Thursday, August 11, 2005

Three Days with the Big Man

The Big Man has 3 days off...in a row! He needs some rest. The water main that supplies his work broke on Wednesday night so they had to run the restaurant WITHOUT POTABLE RUNNING WATER yesterday and until they get approval from the city to use it again without boiling. Ugh! This affects all the dishes and pans being washed; coffee, tea (the house wine of the South), soda...you name it. So, he had to drive to Sam's in Ft. Walton to pick up 1200 paper plates, bowls, cups, etc. and then open the next morning. But he was off today so he didn't have to worry about it. He said most of the customers were understanding, but it couldn't have been easy.

The only thing I asked of him during his time off is that our lawn gets mowed at some point. Our "Life Group" from church meets here on Sunday nights. I recalled that the week before last our grass needed to be cut and this week when they came it still hadn't been done. It has just been a combination of little time off for him and inconvenient (but welcomed) rain. So tonight he paid MK to babysit T. Willy and we were off to mow. We have a riding tractor as well as a push mower. I offered to push in the front yard (really I did) so he could ride in the back and we could finish faster, as thunder rolled in the distance. He tried to back the tractor out of the shed and it wouldn't budge. So he dragged it out and tried to start it...nothing. He decided it was the battery and started charging it up, and set up the push mower for me. I mowed for quite a while while he used the weed eater and then he approached me and said he had gotten the tractor ignition to turn over, so I could use that to finish. I hopped on the tractor, engine running, and it wouldn't move. No matter what we did, it wouldn't budge. I thought, that's okay, I'll just finish with the push mower....no kidding, the safety mechanism on it broke and it wouldn't start. Now it is starting to rain, the Big Man is a wee bit frustrated and only half of the front yard is mowed. On top of that, this tractor is only 3 months old!!!! Thankfully it was purchased at Wal-Mart and they will take anything back, so he found the receipt, loaded it into the truck with some difficulty and help from his dad who is visiting, and off to Wal-Mart he went. They took it back, gave him a full refund and tomorrow he is off to shop for a John Deere. So maybe tomorrow we'll be able to finish.

Are you still with me????

That really has been the most exciting thing that has happened this week. MK has Girl Scouts tomorrow and will spend the night with the grandparents. T. Willy is doing fine and learning new things daily.

And for those of you who have been with me from the start, you'll recognize a line from my favorite chick movie. Obviously the only movie I know well enough to quote.

So, there's that.

3 comments:

melissa said...

ooo!oo! Pick me! Pick me! The line was about iced tea being the house wine of the south from Steel Magnolias.

As far as the mowing is concerned, my stories could make you and the Big Man feel so much better. With Race being gone, Austin and I mow everything with a push mower. We have lost 2 mowers this year....Don't even get me started.

Anniesue said...

You're right, Melissa...glad you know your cinema trivia. Mostly I'm glad you're still speaking to me!

I don't envy you...except that you have a teenager to help. I know your yard is much bigger than ours!

Thom said...

Poor Big Man! Having been in the restaurant business, I SO feel his pain on the water problem.

And mowing? I pay whatever neighbor kid is handy at the time.Even when I really can't afford to. It is worth it to me to go into DEBT, not to have to mow my own lawn! LOL! ;0)