Tids and Bits

It was a crazy week this past week.  I spent most of it trying to get my '96 truck inspected and then when it failed with a 'check engine' light, I've been trying to figure out the codes and get the replacement sensors.  I installed one and I'm waiting for another to come in the mail.  I'm not logistically stupid, but I'm not mechanically inclined... I can do plumbing and electrical, but work on a car??  Forget it.  I have the basic knowledge to figure out what's wrong with it when something happens, but to point those parts out under the hood, ah.... no.  It's a great truck, so I can't complain when I have to put a few hundred bucks into it... it's paid for... but this is why I always had new cars... so I wouldn't have to do maintenance.

My Aunt decided that the few sprigs that were sticking up above the hedge line was cause for an immediate major landscaping overhaul, so I trimmed every bush and tree in her yard, and bought her new Malibu lights since the ones that were in the ground for 15 years didn't work more than they did.  She never understood the timer, so every time the electricity went off for more than a few hours... and, subsequently, they didn't go back on at the normal time, I had to ride over there and fix it.  As I was pulling the wiring out of the ground, some how, when I was trimming the bush next to it and nothing happened... I must have unearthed a house of bees.  I started feeling this stinging and couldn't figure out what it was... then I knew.  I'm sure the neighbors got a kick of me running through the yard swatting bees and screaming like a little girl who just got her first Barbie... jumping up and down and sprinting around the yard to escape them.  I don't know how the Honey Badger does it when they attack a nest for the honey, but it hurt like hell.  The score:  Bees +5, David -5.  I got stung at least 5 times.  After 6 cans of bee spray, I was able to pour gas down the hole, catch it on fire and eradicate the house of bees.  Final score:  Bees -400, David +400.  Then I went over to finish off the nest at my Uncle's... and had 5 nests at work in the handicapped signs the week before.  It's definitely the year of the bee... and after seeing a documentary on how if the bees were extinct, we'd be dead soon after, I feel bad killing any, let alone the hundreds I have killed on the latest spree.

It was a busy weekend at the bar both nights.  There was a drag show last night that was pretty funny... they did the Wizard of Oz... Dorothy looked a little more like Bette Davis than Judy Garland, especially with the cigarette.  I got 3 hours of sleep Friday night and I slept until almost noon today.  The Assistant Manager quit last weekend when I wasn't there, so they approached me on taking the job.  Probably more hassle than it's worth, I'm going to continue to just go in, do my thing and get out of there unscathed and unresponsible, except for my drawer. 

The rain will be out of here today and the next 6 days are supposed to be beautiful... 75ish during the day and 60ish at night, so I have a few projects to do... cleaning out my garage... finishing up at my Aunts... a plumbing job for a friend... but what I really might do is go camping for a few days while it's nice... since I didn't do anything for Labor Day weekend.  It's been so hot all summer long... then so rainy... I haven't felt like being outside at all.  I make up for it in the fall, having a few small trips that I need to plan and then something in the winter.