Blueberry Picking

Lewis, Will, Brenna and I got up Sunday morning and decided to head to Ridgely to pick blueberries. As we were getting into the car, we saw a cute, scruffy white dog wandering around the neighbor's yard. I explained to Lewis that I had seen the same dog the night before wandering about town, and she looked unkempt and possibly lost. So, being the bleeding hearts that we are, Brenna and I decided to approach the dog and see if she had tags so we could return her to her owner. That's when all of the fun began.

No tags. For those of you who don't get to Preston regularly, Maple Avenue is just off Main Street, and Preston's Main Street is a major corridor in our area. I can hear all you city folks snickering, but our two-lane major corridor in Caroline County sees roughly 11,000 vehicles per day! Maple Avenue is also very busy with local traffic. Farmers are harvesting grain right now, so we see about 5 farm trucks an hour going up and down our street to farms or Southern States, and that's on top of the usual semis and local cars! Needless to say, we were afraid that the dog was going to get hurt or killed.

What did we do? We walked across the street to our neighbor's house to see if they knew who owned the dog. The Meekins' have lived in Preston all their lives, they are both active in the town government and Mr. Meekins is in the fire department. They are experts compared to us transplants. We were disappointed to find out that they and several other town residents had seen the dog on Main Street on Friday evening, and they were trying to figure out who she belonged to, too. Even our local groomer didn't recognize her. Rats.

What did we do next? Well, we put one of our dog's collars on her and tied her up in the back yard. We gave her food and water, and she seemed thrilled to be with us. Sasha wasn't happy to have another canine on her turf, but we kept them apart and she handled it well. Scruffy dog is very playful albeit a bit high-strung. I took her to the front porch at about 11pm last night when a thunderstorm came through, and this morning we called the humane society. But, let's not forget blueberry picking!

We finally piled into the car to embark on our blueberry picking trip. About 3/4 of a mile down the road, I asked Lewis, "doesn't that sound funny?" Lewis says, "sounds like the tire." I pull over and get out of the car, and wouldn't you know it, there's a nail in the left front tire. Mind you, I had a nail removed from that tire last Monday! This time, it's not just a nail, but a nail with a washer! The thing was about 1/2" wide! I turned the car around, and we headed home to put the spare on the car. Seemed simple enough. We could get to Ridgely and back on the spare, and I would take the tire to the shop in the morning for another patch. (By the way, that would mean that my $40 tire has cost $40 to repair! Maybe I should just buy a new one???)

We get home, and the kids pile out and decide to ride bikes. Lewis and I take the hubcap off and begin to remove the lug nuts. One of the lug nuts is stubborn, so we put the wrench on it and Lewis stands up to get better leverage to loosen it. Snap! The (#*@!%) stud breaks in two!

Now what?

Let's see...who do we know that is a mechanic??? Call Brice. No answer. Call Scott. No answer. Call Terry. Answer...but says not to drive it on four out of five lug nuts and he can't help fix it today because he's got about a week of work backed up. Hmmm....

Call the only tire center that's open on Sunday...Walmart tire center. Nicole is very nice, but says don't dare drive it. Have it towed in. Nah. Light bulb comes on...oh yeah...Betty's husband fixes his own cars. Call Kent. Kent is power washing his house, but his daughter, Kaitlyn, will give him the message. Gosh I hope she takes messages better than our kids do!

Well, in the meantime, we can call Advance Auto Parts and see if they have studs and lug nuts in stock. They have 3 left. I get in the van and head to Easton to buy the parts. Of course, I also stop at Walmart to print some pictures of the lost dog so we can make posters to put around town. You never buy just one thing in Walmart. Now, I'm $36 poorer and it's past 3pm and too hot for blueberry picking in the blazing sun.

I get home, and Lewis says that Kent can fix the car if we bring it over to him. He isn't sure what tools he will need and he has everything in his garage. Long story short, it's fixed and it took a blow-torch to remove the stud. Don't ask me...I have NO idea how a blow-torch helped, but it's done. Brenna ended up spending the night with Kaitlyn. Oh, and Kent patched the tire, too.

How much did the repair cost? A pack of cigarettes. Thank the Lord for friends!!

Ah, today is a new day. Will and I hope to dodge the predicted rain and pick some blueberries after we drop scruffy dog at the humane society. Wish us luck!