Yesterday, our friend, Dara, came out to help pick beans. I knew she was coming and I went out and picked a full crate of ripe tomatoes, hoping she could use them, as she’d told me her tomatoes are very slow this year. Will had also picked several more Sweet Granite muskmelons and told me we had a nice, ripe Leelanau Sweetglo watermelon. With all the ripe tomatoes, I made us some fat tacos for lunch. Then we had a big piece of juicy, sweet, watermelon for dessert. It was so good! Yes, Dara said she could sure use the tomatoes, so I was happy I didn’t have to get to canning in bulk so soon.
I guess that was to make up for the day before. I’d taken stuff to the dump when, on the way back, right by road construction, I started to get a flat time. Luckily, right across the road was a big storage building, with a huge parking area. I turned in there and pulled to a thumping stop. I knew with my bad knees, I wouldn’t be able to get down to jack the car up with the small jack and tiny jack handle Ford provides. So I called the local Chevrolet garage, which also has towing, which is covered by my insurance. And tire changing! That didn’t go well. The man said he only had one technician there and couldn’t send him out. I called Will. He was haying and couldn’t hear his phone. I called our friend, Sherri, figuring maybe her husband, John, would be around. It went to voicemail. I then called our local Tire Shop and Mike told me he was there alone and couldn’t come. This was looking bad.
I got out of the car, opened the back hatch, took out the doughnut spare and jack. I first tried to loosen the lug nuts. Oh darn, not one would budge! I kind of gave up at that point, figuring I’d have to wait until Will checked his phone. Then an angel showed up. Well, okay, not a being with wings, but a very nice man named Brian. He set to work and after half an hour of sweating, he managed to get the stubborn tire off and the doughnut on. I tried to pay him for his trouble, but he wouldn’t have any of that. See, there still are very nice people out there, even if they are in the minority.
Okay, I hopped in the car to take the flat tire to the Tire Shop as it was shot, and I knew I’d need a pair of new ones as Brian said the other front tire was not good, as well. It seems that both tires had been rubbing on something, wearing the rubber down to the cords. But the car would not go faster than 35 mph and was kind of going faster, then slower, no matter what I did with the accelerator. Oh oh! I made it to the Tire Shop, dropped off the tire and Gary ordered a pair of new ones, saying to come back at 1 PM the next day (today).
I was scared the car wouldn’t make it the 14 miles home. But it did, thank God. Will figured it was the sensors acting up because of the doughnut tire, which, it turns out, was correct. Today I limped back into town, got the new tires on and Gary took it for a short spin. Yep, it went up to 60 with no trouble. Whew!
So, today it’s back to homesteading. Will was haying but the haybine broke down. He spent the morning working on that and got it back together. I’ve been picking dry beans, as Dara picked a five-gallon bucket full plus a little more yesterday, of Chippewa. Then our friend, Heather came out yesterday late afternoon and picked over half a five-gallon pail of Six Nation Iroquois. We sent her home with some muskmelons and watermelons as a thank you. Don’t you love homesteading? Especially when the self-seeded Grandpa Ott’s Morning Glories are starting to bloom on the front porch trellises.
— Jackie
