The Superior Express -

The last couple of weeks are finally catching up to me, and I feel as if I could sleep for a month. I drove to Fort Riley with a friend yesterday to pick up Robert’s vehicle. He flew out on Sunday for another six-week training and wanted me to bring the truck home to get some of the maintenance done that it is in dire need of. I’m not sure if the Army, my son, or myself can seem to keep dates correct, but I could have sworn he left a week and a day earlier than I was previously told.

We got to Riley a little after lunchtime. We stopped at the visitors center to get my friend a pass. That was interesting. We got lost trying to find the barracks and got directions from a nice young man in uniform. Once we found the pickup, one of the two bald tires was low, and of course, the fuel tank was sitting pretty at a quarter of a tank. After airing the tires and spending a small fortune on fuel, we set off down the road. Silly me forgot to check the oil before we left, and the check oil light was on, but Robert said it was always on.

Halfway home, my friend who was driving my car flagged me down. Her phone had fallen down into the center console of my car, and she couldn’t get it out. We found a place to stop, and I used a hunting knife I had found in Robert’s truck to pry it up from where it had fallen. She must be talented because, in the entire time I have had that car, nothing but crumbs has fallen into that little tiny crack! After digging the phone out, I decided I had better check the oil. Sure enough, it was low, like four quarts low!

I don’t know what to do with that kid! I’m fairly sure this is Karma for all the vehicle troubles I put my parents through; Sorry, Dad. Robert says it leaks. There are no noticeable leaks under that truck! It doesn’t smell like it burns it, but maybe there just wasn’t enough in it to burn! It’s too bad I didn’t have an oil filter; for the amount of oil I dumped in it, I could have done a complete change.

While my friend and I were gone, our boys decided to try and do something nice and change out her dryer. Her old one was making a horrible noise and would sometimes catch and tear clothing. I had one for sale, and we worked out a trade. The boys got the dryer to her house. When they pulled the old one out, they noticed the plugs were different. So they looked online and figured out how to wire the new plug. Not difficult at all; I’ve done it myself several times. So they get the plug wired and then got the cover back over the wiring and tried it out. The cover was not secure and fell over the wires causing it to ark and blow the breaker. I guess it scared them pretty bad because they had taken the cord back off and had a fire extinguisher next to the dryer. Long story short, I wired up the dryer, just like they had, and it works just fine.

I’m not sure what the rest of this week has in store for me, but I’m hoping that it is uneventful. In the weeks to come, we have a few things planned with Jacob before he leaves to begin his adult life. I hope that all goes better than in the last couple of months. I’m really going to miss him. X’s & O’s.