A day to forget

I've been pondering all day trying to think of something substantial to say and it's just not there. Tom is razor clam digging in Copalis, or has been for two days, very successfully. He stayed at Cliff and Linda's in McCleary two nights with my car since C & D had his truck in Coulee. This morning when I talked with him, he was just finishing breakfast with Cliff at the Rusty Tractor in Elma and from there he was heading to Seaview to see his brother Larry. Larry had a tachocardia (??) episode with his heartbeat over 230 a week ago Sunday so he landed in a couple hospitals and had a pacemaker/defibrilator implanted. And he now sounds good and is doing well. On his next trip to Cabo, Larry will have to remember to bypass the xray machines at the airport and have the "personal" patdown! A lovely experience.



A couple of weeks ago, we had a flock of 29 Common Mergansers out front on the water, 5 males and 24 females. Today the Eagles are fighting in the gloaming and trying to find easy food. Our new cat Midnight, who came to us from who-knows-where, has gotten used to our house and thinks she should always be inside poking around. And Angelo, our English Springer Spaniel has decided, in Tom's absence, that the recliner is the place to curl up when soaking wet from a swim in the briny bay! (All the rest of the furniture is covered and somewhat waterproofed for this occurrence but the recliner is ill-prepared.) Last night I wondered why I had a wet backside after sitting in the chair.



Well, anyway, remember, I said Tom had my car. That leaves me with his red F250 Ford pick up. And, I kept Megan and Madison overnight last night so Denise could leave early for PM school in Bellevue this am. We did great, jumped up at 6:30, showered, dressed, ate, jumped in the truck after rounding up Angelo from the neighbors, hummed into the Everett Avenue house to pick up some things for Megan. Plenty of time to make it to school on schedule. Then I remembered I needed to leave the girls' overnight bags in the house and so I slammed the truck in park and hit the emergency brake. Normally, this is no problem, but the brake release is broken and total frustration ensued. I'm not supposed to step on the emergency brake! I knew the brake release was broken. With flashlight and screwdriver in hand, I set about manually releasing the brake, but to no avail. I have watched Tom and Chris do this magic trick, but alas, I was not privy to the secret of releasing the emergency brake via screwdriver. Frustration, frustration, calls to Chris in Seattle, calls to Tom in Elma. What's a woman to do?!! Vent! Called the schools to say the girls would be late; rounded up Angelo who kept escaping the truck onto Everett Avenue. I locked Angelo in the truck and the girls in the house watching morning TV, (all before 8 am mind you) and I walked the two blocks to the Auto Repair shop, asked the mechanic to come help. He walked back to the truck with me, hit the magic spot with the screwdriver and Voila! The emergency brake flipped off. End of story, except I handed the guy 20 bucks, and he walked back to his shop. Then I delivered Megan to her school and Madison to her school and made it home in one piece. I then took my blood pressure medicine and my daily aspirin, curled up back in bed with Angelo on the floor beside me, cooled down and slept. Another day conquered!! or is it, Another day conquered me???!!