I was supposed to meet Friend Shari and her mother, LaFern for an afternoon ramble. The left rear tire was a little low, so I went down the hill to Plaza to have them check it out. I rolled forward slowly and nothing appeared to be sticking in it, and it would taken them an hour to get around to me, so I had them air it up and I went to pick up my passengers.
We were going to be driving around on some remote roads, so I stopped at an auto parts store and picked up a portable tire inflator “just in case.” My two passengers pronounced it “cute” and thought it would make a good Christmas stocking stuffer. (If you get one, credit – or blame – me.)
We paused at the Thebes Mississippi River overlook and admired Alan and / or Lisa’s pronouncement of devotion. You can decry graffiti on public property, but it had to have taken a long time to etch out “Alan Hearts Lisa Always” in the seat. It was at least 3/8″ deep and filled in with black.
There is always a cynic around
In different handwriting and with an indelible marker, the inevitable gonna-rain-on-your-parade cynic scrawled, “This Week!” above the “always.”
Debris from flood
We looked at debris, including a green buoy, deposited by the recent flood.
What are these?
On the way to the car, we tried to identify these purple things. We weren’t sure if they were berries or grapes. They were intermingled with mulberries and poison ivy. Maybe somebody can tell us what we were looking at.
This is bad news
When we got to the parking area, I noticed the tire was down about a third. I said we’d better go back to have it checked out. Just before we got to the bridge, I could tell the tire was almost flat by the way the rear end was acting squirrelly. Yep, it was nearly flat. I pulled out the “cute” inflator and let it pump away. The box said it should inflate a tire in five minutes, but that might be one that’s not leaking air. When it hit 32 psi and wouldn’t go any higher, we took off.
By the time I got to Plaza at William and Kingshighway, it was flat again.
The nice man who looked at it said I was lucky to have made it in at all. It had a big split on the inside of the tire. “And, by the way, did you know you had two wrong-sized tires on the rear of the car?”
Nope. But it turned out to have been two tires I had to buy at Sam’s in the middle of Nowhere, GA, when I had a blowout on a day when temperatures were just short of that of the surface of the sun. Since the second tire was getting close to the wear bars, I had them replace both of them. That should keep me safe from hydroplaning if I have to make a mad dash through a tropical storm or hurricane.
Did I mention I had calendars and books for sale? I ask because Wife Lila called yesterday to say that our 20-plus-year-old washer died on the same day she had her power steering dohickey replaced.
I felt like I had been swatted by the guy who added a dose of reality to Alan and Lisa’s message.
Wild grapes of some kind.
Ken, how do I order the calendar and the book on Smelterville?
Bob, if you are in Cape, I’m dropping some more off at Annie Laurie’s Antiques on Broadway before noon. They are $20 each.
If you would like to get them by mail, press the Donate button on the top left of the blog page. Donate $25 for each item.
On the second screen, there is a link where you can Add special instructions to the seller. Click it and tell me what you want and your mailing address. If you forget to do that, don’t worry. I’ll send you an email asking for it.
Looks like I’m going to have to get more printed. The box is getting low.
Looks like yo are going to have to sell a lot more calendars to pay for tires and your new Tire pump…which already paid for its self by saving you a BIG tow bill…I have one too so don’t use that for my Christmas this year!
Elderberries. Great for wine or jam.
Do they get bigger? These were about the size of BBs.
Ken,
Those might be elderberries. I’ll show the pic to my aunt to find out for sure. She makes elderberry jam.
Debbie
I don’t think those are elderberries. I have a bush in the backyard and the leaves look different. You’re right, though. Elderberries are about the size of BB’s, but they make good jelly.
Ken, those are unmistakenly Elderberries. You’d best let your mom know about the location. She might make be able to make you a fantastic elderberry pie.
Regarding tires, in general a blowout is caused by low pressure in a tire; either due to a puncture or a slow leak. Keep a close watch on the tires and make a note of one that might be habitually going low. If there is an offender, sometimes as alloy wheels age, corrosion sets in around the bead seat and can cause leakage.