Saturday it is

Today is the first day of the weekend and should be for a few chores and some sitting around. No.

We are driving to Dixon so I can get a new set of tires for the Fit at my buddy’s shop. One of my tires has been losing air and I need a repair. The day after new year I had been in Dixon and stopped at the tire shop. Closed. So I decided to consort with the evil empire. I went to Les Schwab. They took forty minutes to look at my tires and said I needed all new. And refused to patch the one. Assholes. I left and aired up the tires at the gas station.

Keeping all this in mind, I went back to Dixon today. Emily went with me so she could do some work in her classroom. We left the house around 8, stopped for coffee and got on our way.

There was very little traffic to speak of on the way to Dixon. A slow Saturday for everyone. We made good time and I dropped Em at Tremont and headed to the other side of town.

The shop knew I was coming and had tires waiting for me. The only surprise was that one of the tires was near new. I had forgotten I had replaced it. I guess Les Schwab thought they could pull one over in me. Doing the right thing since 1952. Bullshit. The folks here at Jim’s replaced three tires. They don’t lie. Did not take long to get new rubber, about the amount of time it took me to read the morning paper. Real quick.

I tested out my new tires by driving over to Tremont. Not much of a test really. The real test was the test of my patience and sanity after I arrived at Tremont. That is because I had to help work in the classroom. I love helping my dear wife but I hate the classwork.

We worked for about an hour more and then headed for the barn. Strangely, we did not stop anywhere on the drive to Auburn. Usually Emily wants to do a little shopping or has stops. Not today. We stopped at Home Depot to look at cabinet spice racks. Unsuccessful. Turns out the Depot only sells things like that online. I think it’s the kind of thing I need to go hands on with. We left with some sponges, on sale, and went home.

Our real estate agent, Kary, is coming over for a visit this evening. That means clean house. She started on that. I went out and washed my car. Car has not been cleaned since the rains started and it’s filthy. It was filthy but I cleaned it. The level of dirt took over an hour to get the job done. And I did not vacuum. I may have mentioned, my car vac is dying and the bearings scream when it runs. I would say the vacuum sucks but it doesn’t.

We cleaned up a bit more. Emily got changed. I didn’t. Kary is coming at about 530 but does not want dinner. She doesn’t eat as far as I know. She is bringing champagne and I do hope it’s good. But we gotta eat and plan on going out after Kary leaves.

Kary is selling our South Auburn lot for us. I keep hoping it will sell soon. It’s been a year on market. And I pay a mortgage on it. I want it to go away. Kary, please sell it! Now, I don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea. We love Kary. She got us into this house all on her own. Was not even on the market. She does a fantastic job. I just want our lot sold.

Back to our evening. Kary brought very good champagne. Which I thanked her for. She obviously understands what makes a nice bottle of bubbly. Many people don’t get it and please don’t you bring me champagne.

The four of us sat around drinking champagne and eating hors d’oeuvre for a few hours. So long, we had to send Marika out to get take out (Indian). It was getting close to 9 and restaurants are closing. When Marika returned we were still sitting and chatting and on our third bottle of champagne (2 were splits, relax) and now eating Lamb vindaloo and naan.

We really had a great time and it’s always a pleasure to see her. It’s been awhile.

After Kary left we shut down and went to bed. I think everyone knows we don’t stay up late and Sunday is the last opportunity to sleep late.