So Long August

Today is the last day of August and in an old southern boy’s mind the last real day of summer.  I guess that is because we would always start the new school year just after September 1st.  This month has been one to remember for our family.  Of course Hurricane Isaac blew through yesterday but, this month has been 31 days of white knuckle excitement for us. 

Let’s start from the beginning.  Late last month Logan hurt his leg in soccer.  He had to visit an orthopedic surgeon and there was nothing structurally wrong but he went through a couple of weeks of physical therapy to gain the proper strength in his hip (though it was his knee bothering him) and now he is better than ever.  Because he is strong and healthy he had not met his deductible and we had to pay the entire bill unaided by insurance we pay for dearly each month..

Then, our 17 year old dog passed away and it was like losing a member of the family.  Henley had been with us since we rescued him from death row 16 years ago.  He passed away quietly in his sleep from complications from an enlarged heart. For sixteen years he was a constant companion to all of us and he is sorely missed.  I still go to the door every night to let him out for his last run around the yard but, he is no longer there to go.

Now, let’s move on to more material happenings.  Dre’s car had been stranding her off and on so I did a little diagnostic work on it and found that though I had been treating the battery terminals to keep them in good working shape, I had been lazy and not moved the vinyl guard back and sprayed the cable itself to protect it from corrosion.  This cable runs from the one side of the car around the engine compartment to the other side of the car and needed to be replaced.  In all I think the cable was about forty-five feet long (that may be a slight exaggeration) and because I was not able to undertake that task, cost a small fortune to replace.  Ok two days after we got the car back Dre’ was taking Logan to the surgeon for his last follow-up visit and, low and behold, they stopped to get a soft drink at a service station and it wouldn’t crank.  This time is was the starter that needed to be replaced and it needed to be towed in order to have that job done.  The cost of this repair was three times the cost of the first repair.  Oh, but that is not enough.  We were getting ready to ride out the ensuing hurricane; filling up gas cans for generator, filling up cars and basically getting ready for the onslaught of Mother Nature.  Diesel fuel was accidently put in the car’s gas tank and, thank goodness, it was not cranked so no damage was done to the car but it had to be towed again and the tank removed and cleaned and placed back on the car.  This time the cost was 2/3 the cost of the last fix

. 

Isaac came visiting in the form of a tropical storm and we observed from our porch as he sent scouting winds out the night before.  It was magnificent and powerful to watch.  Bands of rain crossed our yard and we watched as trees bent but didn’t break. We lost power in the middle of the night for about 7 hours but suffered little of no damage as he blew through during the night of the storm.  Then, yesterday, the boys were out feeding the horses and they said a loud noise caused them to look in the direction of the horses and they both looked up just in time to see a huge pine tree, about 24 – 30 inches in diameter fall as a gust of wind caught its branches, plummeting the tree to the ground.  Yes, of course it fell across a fence and the driveway.  No boys or animals were injured so, we are counting our blessings for that but, the fallen tree created tremendous amount of  tension on the fence wire and  broke it in two places and released the horses to the woods.  

At 4:30 I got the call to come home and start work.  I got there about 30 minutes later and by that time the horses were lazily grazing in high grass and Dre’ and the boys were working feverishly on cleaning up the wire so we could start rebuilding a fence.  I rushed in the house, changed into work clothes and grabbed up my chainsaw and came out to begin my “lumberjacking.” It wasn’t to be.  My rather old saw has a bent bar and a dull chain and it just wasn’t up to the challenge of a big tree.  I tried for about 30 minutes and finally I relented and let Dre’ call our friend Jeff to petition him for assistance.  Jeff McFall is a great American, by the way. In about 15 minutes he arrived with big Husqy saw in hand and he and his saw made short work of the downed tree.  All was going well.  I was pulling off ten foot sections of the tree and getting them out of the drive.  

On the last one, I hooked the chain to it and dragged it off across the pasture to its final resting place.  Literally, as I stopped, I heard a loud sound of moving air as a small tree stump pierced my tire.  Now, I have a flat tire on my Jeep and have to go and spend more on a replacement tire for it tomorrow.

 With all of this bad luck, I have decided that though I am not a real believer in the lottery, I am going to find time to go to Louisiana to buy a lottery ticket tomorrow.  With all of the bad luck we have had it is definitely time for our luck to change and we are destined to win. 

You all can just say you knew me when. 

So long, August. Hello, September.