Off My Game

I woke up this morning. Wanted to wear my Dockers pants to work. I could not find them. That was very strange. Maybe I ruined them and threw them out. But I would have remembered that. I guess you could say I was a bit hazy.

At work I decided to use a coupon at lunch. Got a great deal at Burger King. I drove back to the office. Had to remember to bring my drink into the office. I tried to put my car keys in my pants pocket while in the car. Oops. My company badge was in my keys pocket. Oh well.

I wrapped up a lot of odds and ends at work in the afternoon. Planned to drop by my college since I am going to go back for the spring semester next year. As I prepared to leave the building, I could not find my keys. Doh!

Called Little Kat. Gave him my work address. Told him where my spare car keys were at home. Had him stand by as I went out to my car. Yup. The keys were inside a locked car. Called Little Kat back. He recommended I just call AAA. Way to not save the day Little Kat.

Waited for a half hour. The AAA guy came. He had some neat tools to pry my door open at the top. Then he stuck a long took in and manually unlocked my door. It was not that late. I headed to my college.

Whoa. They turned my favorite parking lot into the site for a new building. Got my student ID and parking pass for next semester. I was motivated because I am going to meet a buddy from my last class at the college next week. It will be good to have a parking pass.

Got to remember to not lock my keys in the car. It is a lot easier if you have power locks. That way you need the FOB to lock the doors. My locks are manually. So I manually lock them, allowing the possibility of the keys to still be inside.

Saving Money Pays Off

I carry around a folder with all kinds of food coupons. I bring it to work with me. Previously I would just go to restaurants at lunch and purchase from the regular menu. Now I tend to use my coupons instead.

Today I went to Arby's. They have really tasty chicken tenders. I am coming from work, so I am really dressed up. I felt a little funny pulling out my coupon. But hey. Money saved is always a good thing, even if you dress like a million bucks.

I ordered chicken tenders, fries, and a side salad. No need for a drink. I had my own 12 ounce can. The salad came up immediately. The cashier checked on my chicken and found some trouble. It would take a while for my meal to arrive.

The cashier gave me a free drink, and told me she would bring the food to my table when ready. She arrived a while later. But she upgraded my fries to a larger size. None of this probably cost the company any real money. But it bought a lot of goodwill.

Now when the boys ask me where we should eat, I will recommend Arby's. I will probably still be brining my coupons with my though.

Man Versus Nature

I have been noticing the deer a whole lot more around the house this fall. Normally they stay out of the yard. The entire back yard is fenced. I think the deer used to stay out just because the fence marked our property. It is not like they can't jump over the fence. The back fence is only four feet high. A deer jumping over that fence is like me stepping over the curb.

Maybe the deer are getting hungry. We have a bunch of nuts that fall from the trees onto the back yard lawn. I frequently see the deer on our property just behind our fence. We only have the inner part of our land fenced.

The weirdest thing happened this week. I went outside. A deer was behind the fence. Normally they run away when they see or hear me. This one just stood there. At first it was hard to see because it blended in with the environment. But I did see it. It remained still. I stared at it for a minute or two.

Eventually the deer started stomping its front feet on the ground. It was as if it wanted to charge. Now the deer was slender. But I bet it was strong too. Bare handed I would not want to take on a charging deer. What? Do I need to carry around a stick or other weapon to defend myself?

Eventually I coughed, and the deer must have taken that for a sign of aggression or something. The deer grunted but decided to run away. Very strange indeed. I think it is time to save up some money and fence in the whole back yard. Got to up the fence height too. Maybe six feet or even eight.

Given a running start, and enough determination, a deer could probably jump over high fences as well. Especially since half the back property slopes down into our house. Great. They can jump in but they can't jump out. I only hope that a higher fence will further signal that we don't want any animals in the back yard.

Or perhaps it is time to invest in some deer-be-gone spray.

Going the Distance

I have noticed that nobody in the house wants to go further than our own town to get something to eat. This is very strange. My family used to drive all over the place when we dined out. I also used to be an avid driver when I lived by myself. Now people complain if I want to eat in the next town to the North.

So today we made the first of what I hope to be extended trips past the city limits to dine out. Momoko chose the venue. She also drove. That meant I had to pay. Momoko's GPS told us to head North to the next big city up there. Then we headed east, and cut back down south a bit. The place was not hard to get to.

