Damn Garage Door

The Jump Bump!!!

After lots of anticipation, Friday was finally here! It’s the last of a string of work days; the beginning of a much deserved vacation; the promise of an evening by the firkin with friends.

I was up by 5:44am after fighting off the new habit to stay in bed longer. I used the fore mentioned end and beginning as motivation to get up & moving. There was a lot to accomplish. I sped through my routine and readied and departed for work on time. It was a nice sunny day.

I worked through the morning hours with few problems. Runtime came and went. I had my final work week run in the bag by 155pm. Immediately after a shower I headed off to Tuttle Mall to once again embark on a running shoe quest. I spent little time picking my new shoes. I knew which pair I wanted, although I did have a difficult time finding help. However, eventually a store clerk helped me out and got a size 10.5 for me to try on. To my surprise, they were too tight. I had to bump up another half size to an 11. And yes, I remembered my $10 off coupon.


Back at work I finished off my day. Before departing I remembered to post my out-of-office message in email and to record a new out-of-office phone message – something I’ve forgotten to do a time or two. I left for home at 4pm – an hour early. Mindy asked that I stop and get crickets on my way home. I did. While at Jack’s they told me that we could bring the dead meal worms back for an exchange after I shared that the lizards wouldn’t eat them.

I called Mindy along my trip home. She informed me that the garage door wasn’t working for her. I told her that I’d take a look once home. The kids were already gone by the time that I arrived home. They were going camping for one night with their daddy at Deer Creek. I give Jimaken a l lot of credit for doing so. It’s not easy being the sole adult on a camping excursions regardless how simple. After tending to a few mundane chores, Mindy casually mentioned that one of the springs on the garage door was broke. Certain that she was somehow mistaken, I ventured out to take a look for myself. Ouch! She was correct. The left of the two springs was cleanly broken about 1/3 the way in. I tried raising both electronically and manually but to no avail. Shit! I wondered how such a beefy thing could simply break. Aside from the unknown cost of a repair, (I imagined the repair being about a $1000). I was frustrated because I would not be able to drive the BM’er to Barley’s, or worse yet, I wouldn’t be able to use the tractor to cut the lawn which I planned to do before departing for Barley’s. And looking ahead, I wouldn’t be able to load the vehicles for out camp trip through the garage.

Despite the door dilemma, I still wanted to cut the lawn to create golf time Saturday morning with Bob I. I tried not to worry much about the garage door and instead I got busy on the lawn. I carried the push mower and string trimmer out the side entry door and got busy manicuring the lawn. I hadn’t cut the entire lawn with a push mower for several years. It wasn’t a task that I looked forward to. Mindy napped while I worked in the yard.
I finished the lawn chores in about 1.5 hours. I moved fast with the push mower.

After a quick shower we left for Barley’s in the Trooper. It was just after 7pm. At Barley’s were many of the regulars; Jeremy & Courtney, Bob & Carol, Steve, Mark, Lee, & Janet. Bob arrived without Mary Ann about 20 minutes after us. Mary Ann was working. My buddy from work, Bill Gray arrived with a couple of friends a little later too. We hung at Barley’s until 10pm or so. Mindy drove home. I had four beers over the course of the three hour visit.