Ready to go!
Charlie arrived last night, twenty-four hours later than planned but in great spirits after his drive up from Southern California. I blame modern automobile construction for his late arrival. He kept getting an error message about his tires and, after several stops to try to find the cause, finally decided to motel it for the night rather than driving straight through the dark.
As far as anyone could tell him, there was nothing amiss – just the confusion of traveling from hot pavements to cold – 80° plus in L.A. to 25° plus or minus over the Siskiyous. Somehow, the tire sensors thought there was a problem. Things were so much better when you just had the service station attendant check the air pressure occasionally. Charlie said he made three stops before he found a gas station that even had an air pressure gauge.
Charlie and Marta
We’ve all learned not to trust those error messages but we still pay attention. In our house, we get them on the dishwasher, the stove, our thermostat and I can’t remember what-all else. Sometimes the appliance simply shuts down and flashes at you. At other times it buzzes endlessly. Seldom can we find the manual so thank god for the magic of cyberspace. Type in the error message and voilà! You get a complicated communication in computer-speak that may or may not be helpful.
Ready for Santa!
Fortunately, the tire problem did not cause the car to shut down but, thankfully, the driver did until he could get a sensible determination as to risk. He arrived here just in time for a salmon dinner and an evening of unpacking the wind-up toys for their annual Christmas outing. Marta, Charlie and I wound up every one (but forgot to count them) while Nyel clapped and cheered and acted as trouble-shooter for the recalcitrant ones. When all was said and done, there were none that refused to do their thing – walking, running, somersaulting, hopping, flipping, discoing – you name it! They’ve got their moves down. And not an error message among them!
Have a very Merry Christmas Sydney and family. You are certainly off to a good start.