The parking lot for the place was another story. This seemed to be a prior private residence turned into a diner. There did not seem to be any marked parking spaces. There was also little space to park. I advised Momoko to hurry up and take one of the remaining places to park.

We got inside and found a small room that was crowded. We did sit at a tiny table for two. The side dishes did not look appetizing. Therefore I did not order an entree. I tried to order a crabcake sandwich. However they were out. I got some random chicken sandwich instead.

On the way home, I told Momoko that we should not use the GPS to direct us. It would add to the adventure. We drove a long ways North since it was the easiest direction to exit the diner. Then we saw some major crossroads. I told Momoko to get on the major beltway.

We chose the direction opposite the bridge. Seemed like a good bet since the bridge led away from our house. Turns out it was the right choice. The beltway led us to the major highway that deposits us right by our house. Good thing the kids were out on an adventure of their own today. They would not have been able to sit with us.

Next week I might do the driving. Perhaps we shall head downtown into one of the major cities that are near us. Yeah. That sounds like a plan.

Just in Time

Last weekend I did my normal yard work. It is grueling but needs to be done. Towards the end I cleaned up the patio. Some water dripped on my head. I figured it was Little Kat's window air conditioning unit. It tends to drip a bunch of water. However the water was coming down too far from Little Kat's window. I looked up and saw a bad sign...

The water was coming out of the rain gutter. Darn. The rain gutters must have been filled up with leaves and such. This is treacherous because the gutters are 2+ stories high in the back. Plus there is no level ground to steady the ladder back there. I did not even bother climbing up to survey the trouble. I called my window cleaning team.

I never actually have the window cleaners polish the windows. They are my rain gutter cleaners. They run up on top of the roof, scoop out all the debris from the gutters, and use the hose to wash out any extra dirt. It is a real life saver. I need to call them a couple times a year. But they are well worth it.

I got real lucky. After the guys came and cleared out the gutters, the rain really started to fall. We got a whole lot of rain. When the gutters are blocked up, bad things happen when it rains. Bad things as in the water might come into the house. Disaster averted. I got to put a rain gutter check into my weekly routine during the autumn when the leaves fall off the trees.

Manual Competency

My manual transmission truck is out of commission. I think the clutch is history. I do not plan to get it fixed. Might call someone up and tell them to take it away. Too bad too. Little Kat was making good progress learning how to drive manual transmission in it.

Luckily I have another vehicle with manual transmission. But Little Kat has been struggling driving my Versa. Previously he was shifting into first and second gears on the real road. Now he was struggling getting the thing into first in the parking lot.

The car would sputter or stall or slam into gear. Something was not right. I could not figure it out looking at Little Kat's feet. So I took the wheel. Then I motioned with my hand how much I was letting up on the clutch and when. After a few demonstrations, Little Kat identified the problem. He is just letting up on the clutch way too soon.

Now it seems like Little Kat can get it into first gear every time very smoothly. I will test him again next week. If this success continues, it is time to move to second gear, and then maybe move out onto the streets in our quiet neighborhood.

Tire Pressure Trouble

My Nissan Versa has been warning me to check my tire pressure. Unfortunately I had given my tire pressure monitor to Kit Kat, who has since lost the thing. Oh well. I purchased another one for myself. I am not giving it to anyone. I measured the Versa tires. They are supposed to be inflated to 33 PSI. They were at 25 PSI. Oops.

I headed over to the local gas station. Positioned the air hose so that it could reach all the tires. I had all the tire stem caps off. Deposited a couple quarters in the air machine. I filled up two tires to above 33 PSI. The third tire did not seem to want to inflate. Then the air machine turned off.

I stuck some more quarters in. Filled the fourth tire up. When I got to the third tire, the pressure monitor said it was up to 41 PSI already. Must have made a mistake reading it earlier. I went back to all the tires, letting air out of them slowly until they hit 33 PSI.

I do not recall filling the air in the tires of my other cars. Maybe that's because they did not have the automatic tire pressure gauge in the car. Perhaps I was just riding low on air all the time. I do notice that I feel the bumps a little more in my car now. I hope the optimal pressure will be good for something like making the tires last longer.