Today's Plans

Plans for today called for me to use the recently acquired Outback to drive to Cooperstown to work in the shop while Jeff got to drive the Forester (with the smashed in passenger door) with the utility trailer down the road to our friend Gary's horse farm for some manure. Well, as the say, the best laid plans.... I stopped at Subway and got my lunch (a 6" sub, 21 oz soda and small bag of chips) for less than $5 and headed south on Rte 28.  There was enough construction on the hill to slow things down...a lot...so I made it to Cooperstown shortly after 10 am. I opened the shop and watered the flowers boxes before filling the 8 empty water gallons I had brought with me.  By 10:45 am I was settling in with my knitting, waiting for customers.  That's when the plan changed for me.  A guy walking by the front of the shop came in and told me I had a flat tire.  Yep, it was definitely soft, if not totally flat. I called the roadside assistance number on my insurance card and tried to explain what was happening and where. The operator connected me with a tow service in Cobleskill who didn't want to make the trip to C'town to just change a tire and handed the call back to the operator. Try #2 got me connected with a service in Oneonta...who also didn't want to come to Cooperstown so I was handed back to the operator. This time she asked for the number where I was and that was a good thing.  (While the shop does not carry long distance service, the phone does accept calls from outside of the service area.)  In the middle of trying to explain where Doubleday Court was, my cell phone battery went dead.  A few seconds later the shop phone rang and it was the operator wondering what happened.  She promised roadside assistance would be there within 90 minutes and gave me the driver's cell number.  About 75 minutes later he called and said he'd be there within 20 minutes.  About 30 minutes later he called again and tried to tell me I wasn't in Doubleday Court.  He had turned too soon and was on the other side of the batting range.  We got that straightened out and he came over and took the flat tire off the car. He had to take the spare...one of those 'donuts'...to get it filled with air but was soon back and put it on the car. The car would get me home.  The rest of the day dragged on with very few customers until the last half hour or so.  I finally got packed up and headed for home about 5:15.  Both Jeff (whom I had called while waiting for the tire service) and the tire service guy had warned me not to go over 50 mph while driving on the 'donut'.  So I drove home slowly for me (Zoom-Zoom is my middle name.) half expecting the 'donut' to blow or at the very least, go flat but I made it home ok.

Jeff's plan of action for today had also changed.  Since it was raining off and on all morning, he decided that instead of going for a load of manure or working in the garden, he'd clean the garage.  By the time I got home he had one side almost empty and the other side straightened up nicely.  He found a couple of things (like the Coleman Lantern stand that he thought was in his sister's garage) and had the recycle bin completely full.  Just need a 'floor magnet' to pick up any wayward nails from the garage floor and the Outback will be dry this winter.

After supper, Jeff checked the 'flat' tire for a puncture (didn't find any) and a cracked bead (found 2) by soaping up the tire and using the compressor to put air in it.  We got two sets of bubbles where there shouldn't have been any.  Then he filled the tire with air, put it back on the car and we went to Advance Auto to get a can of fix-a-flat and...fixed the flat. Jeff was going to swap tires between the Forester and Outback, anyway, since the Forester had newer tires, he'll just do it a little sooner than planned.

Fanny had not been the good dog she usually is with Jeff.  She had found a scent and went out of the yard hunting thru the brush behind the house...and would not come when he called her eventho they could see each other. (That's the way she usually acts when I have her outside off-lead.)  When she finally decided she better come home he put her in the house...with a swat to her tail end...and left her inside alone for awhile. She was very happy to see me when I got home (lots of licks and jumps) and quickly 'forgave' Jeff for putting her inside. She's got to learn.

OTN:  I spent all of today working on an adult version of a baseball hat.  Since I don't have a pattern for a rolled brim beanie to fit an adult I had to make things up as I went along.  (That's the usual way to design a pattern but when you're working with white yarn there is a definite number of times you can rip things out!) I got the circumference right on the 3rd try and the crown right on the 2nd.  Now I just have to do the embroidery....