Letters to Holly

Tuesday, June 27

24 Hours of Turmoil

Ever since I got my car from my parents (they bought a new one), it has idled hard. Once you drive off, it's golden. But at red lights it shakes something awful. Yesterday, I heard a large engine rattle as I arrived at work. As I cranked it up after work, the rattle was much louder. I popped the hood, thinking maybe a screw had come loose during the recent inspection. Whatever was making the noise was deep in the engine. I drove it home despite awful shuddering and racket at red lights. I called Your Sis to warn her I may need a pick-up, but she wasn't answering her cell of the home phone. This didn't make me happy. We bought cell phones specifically for this contingency.

I arrived home and saw her standing next door. I strolled around the house, pretty mad, for about half an hour and then walked over. Heidi was holding a dog's leash. Little dog. Obviously a puppy, but it was also obviously going to be a big dog. What I gleaned from the conversation was that the dog had walked into our yard sporting no tags. It was a new stray, and the local foster-animal residential folks couldn't take it. Since Heidi found it, we're taking care of it. We borrowed a dog cage from the foster people, and they gave us some used chew stuff for it to play with. It stayed with us in the garage last night. It's a fantastic dog -- well trained and quiet -- but it can't be older than six months. Not only did it not make a peep last night, it didn't pee its cage. If we had a decent backyard to hold it, I'd claim this dog in a heartbeat.

Kathy and Travis came over for wings last night. As I was making the "found dog" signs, Your Sis made the wings. Incorrectly. Instead of flour, she coated them with oat bran. They didn't taste so bad, but they were clearly oatmealish. And I worry what buffalo oatmeal will do to my tummy.

I knew I had to take the car to the dealership this morning for repairs, but it only got a mile before it died. The battery's fine, the brakes are fine, but the idle is shot. I called Triple A for a tow and then Your Sis for a heads-up. After 45 minutes, the tow truck didn't arrive. After another thirty, it didn't arrive. Triple A called me back twice to confirm the truck showed up, and it finally arrived as I talked to them the second time. They towed the car off to the shop, and I took Your Sister's car to work. The dealership called me about an hour later to give me the diagnostic and the estimate. It's not as bad as I feared. I can get it tomorrow night, hopefully, and the idle problem will be no more. Maybe.

Pictures of the Day
This is the dog.



This is me after the first shave Saturday. The sideburns are no longer with us.



In the news
About three months after he avoided prison with a plea deal about prescription shopping, Rush Limbaugh was detained at a Florida airport for carrying Viagra without a prescription. Idiot. Worse, he was carrying it back into the country from the Dominican Republic.

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Palestine's Hamas-Fatah government may recognize Israel.

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