Sunday Afternoon Sliding Away...

I was feeling pretty good about today when I got up, but it has indeed slid a notch or two since then. I intended to go over and rebuild the toilet in Teresa and Sarah's house this afternoon, putting new guts in the tank. It's a pretty easy job and I was just about ready to take off and the phone rang.
"Dad? The battery light is on in my car. It came on yesterday on the way up to Megan's house." she explained.

Great.

She also said that it made a loud pop noise when she started it at Megan's house to come home. I expected the worst when she told me that, but in actuality really expected to find the drive belt broken. I didn't find that, and all indications are that the alternator is bad. I'm waiting for her to come over with the car right now. I told Teresa to forget about me fixing the toilet today because I wouldn't be in the mood for it after replacing Sarah's alternator to the tune of about $150 (and no, I wouldn't bet footing the toilet bill).

I really, really hoped I could get on the Harley today. It's a pretty decent day out for February, and a lot of bikes have been going by. It's like their sound is thumbing it's nose at me, taunting and jeering because I'm not riding mine too.

Friday night I had just gotten home from work and was opening up my new coffee maker that had arrived that day when the phone rang. (I'm starting to hate phones, can you tell?) It was my mom, explaining that my dad has what appears to be cancer in one of his lungs. They won't know until Tuesday when they get in to see the specialist. His 50+ years of smoking are taking their toll. I'm really surprised that he only gets a good checkup once a year considering they found that he has emphysema a couple years ago. That's what finally made him quit smoking. I would think that at least twice a year x-rays would be in order. No matter what they do find, surgery will be in his near future... You can bet on that.

After spending a very enjoyable evening here with Suzie on Friday night, I picked her up at home the next day and the two of us went to Seattle. I went with the main intention of buying some hand cream that a coworker turned me onto which is only available at one store, but we also turned it into sort of a photography junket. Her Wednesday night photography class gives out assignments, and we used the Pioneer Square vicinity as a sort of theme. We were including everything from store displays to scenic pictures of the waterfront. It was fun. We finished off the evening with a movie at her house.

Now back to today. Sigh. I told Sarah to hurry up and get her car over here because I have no idea how long it will take me to change it out. Had I not told her, she probably wouldn't show up until the sun was about to go down. She is very slow to move. I find that frustrating.

Well, I hope all goes well. I'm not in a very good mood when things like that crop up... Especially when they dash the intended plans I had brewing for the afternoon.

I guess that's life.