Closet Extremist

More on shopping...

I've been trying to finish up my Christmas shopping for the last three day's, but it seems that the fate's were against me. Wednesday night, there were traffic jam's that were so horrible that you'd have to be a fool to try and get out in it after you (finally) made it to your house. Out on the Interstate, people were knocking each other's fenders off with such zealous abandon, that the people on the side-streets decided to join in on the fun. By the time I got home, my nerves were so frazzled that I felt it necessary to imbibe some adult libation to calm them. By the time I thought of shopping again, I'd already had a bourbon or three, and decided that going out was not in my best interests.

Thursday looked like it was to be the day. Traffic was still bad on the way home, but I was able to take an Alternative to the Interstate, and get here in a fairly timely manner. My leg's were absolutely killing me after working all day, so I decided to sit down for awhile and let the ibuprofen kick in. Whilst I was checking my email, Jenny came in from the other room, and advised me that her Bronco was leaking Antifreeze and "could you look at it? I need it to get to work tomorrow." Of course, by that time it was getting dusky-dark, but I'm the resident mechanic around here, so it's back on with my jacket, and out in the driveway I go. We refill her radiator with water, and I advise her to start it up. Yup, there was a small leak (In much the same way that "Old Faithful" is a small geyser) at the front of the engine. At first glance, it seemed like it was coming out of a fitting right on the intake manifold. I thought it had worked loose or something, so I spent some time trying to get a wrench onto it to tighten it up. I futzed with that for awhile, and determined that I couldn't tighten that thing any more, so it probably wasn't the issue. After retrieving a flashlight (It had gotten all the way dark by then) I did some more looking and found a split in a heater house. Off to Advance Auto Parts I go, and return with the replacement. After much tugging and pulling, and some judicious razor blade work, I was finally able to get the old one offa there. All the while, Jenny is being a good "helper" by holding the flashlight for me. She's shivering like crazy, as the temperature has dropped down to around 20 degree's. I needed some new hose clamps because the factory ones won't go back on, so I sent her in the house to warm up. At the door she said "Tell me when you get back, so I can come out and help. I hate leaving you out here by yourself, when you're fixing My truck." I said "Allright" and went back to the parts store. When she finally decided to check and see if I was back, I had the new hose in place, the radiator refilled with coolant, and the engine running. I got scolded for not telling her I was back, but like I told her "At least you didn't have to shiver any more." It was already a quarter 'til nine, so shopping would have to wait.

Yesterday, I had a short day. The jobsite only had myself, my helper, and three electrician's on it. No point in staying around there, so we loaded up some excess stuff we had, and headed on to the shop. When I got home, I was able to relax for a couple of hours, and decided that it was time to join the retail fray. I was in and out of the store in 45 minutes, and was able to finish up the last of my shopping...and it really wasn't that bad. Sure it was crowded, but it seemed to me that the people were pretty relaxed, and nobody was pushing and shoving. Everyone was polite, and things were generally cheery. It was surreal.

Now I have to go wrap all the booty I got for everyone, as I just didn't feel like it last night. Christmas at my Sister's is at 1:00 today, so I better get it done. Thank goodness things got better, or I think I would've wound up on a water tower with a magnum. Merry Christmas all!