The saga continues...

Woke up around 11-ish.  yikes.

(No flying today).

Got a ride into town with Travis.  It's time to pick up my car!  The damage?  Well, not entirely bad.  About $55.00.  That was to install the rear pads.  I talked to the mechanic, and he said that they were hard to put on.  The bottom of my car is real rusty, and the calipers are pretty stiff.  But after a lot of trying, they got 'em on.

This shop really does me right.  Last Friday they had said it would be best to replace the brakes altogether.  I wasn't down with that...so they tried 'em again.

All in all, six days without my car, $55.00 in labor, $20.00 in parts.  So goes a used car.  But there's more...

My car leaks!  It all makes sense now.  Whenever I fill up my car with gas, the car itself smells like gas.  On the inside.  On the outside.  Everywhere!  Well, it turns out that the rust had decided to wreak havoc on my tank, too!  She leaks!  It's a battle with time now!  It's not a bad leak by any means, but it's a leak nonetheless.  And that stuff is expensive!

But I'm drivin' this booger into the ground!  As I drove her home, I was a bit disappointed with her (I thought we had somethin' goin' here), but I pat her on the dash to let her know I'm still behind her...we'll make it through.

Headed out to the farm again today.  Worked for awhile on their tiller.  It's an old Troy-Bilt Horse from either the 1960's or 1970's.  Pretty old.  But solid.  Well, it doesn't run.  So I tore it down.  Spark is good.  Just not gettin' gas.  So I tore down the carburetor.  Not too bad...but wasn't really clean, either.  But I noticed that the gas line didn't flow when I removed it from the carb.  And the tank was full (of two-year-old gas nonetheless).  hmm.  The drain valve from the tank ended up bein' clogged completely.  Tore that down.  She flows freely now!

Cleaned out the carb, drained the tank, flushed the gas line.  Tried startin'.  Nothin'.  Nothin'.  Only runs on the spray.  Still not gettin' gas.  Too bad.

Had to leave it at that.  grr.

Ate another HUGE meal with the fam.  This time spaghetti with amazing sauce, salad complete with strawberry slices, plenty of garlic bread (I had four slices!), and fresh strawberries for dessert.  Mmm Mmmmm!  I am quickly becoming spoiled.

Headed to a get-together at a coffee shop in Chanute tonight...that was all right...nothin' real great.  I'm kind of sick of the churchy singing and stuff sometimes.  I mean, it wasn't bad, but I don't know, it's become old for me!  I've been to soooooooo many.

Talked some more with Travis and Jesse tonight.  We've discovered one thing about Chanute, and frankly, it kind of scares me.  All of us, really.

EVERY girl has a kid.  No, seriously.

I first noticed it when I went running a few weeks back.  The local hospital has pictures of the new babies on their big "jumbo-tron" screen out front.  And they crank out kids with the best of 'em.  In a town of just 10,000.  It never made sense to me.

Until I walked through town more.  Every young woman seems to have a kid (insert three kids!) hangin' on her.  If I do say so myself, it's quite an epidemic.  I've never seen anything like it.  I mean, girls get pregnant all the time, yes.  But this is different.  It is seriously a disease.

We have a running joke between us now...any potential girl we meet, we ask two things...

"What's your name"?

"Do you have any kids"?

We have to toss out about 8 out of 10.  Now hold that thought now...we're talkin' about single 21-year-olds.  23-year-olds.  25-year-olds!  One, two, or three kids!  And no daddy in sight!  Now personally, I've got nothin' against the girls, per se.  Life happens.  But I would lie to myself to think that I am anywhere ready or willing to be a daddy.  No, sir-ee.  And I would be doin' them a disservice to act like I'm interested!  But it really is somethin' fierce here.  We have our speculations (1.  They don't know what causes kids  2.  They are bored out of their mind and sex just hits the spot  3.  We have no stinkin' idea).

Just wanted to share that tidbit about Chanute.  But, frankly, I don't think it's anything too secretive...it's hard to miss.

Hit the sack at 1:30 A.M.