The Garage Door

It’s a Tuesday which can mean only one important thing for morning time here. I’m back home from my bi-weekly trip to the Senior Fitness session. I frequently talk about the weather, but on days like this I don’t need to see or hear a forecast as my old body tells me pretty accurately what it’s going to be. This morning, for example, the side leg lifts I have to do to try to strengthen my hip complained rather loudly to the rest of my body that I was forcing that hip to do something. I got the complaints again when I switched to the weight machine. It usually doesn’t cause complaints too much, but this day was different. I won’t even go into the semi-ball I try to stand on.

Speaking of listening to weather forecasts, did you hear the weather person swear yesterday? How about this morning? A four-letter word gushed forth from the respected weather people. S-N-O-W. Now that stuff probably isn’t in the cards for those of us who live in Southern Maine, especially on the south side of Route 1. It’s primarily a potential happening for those of you who may live in the north, specifically the northwestern part of the state and through the foothills. But that other four-letter word, rain, will hit most of us before the day is done.

One of the tasks Gator Wife and I set out to do yesterday was successfully accomplished. The dreaded acorns were blown off the driveway and most of them scooped up. The ones that had fallen on the lawn, however, remain, and there’s a whole bunch of leaves out there that will need attention on the next dry day.

I had an interesting experience yesterday morning. Apparently, according to news reports, some animal got into power company substation. We weren’t made privy to what happened to the animal, but about a thousand homes, including mine, and businesses were without power for a while. It was right at the time I had to leave for the first stop on what proved to be a very busy day. I had one problem: the electricity was off so the garage door wouldn’t open.

Now anyone with a garage door opener knows there’s a release switch on the thing which allows manual operation. I opened the door, backed out of the garage, and closed the door. No big deal until I arrived home after completing two of my several tasks. The electricity was back on, but the garage door wouldn’t open. I did it manually but do you think I could get the chain thing connected back to the door? Of course not.

I pushed the button to engage the chain but it wouldn’t connect. So I engaged it again in the other direction. It wouldn’t connect. I rocked it back and forth both manually and electrically. Nothing. Both my patience and my “stand ability” were wearing very thin. When that happens to me, it’s best I stop what I’m doing for a while so I came into the house and did some stuff inside. After an hour, I thought I’d head back out and work on that door. I pushed the button. The door closed. I may have uttered to no one one of those four-letter words. It wasn’t “snow.” (No, wise guy FF, it wasn’t “rain,” either.)

I pushed the button again. The door opened. After two or three repeats of both procedures, I got the hint that the garage door gods had done their thing during that hour break. I have absolutely no clue as to what fixed it. Go figure!

About then, WG arrived home from her part time job. A quick lunch, then getting rid of the acorns, and finallly I was off for some afternoon chores. All were successfully accomplished and I got home in time to watch Judge Judy shout and call people idiots. Most of the day was a success, but we did have one little glitch at the heart doctor. That’s a story, perhaps, for another time.

Some political things have meandered through my simple mind today. Perhaps some of them will be explored tomorrow. Perhaps not. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

GiM