The death toll rises.
Small animals whose deaths were indirectly caused by my dogs: 1 bunny rabbit and 1 young birdlet.
Poor kid bird fell out of his nest last night during the storm. He must have fallen a good 40 feet out of that tree. Anyhoo, I saw the dogs outside playing with something and they wouldn’t leave it alone. Pawing at it, trying to nip it, circling around it. I walked outside virtually in my underpants to see what it was. It was the birdlet. I grabbed the dogs by their ears and dragged them inside, then returned to see if the bird was badly injured. He was still alive, so I picked him up with a towel. He attempted to fly out of my hands, but I guess he hadn’t quite mastered the art of flapping and sunk like a stone to the ground. So I brought him up on the upper deck and put him in a potted rose bush to protect him from the elements during the night. Must not have worked, because he was a doornail when I checked this morning. Nature sucks sometimes.
So, Ted Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor. I despise Ted Kennedy, but I also experienced a family member with brain/liver/bladder cancer, so I know the pain and suffering his family is going to go through in the next several months. Therefore, I will refrain (for the most part) in talking bad about him. To die of brain cancer is absolutely horrific. Drowning is probably a horrific way to die as well. I’m just saying.
HARSH! I know. I’m sorry. But I hate the man. I do feel bad for his family, though.
Meanwhile, in happier news, I get to go to the beach this weekend! And I don’t have to drive down there by myself, which I am very happy about. I am in desperate need of a vacation, and a girls’ weekend at the beach is long overdue. I am looking forward to it very much.
The Man Child’s wedding was this weekend. The Man Child is my 21-year old brother-in-law. His Child Bride is 20 years old. It was a nice wedding, and I am extremely glad it is over finally. I sunk about $230 into a bridesmaid dress. I think the outfit my bridesmaids wore cost about $90. This dress cost $150, and I had to spend $80 to get it altered because it had ribbon, piping, lining, and straps. But it’s cute enough and simple enough to wear again. But GEEZ. That’s a lot of money. Anyway, I have said all along that I think these kids are crazy for getting married so young and with nary a college degree between them yet, but they were bound and determined to do it so more power to them. Ha, I just remembered that my mother wrote “More power to you!” on their little signature picture frame. She’s a nut.
And on the way back from the Man Child and Child Bride’s wedding, I had car trouble. I got about an hour outside of Birmingham, and I heard a kathunk! Then I heard a repetitive clacketyclackclacketyclacketyclack in the engine. So I pulled over on the side of I-20 (not the safest place to be) and attempted to open the hood, and the latch wouldn’t unhook. So I got back in the car and it started right up, albeit with the clacketyclack sound. I drove to the next exit and parked on the shady side of a Texaco (it was really hot on Sunday) and called Mr. Burks. He said to call my dad, who is a car genius. I called my dad, and he said he would come look at it and get me, but that he had to retrieve the tow bar from my grandfather so it would probably be about two hours before he could get there. He said to tell Mr. Burks to start heading this way from Atlanta so he could pick me up in Munford and tow the car back. I went inside the Texaco and made friends with the clerk. She helped me open the hood, and of course I saw nothing out of place because I know nothing about cars. So she hollered (literally) at one of her son’s friends who was cutting grass within earshot, and he came and listened to the noise. He said something about a head gasket or a cracked head or something or other, and said it was really expensive to fix. How expensive?, I asked, with fear in my heart. Oh, about $200. I was thinking, dude, I need to move to Munford if $200 is expensive. All the while, the car fired right up every time I tried to start it. My dad finally got there with the tow bar around 5:30, and Mr. Burks got stuck behind a wreck in Atlanta so he was still an hour or so away. I tried to start the car for him so he could hear the noise, and the ol’ timing belt decided to give up the ghost at that time so it didn’t start. Dad said he didn’t have the time to fix it this week, so we’d have to take it back home with us.
So dad and I went and got some dinner and hung out. Some of our best father-daughter bonding times have been over my broke down cars. We drove around Anniston, where my great-grandmother used to live. He showed me different places he and mom would take me to when I was a baby. I’m always so busy when I visit home, so it was nice to be able to sit and talk to my father for awhile. Mr. Burks arrived around 7:00, so we got the car hooked up to the back of the Expedition and headed home. At 55 miles per hour. We didn’t get back to our house until around 11 p.m.
$600 later, I have a brand new timing belt. What’s even better is that our mechanic showed Mr. Burks all the old parts he took off and replaced, and the old timing belt said “Honda.” It was the original timing belt on the car, and it lasted 170,000 miles. Dang.
The only thing that bothers me is that there is a slight rattle when I accelerate, which is annoying. Maybe they can fix it before I go to the beach. I hope so. That and the air conditioner. Because it’s hot down here.
Sex for procreation purposes is exhausting. I’m just saying. Especially when you don’t know what the heck is going on with your stuff. It’s like shooting in the dark. Ha.
I don’t know how I ever lived without this BlackBerry. I love it. LOVE. It. I don’t know how I lived without GPS either, for that matter. I love it as well.
Well, there’s a proper blog entry. I haven’t posted anything of substance for awhile. Not that this is of any substance, but you know what I mean. I hope you are doing well.
