D minus 22 - Familia

Do you ever have that dream where you forget your schedule, or some other really important stuff, and then suddenly remember what you forgot and have to make a mad rush to get to where you're supposed to be?  I had those dreams, and they used to involve me forgetting my high school locker combination and being late for class, and then after college, forgetting my class schedule for an entire semester.  Yesterday it involved forgetting we were supposed to be at the Kiosk at 6:30 am on a Saturday........normally we are supposed to be at the Kiosk at 10 am on Saturdays, but remember, this week it is different....about 7:30 I get a call from Ranger Robyn wondering where we are......TLE looks at the schedule on the wall and says "Clarke, we were supposed to be at work an hour ago".....uh oh.....then ensues this mad rush to get dressed and over to the Kiosk.....this being the Saturday after the Friday trout stocking......the morning when a few dozen cars are lined up at the gate waiting for it to open at 7 am so they can make a rush to the lake and start fishing.....the Saturday when it is important we be ON TIME, and here we are sitting enjoying a leisurely cup of coffee.  Of course, the "leisurely" part ended abruptly as we rushed to get dressed and over to the Kiosk.

We arrived to a line of cars and for at least another 90 minutes it continued....I don't think I ever got into a rhythm the entire shift.....this is why I like to be early....I like the time to get my head into whatever I am doing.....I don't do "late" very well at all.....and this was a 6 hour shift, not the normal 4 hour shift with no pressure.    Around 8 am Carmello (of Integrity Mobile Detail) dropped off his mountain bike for me to breath life back into.....it appeared it had been sitting outside in the weather for a couple of years.....just the kind of bike project I love.

Around 10:30 I left to go buy my Subway Club leaving TLE with the lovely Marie and Ranger Robyn. 

The second round of eBay items closed while we were at the Kiosk and, again, all the items did well.....one more round on Sunday and it will be time to start packing them up for shipment.

After eating the first 6" of my Club I headed out to the trailer to start working on Carmello's Specialized mountain bike.....like most bikes with good components, it cleaned up quickly....the worst problem I had was the totally rusted chain, but it was no match for WD-40......I carry a gallon can of WD-40 around with me in the trailer, and TLE had a large jar I filled half full with it to soak the chain in for a few hours.......around 3 pm I pulled the chain out and it was pretty much rust free.  I had the bike back together by 4 and it looks like a new bike.

During that time my daughter, Meredith, arrived for the night's festivities and had a few things she needed done on her car like replacing the drivers side mirror that had been damaged, as well as changing the air filter.  Her brother, Chris, helped me with the mirror, which involved going on YouTube to watch a video of how to remove the door panel....what would we do without YouTube for stuff like that?  I would never have figured out where the two "hidden" screws were without YouTube.

All the kids, along with their significant others (Nick....Kate's boy friend, and Laila....Tim's girl) began arriving around sundown, along with several of their friends we have long called honorary Hockwald's.....Shonda, Chris, and Keith.  We sat around the fire for hours laughing, and singing along to old songs.......I'm always impressed when my kids know the words to songs that were released a couple of decades before they were born....and even more impressed when their "significant others" know the words too.  TLE managed to drag herself away from the festivities well before midnight, but I did not hit the sack until 12:15 am.......we have the early shift again on Sunday, so that means less than 5 hours sleep for moi......I'll leave it at that for now......

Hanging with my oldest....Chris

Thanks for stopping by!