triple A (AAA) for such things as getting stranded on the road or at home, but in the past it had taken a little while for them to come (no complaints) and it would be dark soon and I would need to drive the car for a while if they got it going and I simply didn't want to deal with that in the dark. I had a trickler battery charger that worked great last time, howeverrrrrrrrrrrrr..... if it is totally dead, it takes a couple of days to put a full charge on....
AND....it has been murderously cold here at night (for here) down in the low 20s and teens. I wasn't sure if the trickle charger was good to use in such cold temps... AND.... my Uncle has been plugging the well house heaters into the outside outlet of my house to keep it from freezing so, although I had made sure to acquire last time, a few things that would continue to keep me as independent as possible, this time, having the "things" could not help me.
Since I was working all day the next few days after that, I had planned to call my Triple A folks this morning to get me going. That way I'd have plenty of daylight to ride a while to build the battery back up, once it was running again. So I put in the call, gave info to their AI (😖) phone thing and waited for a call back. Normally, someone will call or they will send a message telling you what time to expect someone. I had not gotten myself quite ready to be seen by another human, but KNEW I had a little time. Then the phone rung and I knew they would be telling me how long...right?.... no.... it was Blake and he was in my driveway. WHAT??? Now for SURE that was fast and the best service ever, but I wasn't ready ! So I grabbed this and that and my shoes and got out there as fast as I could. I recognized him as he came last time when my battery was dead because the brake pedal bushion had crumbled and I didn't know it, so it was more than just the battery that time.... but either way, there he was again, ready to help. He got it started, got the info he needed and was out of here in nothing flat. It was truly just the kind of service you would always wish for, but never really get. How lucky was that??..... I said to myself.
I was then ready to drive the car around and around for a while to help my battery build itself up, 30 to 40 minutes of motor running at least so they say.
Since where I live is on the edge of rural, I already had a plan in my head of what path I would take, the long circle around to start with, with long stretches of open road, but still within the area I am familiar with and a few explorations down roads less traveled. Once I got started and got to the end of the beginning plan, I remapped to go down a road I had not traveled in years. It brought back memories because it was the road the Moose Lodge had been on when I was growing up. My parents had been members there when I was a child. It was not really a Freemason entity, but I believe most of the men that were part of it were Masons as was my Dad. The only thing it really meant to me though, was swimming! They had a pool for the families of the members and although not often, sometimes in the summer my folks would pack us up and take us there for the day. One more of the joys of childhood. Once or twice a year they would have dances for the adults with live music and cocktails and the such and sometimes my parents would get a baby sitter for us and they would go with some friends. They rarely did things like that, but they certainly did deserve a little fun time out and it was a safe place for average people. Although it has been closed for years now, going down that road brought the flood of past memories back, which added a little happiness to my rambling adventure.
When I got to the end of that road, I had previously thought I would take another winding trail back towards my house, but there I sat at the stop sign about to take a left, when all of the sudden it came to me, that if I took the right instead, within a few blocks I could go to the new Starbucks my sister had told me about. PLAN CHANGE ! ...so I took that right and ended up in line, waiting my turn to order, car still running, so battery time still ticking. I planned and got a Cafe Mocha, small one with an extra shot of expresso... yeah... this was going to help me be extra productive for whatever I decided to do when I got home. Before it was my turn to order though, I remembered they used to have some vanilla scones, so I thought, OH YEAH... I'll get some of those too and THEN.... while I waited, now in front of the advertising board, I also remembered an egg and bacon breakfast sandwich on ciabatta bread and.... you guessed it, the thought of having that to munch on while I continued to ride made my heart happy. So I left there planning a new path for riding just a little longer, you know, just to make sure.
I ate my sandwich, which turned out to be fairly tasty and took a few sips of coffee as I rode back towards the area in which I live and getting close to home, decided to go down one more road just to see what was there.
Once I was finally back to the house, nearly an hour since I started, I left the car running in the drive (for good measure), came inside, gathered a couple of trash bags and some recycles and drove them around to the bins (again... finally).... came back by my mailbox which is across the street from my house, here in the nearly rural.
Before the mail, when putting my stuff in the bins, I dodged sweet gum balls as I walked. It caused me to think about how fascinating I have always thought they were. I also thought about all the folks that had ever said they hated them, simple because they drop these fun seed balls on the ground. They are hard and not easy to walk on and the mowers don't like them too much, but somehow I always still loved them. So, I picked up a few to carry back to the house with me as it has always been a habit of mine to want to bring a little bit of nature back indoors with me when I've been out.
While I was gathering a few there was this little limb from a close pine tree that had fresh green needles still on it and two small pinecones still stuck to it. Of course I couldn't just leave it there, it had to come back with me too!
I love bits of nature. So interesting.
I love pinecones too, even more than Sweet Gum balls.
Last night and first thing this morning, having to deal with a dead battery and calling to get help was not something I really looked forward too, so was not expecting the morning to be so pleasant and yet, the fast service, pleasant drive, unexpected coffee, breakfast and sweet treats (the scones I have not eaten yet, so still something pleasant to experience later)... finally getting the trash out, mail in and finding a few bits of sweet nature caused this to be an unexpectedly pleasant morning, despite my initial dread of dealing with the car.
Now it is time to fill the dishwasher and get it going and who knows what else. I find myself wondering about what other pleasant surprises this day may hold and I can't wait to see !
Hope you are all doing well and that your day is full of unexpected pleasantries.
Love you !
Jacey
Thanks a bunch ! @ewkaw
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If I had a buck for every pinecone Ive moved in the last few months, I would be richer than Musk!🤣
Make sure your jumper itself is fully charged.
The jumper appeared to be fully charged. I tried to do a quick re-read of the instructions at the time and I "thought" it said if the battery was all the way dead, it may not work, but has a boost feature on it that might help, but then it seemed to say if you used that button, then the warrantee was no longer good? I was trying to do it fast because of the short time of light left, so I am not sure at this moment if I read that right. Now surely if I had been stranded away from home and not in a safe place, I would have used "the button" without hesitation, but being I was home, getting started was not an emergency and there would be another solution when I had time, I chose not to push it.
I dunno if that was valid thinking on it or not.
You and I would get along so well together as roommates, as this could have been about me! 😅
Well Hello !
I have always thought it was part of my general nature, happiness resilience, but you know "they" say you get to choose and who would not choose happiness if they could? I kind of detest having to deal with cars. I just want to put gas in them and they just start and go every time I want them too. LOL ! I know dead batteries are the least of car worries, but still.
I love it when things go as they should, in the world according to me!
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