A couple of weeks ago Liz managed to run over some goat-heads on her bike and flattened both of her tires. We had put a "puncture-proof" tube in the rear tire, so we were frustrated that that didn't work out. Life has been really crazy lately, so I hadn't had time to work on fixing them for her. Monday night I got home from "Beauty and the Beast" practice around 8:30, so I decided to see if I could get them fixed.
Liz had tried pumping up the rear tire with a pump she got that plugs into the car cigarette lighter on Saturday, and it seemed to hold some air, but didn't stay all the way pumped up. I thought maybe I should let the rest of the air out of it and take it off the rim so that I could check the tire itself to make sure that it didn't have any stickers left in it. However, I discovered that the slime that's supposed to seal the punctures started blocking up the valve, so I couldn't get much air out of it.
Liz had bought a new puncture-proof tube for the front tire, so I decided to switch to the task of removing the punctured tube from the front tire and replacing it. That was going pretty well, until I started putting the tire back on the rim with a little plastic tool that is designed for that task. When I had the tire almost all the way on, the plastic tool snapped, and a piece of it stayed inside the tire somewhere. That same tool is also used to take the tire off the rim, but since it was broken I couldn't get the tire off to clear out the broken piece.
"Okay," thought I, "I'll have to buy another tool to finish the front tire, so I'll switch back to the rear tire." I read the instructions that came with the new puncture proof tube, and discovered that it said that after you get a hole in it you need to pump it up and ride it around a bit to get it to seal up well. So I decided to just pump the tire back up, have Liz ride it around a bit, and see what happened.
Erin's car was in the way so I couldn't use the power pump without moving cars around, so I decided to use a good old fashioned hand pump. I hooked the pump up to the tire, and proceeded to push down on the pump handle. What happened next was not a good thing. As I mentioned, the valve had gotten plugged up with the puncture-proofing slime, so when I pushed down on the pump handle, all I accomplished was to compress the air in the pump, since it couldn't force its way into the tire. Just when I hit the bottom of my push, to my surprise the pump handle snapped cleanly in two, leaving one half in each hand. This resulted in there no longer being any downward pressure on the pump rod. At this point, all that air I had so energetically compressed down in the bottom of the pump became a fine propellant to shoot the metal rod upward at great force, directly into my stomach. This did not feel really good.
At this point, even though I didn't really have any more tools to break, I decided to not work on repairing tires any more that night. What I have to show for my efforts is one partially pumped up rear tire with a clogged up valve, and a partially pumped up front tire that almost has the tire all the way on the rim, but that also has the broken off piece of plastic hidden in it somewhere. And a nice oval shaped gouge/welt in my stomach about an inch below and to the right of my belly button.
I had previously scheduled my annual checkup for Wednesday this week, so I waited until then to have the injury checked. The doctor didn't seem too worried about it, except that it was a little infected in spite of our putting Neosporin on it. He gave me a stronger anti-biotic for it, and it seems to be getting better. He also gave me a tetanus shot, since I couldn't remember when I had last had one, even thought the rod didn't tear my shirt so it actually never made contact with my skin.
Today, I started feeling a little achy. I don't know whether it is a reaction to the tetanus shot, or the flu. I stayed home from work after lunch, but I went out to play practice tonight. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. Erin had been down with a sinus infection for several days late last week and early this week, so hopefully I don't get that, and hopefully it's not the swine flu!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Happy Labor Day
Hey, it's only been 4 weeks since my last post instead of 4 months. In that 4 weeks Liz and I have both turned 32 (hexadecimal) years old. Since our birthdays are only two weeks apart, Erin and Anna planned a party for us on Friday the 14th, which was close to halfway between the two dates. They invited friends from all three of the houses we've lived in, as well as friends from MTI (our theater company friends), and one couple that we met back in college that now live up in Idaho City. So, a lot of people there didn't know each other, but it was fun to see them all. Erin reserved a picnic shelter at a local park, and we had a pot luck dinner and cake. It was a bit windy, but that also kept it from being too hot. It was a lot of fun, but everyone went home too early. We like to party later into the night, even if we are old!
On Saturday the 22nd Liz and I drove up towards McCall and went on a short hike down to a small mountain lake called Blue Lake. The hike was a bit steep, but not too strenuous for us 32 year olds. It was a nice little Saturday getaway. I would post a picture or two, but they are on my computer back at home, and I am not there currently.
The reason I'm not there is because we are spending the Labor Day weekend in Utah. Anna and Liz drove down on Wednesday so that Anna could be at the wedding of her first mission companion on Thursday. Liz spent that day visiting with some friends from back when she lived in Provo while her mom was attending BYU. Erin and I drove down to Salt Lake on Thursday night, and stayed at a downtown hotel so that Erin could be at the Church Office Building early Friday morning for an interview for an internship with the Humanitarian Department. The brother she interviewed with wanted her to meet with the actual hiring manager, but apparently he was too busy that day to talk to her. It was a little frustrating that after she arranged to drive down for the interview they hadn't arranged to have everyone that needed to talk to her available to do so. It sounds like it would be a good opportunity for her, and I am sure she would do an excellent job at it, so hopefully they will get their act together and offer her a job soon.
I wandered around temple square taking pictures while she was interviewing. when she got done we had breakfast at the JB's next to temple square. They had told Erin that if they could get this other manager to schedule some time for her they would give her a call, so we wanted to hang around for a while. We went and toured the roof of the conference center, and then went to an organ recital in the Tabernacle. After that we took the shuttle bus over to the Humanitarian Center to take the tour there, and Anna and Liz met us there. It really is amazing all the Church has been able to do around the world. We went from there to the Hogle Zoo (we'd never been there before) and had a couple of hours to see the animals there before it closed. They had quite a few baby animals there, so the girls were all particularly excited about that.
