FALLING FAR FROM THE TREE
DOG PARK OPENING MOVED TO SATURDAY MORNING AT 10 A.M.
Just found out about this last minute. There is a 100% chance of rain on Wednesday so they’ve moved the opening to Saturday. See you there!
—kwc—
Iwas going to write about love this week because Valentine’s Day is Friday, but I’m 56 years old and I live at home with my Mom and Dad. Such a catch. Can’t imagine why I don’t have a date.
So instead I will tell you about my Saturday fiasco.
The first thing that happened to me when I returned to Rockdale last summer was my car bit the dust. Needed a new engine and everything. And since it was a 2014 Chevy Captiva, which used to be a Saturn Vue, a new engine wasn’t going to happen. I even laughed at Tiny Dean when he told me. So now I drive Mom’s old car because she got a new one.
Anyway, this car tells me how many miles I have to go until it runs out of gas. Last time I bothered to look it said “24 miles to E” and I thought since I live in Rock-dale I could go many days without hitting 24 miles. Plus it was very cold that day and I didn’t feel like filling up in the freezing temperatures. And I’m kind of lazy.
So then I totally forgot about having only 24 miles to go before I run out of gas.
Country Greenhouses in Lexington placed an ad in the paper announcing they were open for spring after being closed for the winter months. I thought this was a perfect Saturday activity because I am so ready for spring weather.
(Also, if you love gardening and plants you should for sure make a trip to Lexington. All of their plants are so beautiful. And the small town prices can’t be beat. I got a flowering hanging basket for only $12. I’d have paid $25 or $30 for it in Houston.)
Anyway, I get all the way there and almost all the way home before running out of gas. The car stopped in front of Beth Alford Laywell’s house – only two blocks from my house. I didn’t even get mad. Just kind of laughed at myself and started walking home to get a gas can. Mom and Dad were out of town so I knew Mom’s car was there and everything would be OK.
So I finally found the gas can out in the shed. It wasn’t full but I thought it was probably enough to get me to the gas station. Only God knows how old that gas was. So I loaded it up in Mom’s car and drove back to mine.
I wasn’t paying too much attention and the gas can was making glug, glug glug noises so I thought all was well. However, the car wouldn’t start afterward. I figured the amount of gas in the can wasn’t enough so I drove to the gas station and put more in it.
You know those things on the handle you can flip down while you’re filling up your car so it fills up automatically and you can ignore it and check your phone? Well that thing got stuck in the down position when I was putting the $5 or so in the can. The gas flowed out of the can, then I pulled the handle out of the can and gas went all over the ground, the gas pump and me. I finally realized the thingy was stuck and fixed it, the gas stopped flowing and I hoped no one had seen me.
So then I get back to my car and notice that all of the gas I thought I had put into the car already was in a big puddle in the street under the car. I hadn’t gotten one drop in evidently. It was only then I noticed that there was a plug inside the gas can hose. So finally I got the gas in properly, the car started, and I went to have a margarita at Gonzales after all that nonsense.
Moral of this story: It is, in fact, time to get gas even when you have 24 whole miles to go and it’s cold out. And also, go to Country Greenhouses in Lexington. Tell them Kyle at The Reporter sent you.
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