July 1, 2007

AGGGHHHHHH (warning: lengthy and funny situation)

Yesterday, I received word that my husband's crew was headed back home. However, we (wives) all know that can change!! So I finished cleaning the house, and headed out to the yard to do some work. I picked up all the dog toys in the yard (we have 3 spoiled dogs) then grabbed the lawn-mower. And waalaa, it started right up. Now as a fireman's wife, that is a great thing. Because you know when it doesn't start up, it waits for hubby to come home to fix. When I finished mowing, the yard looked nice. I love the smell of fresh cut lawn!!! There were still some areas along the fence that needed to be tackled by that stupid weed-eater. Now a little thing about me and weed-eaters.......we don't like each other!! No matter how many times my husband shows me where the CHOKE switch is, I just can't seem to remember which direction is CHOKE and which direction is No CHOKE. Second little problem, that even though he shows me, I can't master it. I don't know how to string the lawn mower. You know, with that bright colored string line stuff. So when I'm working with the weed-eater and it runs out of string, I put it away and leave it for him to fix. So yesterday, I see it has no mix (not gas, but that special mixed fuel), so I filled it up. Pushed the CHOKE switch where I think it goes, and yank on the cord to start it. Wait, I forgot to tell you about my bad rap sheet with the cord. Last time I used it, I pulled that stinkin' cord right out of the hole where it goes. Maybe I ate too much spinach (I'm Pop-eye the sailor man....toot toot)!! So that waited for him to come home, it actually had to go into a repair shop to be fixed. OOPS, I'm sorry!! So anyhow, where was I, oh yea. So after I pulled the cord, nothing happened. So I pulled it again. Nothing. Now I'm reaching my frustration level. What is wrong with this stupid piece of machinery. As I set it down and walk away, it goes "BraaaaBraaa" (or something like that). I turn to see if a ghost pulled the cord. Nope, nothing there. So I walked back over to it, and pulled the cord.......again, Nothing!!! That's it, time to call the husband's cell phone. When they are in travel status, I know he's just a phone call away. He answers his phone and its so scratchy in the background I heard "Let -- call you -- I'm --- the road." Click he hung up. WAIT, I just need to vent and see if he can walk me through the process of starting the weed-eater. Still feeling frustrated, I just put it away, and began talking to the dogs or myself, not sure. "He'll just have to do this one on his own. The yard doesn't need to be weed-eaten too bad." Then the phone rang, "what do you need?" my husband asked. NOTHING, don't worry, I just couldn't start the weed-eater. I just put it away. He proceed to calmly ask, "what's wrong with it?" I explained the noise it made and he said "sounds like you flooded it." I explained to him that I must of had the switch turned all the way to choke. "Don't worry....I'll talk to you later, I'm cleaning up the patio.So I grabbed the heavy duty shop vac we have, that can act as a blower or a vacuum. I put it on the blower mode, turned it on, and blew the hose out of the vacuum. I guess it wasn't pushed in all the way. With that flying object, my dogs ran and hid on the side of the house. I began to feel like a failure of a fireman's wife, who should be able to do everything, right?? So I fixed it, and turned on the switch, turned it on and blew the dust everywhere. I even managed to blow down some cobwebs under the eaves. I felt something in my hair, only to find out that a big chunk of cobweb landed in my beautiful, pulled in a pony tail hair. ICK, that creeped me out. Hope there wasn't a spider in that, cause I'll scream!! After blowing dust around and making cobwebs fly through the air, I decided it was good enough. So I packed everything back up and put it in the shed. As I turned around, I nearly stepped in a fresh puddle of doggie pee. Our dog, Sparky decided since the patio was clean, he needed to wet it down. So now, I had to spray the patio area with water. AYE YAE YAE. I give up. He called me later in the evening and said the were being diverted to a fire on the Los Padres National Forest. So my dogs and I are enjoying the nice yard now. This part of being a fireman's wife can be quite challenging. At least for me....................................

5 comments:

The Maidl Family said...

Sooo funny! I sat here thinking about the numerous times I have pulled the cord right out of the lawnmower! Also, I think they like to tell us they are coming home because they KNOW as soon as they tell us, they will be sent to another fire!

Hotshot's Wife said...

I hadn't thought about that. I know he'll be home when he pulls his truck in the driveway. He keeps telling me "they may be released tomorrow...."

Unknown said...

I could get my stupid weedeater to start this year - so sad that I had to take it to the "hospital" to get it fixed. I can't count how many times we would get the house totally shining and the kids all cleaned up (quite an accomplishment in the summer)for daddy's return home only to have the ship diverted to another fire! Oh well, it was the only times the house TRULY got a good cleaning!!! Big hugs to you and your honey, Miss Trish...

Unknown said...

Oh, that should have been couldn't get my weedeater started. Sorry, the brain is running on vapors right now!!! :-))

KT said...

My husband has been gone for almost 3 weeks now, going from the Tahoe fire, to the Los Padres NF and back to the Los Padres, with about 5 total waking hrs at home between assignments. So, I was out mowing our front lawn this weekend with our push mower - circa 1940, and was obviously showing signs of distress. My two year old was running around without any clothes, playing in the hose, and my dog was cruising the neighborhood unleashed. I must have looked a wreck since my neighbors lawn service guy offered to mow my lawn for me free. He just said he looked like I could use a hand. Blessings come in subtle ways when we need them most. I think the weedeater issue would have put me over the edge! Keep on keeping on ladies. It looks like it's going to be a long season.