We back south from there through some pretty heavy traffic and eventually made it to Amy's house where everyone from these parts was gathering for dinner. We enjoyed a fun evening of visiting.
Saturday noon we headed over to Edwin's to help celebrate Marie's birthday (she turned 3C hexadecimal). All of their kids came into town and surprised her Friday night, and then they had a barbecue on Saturday. Kathy and Becky came down from Logan, and Alicia and Ches and his wife came as well. It was fun to see all of Edwin's kids, some of whom we hadn't seen for quite a while. Edwin had gone through a bunch of old boxes of Marie's and framed a whole bunch of pictures, and made a scrapbook of letters and stuff, and wrapped them all up and gave them to her for her presents. She also got some pretty nice stuff from her kids.
Liz stayed there to visit for a while, but Erin and I headed back to Dad and Mom's to watch the BYU game. We missed the first two possessions in transit, but we heard them on the radio. Tim and most of his kids and Amy and Nate and their kids also came over to watch, and we enjoyed cheering the Cougars to victory together. Apparently Oklahoma has trouble beating teams that have a B and a U on either end of their names. First BSU in the Fiesta Bowl a few years back, and now BYU! We hope the Cougars can keep up the good work for the whole season. It would be nice to put some more pressure on the BCS to come up with a better method for determining the national championship.
For those who weren't there Friday night to hear in person, I should mention that in the 4 or 5 weeks that Anna has been home from school between terms, we have had two young men spend a week at our house (different weeks). The first was a guy she had met at school, and the second was an elder from her mission. Apparently the relationship with the first guy is now over, and Anna isn't sure what to do about the second guy. I think I might have mentioned in my last post that Erin was spending a lot of time with a young man whose family is in our ward, so I guess I should update you on that situation. They are now just friends, as he has returned to BYU and wanted to basically keep his options open. Erin went to visit him last night, so maybe someday he'll come to his senses and realize he won't find anything better than Erin out there. If not, it's his loss.
Now you have all the juicy details on our last 4 weeks.
On Saturday the 22nd Liz and I drove up towards McCall and went on a short hike down to a small mountain lake called Blue Lake. The hike was a bit steep, but not too strenuous for us 32 year olds. It was a nice little Saturday getaway. I would post a picture or two, but they are on my computer back at home, and I am not there currently.
The reason I'm not there is because we are spending the Labor Day weekend in Utah. Anna and Liz drove down on Wednesday so that Anna could be at the wedding of her first mission companion on Thursday. Liz spent that day visiting with some friends from back when she lived in Provo while her mom was attending BYU. Erin and I drove down to Salt Lake on Thursday night, and stayed at a downtown hotel so that Erin could be at the Church Office Building early Friday morning for an interview for an internship with the Humanitarian Department. The brother she interviewed with wanted her to meet with the actual hiring manager, but apparently he was too busy that day to talk to her. It was a little frustrating that after she arranged to drive down for the interview they hadn't arranged to have everyone that needed to talk to her available to do so. It sounds like it would be a good opportunity for her, and I am sure she would do an excellent job at it, so hopefully they will get their act together and offer her a job soon.
I wandered around temple square taking pictures while she was interviewing. when she got done we had breakfast at the JB's next to temple square. They had told Erin that if they could get this other manager to schedule some time for her they would give her a call, so we wanted to hang around for a while. We went and toured the roof of the conference center, and then went to an organ recital in the Tabernacle. After that we took the shuttle bus over to the Humanitarian Center to take the tour there, and Anna and Liz met us there. It really is amazing all the Church has been able to do around the world. We went from there to the Hogle Zoo (we'd never been there before) and had a couple of hours to see the animals there before it closed. They had quite a few baby animals there, so the girls were all particularly excited about that.
We back south from there through some pretty heavy traffic and eventually made it to Amy's house where everyone from these parts was gathering for dinner. We enjoyed a fun evening of visiting.
Saturday noon we headed over to Edwin's to help celebrate Marie's birthday (she turned 3C hexadecimal). All of their kids came into town and surprised her Friday night, and then they had a barbecue on Saturday. Kathy and Becky came down from Logan, and Alicia and Ches and his wife came as well. It was fun to see all of Edwin's kids, some of whom we hadn't seen for quite a while. Edwin had gone through a bunch of old boxes of Marie's and framed a whole bunch of pictures, and made a scrapbook of letters and stuff, and wrapped them all up and gave them to her for her presents. She also got some pretty nice stuff from her kids.
Liz stayed there to visit for a while, but Erin and I headed back to Dad and Mom's to watch the BYU game. We missed the first two possessions in transit, but we heard them on the radio. Tim and most of his kids and Amy and Nate and their kids also came over to watch, and we enjoyed cheering the Cougars to victory together. Apparently Oklahoma has trouble beating teams that have a B and a U on either end of their names. First BSU in the Fiesta Bowl a few years back, and now BYU! We hope the Cougars can keep up the good work for the whole season. It would be nice to put some more pressure on the BCS to come up with a better method for determining the national championship.
For those who weren't there Friday night to hear in person, I should mention that in the 4 or 5 weeks that Anna has been home from school between terms, we have had two young men spend a week at our house (different weeks). The first was a guy she had met at school, and the second was an elder from her mission. Apparently the relationship with the first guy is now over, and Anna isn't sure what to do about the second guy. I think I might have mentioned in my last post that Erin was spending a lot of time with a young man whose family is in our ward, so I guess I should update you on that situation. They are now just friends, as he has returned to BYU and wanted to basically keep his options open. Erin went to visit him last night, so maybe someday he'll come to his senses and realize he won't find anything better than Erin out there. If not, it's his loss.
Now you have all the juicy details on our last 4 weeks.
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