So. Here’s our garage door. Note the closed position.

Today at lunch, my parents were both out, so I opted to park my car in the garage, to help keep it cool–a rare privilege. Except, see, that’s exactly what got me into trouble. I don’t usually get to park in the garage. Usually, I walk through the garage, get into my car in the driveway, close the door with the electric opener in my car and go on my way. Which is pretty much exactly what I did today at lunch–got into my car, hit the button and started to leave.

But, of course, I was IN the garage, and so, as I was backing out, the door hit the car and then did exactly what it was supposed to do–bounced back. I stopped in the driveway and checked my car. Whew! Not a scratch. Exactly what it’s supposed to do. Great. So I hit the button to close the door.

Nothing happened.

Um. Push the button again. The door moves a couple inches, but . . . nothing. I get back out of the car and go to look. Uh-oh.

If a descending garage door hits the rear window of your car while you’re backing up, guess what happens? If it’s a stainless steel door . . . it bends. A nice, pretty arc, in fact. So arched, in fact, that it no longer fits past the straight-line of the garage door opening. Oh no, I’m going to be in trouble!

I tried pulling it, but I was too high for me to reach, too stiff for me to be able to force it to bend enough to close. Uh-oh. I went back into the house, washed the cobwebs off my fingers, left a note on the kitchen table, apologized to Chappy for all the noise, and then went back to the car. There was nothing I could do. I had to get back to the office, the door would just have to stay open.

But, as I started to pull out of the driveway . . . our neighbor across the street, a golfing buddy of my Dad’s, was doing yard work. Hmmmm . . . Um, Walter? I have a little problem . . . He came over, and was able to grab the edges of the door and bend them enough to get it past the edge, and then pressed agains the center enough to straighten out the bend . . . enough, anyway! The door opened. The door closed. It was like magic!

Profuse thanks, of course, and then I went back in the house again (“Gee, I’m sorry to do this again, Chappy, but pretend I’m not really here.”) Took OFF the note from the kitchen table. Washed my hands again, and headed off to work. Explained to my boss why I was half an hour late . . .

So the door’s not perfectly straight. So it’s got a tiny little dent at the bottom now, and it’s only a year old. These things happen, right? But, for sure, I need to bake Walter a cake this weekend–he deserves an extra thank you, and he has a sweet tooth. And since it’s thanks to him all I had to explain to the parents was a tiny dent, a little curve, and an embarrassing story instead of why I left the house “open” for hours and the door wouldn’t close . . . yeah, he deserves a cake.

What else happened today? I went to the dentist for my cleaning and my dentist made his list for all the things wrong that need to be taken care of as finances and insurance permits . . . I lost count at five crowns . . . Sigh. You know, all in all, I’m pretty happy with the genetic mix I was lucky enough to get, but the teeth really could be better. Of course, being a little less lazy about dental hygiene wouldn’t hurt (grin).

I also actually took Chappy for a walk today. His first one in a week! He’s feeling better–still not 100%, but definitely more like himself. I figured a nice walk on his leash would be a good thing, strengthen some of the muscles that have been lolling around since he, well, did whatever he did to himself. It was a little warm, but bearable, and well . . . he deserved it! And so did Mom and I, although all three of us are extra tired tonight. I mean, I had all this extra excitement today, Mom drove out to visit my sister today, and while fun, that always makes her tired. Although I cooked supper tonight. Dad ended up getting home a little later than planned. A friend of his left his car at our house and they rode together down to the Atlantic Highlands for golf . . . about 50 miles away. They got back to the house about 7:00 . . . and his friend realized he’d left his keys at the golf course. Oops! So Dad drove him to his house a few miles away to get his spare keys, and then they came back here.

Obviously, parking at our house has been an issue today.

Oh–and take a look at this Row-Bike . . . this has to be one of the oddest bicycles I’ve ever seen. Can you imagine riding down the street on this?

1. What is most battered book in your collection? The one with loose pages, tattered corners, and page edges so soft that there’s not even a risk of paper cuts anymore?
2. Why is this book so tattered? Is it that you love it so much that you’ve read it a zillion times? Is it a reference book you’ve used every day for the last seven years? Something your new puppy teethed on when you weren’t looking?

My most worn books are the ones that I’ve had the longest and have read the most times. Like my 25-year old copy of Lord of the Rings. Or the Pride & Prejudice I bought in college. Or, really, my copy of A Little Princess that I’ve had since I was, what, ten?

Oh, there are some others that have wear and tear, but really, these are of the “worst” I’ve got.

In fact, if you look really closely, you can see what good use I put my time to in the high school library–I took advantage of the book-mending equipment, and basically covered my book entirely in wide tape, rebuilding torn-away corners.

However, none of my books in the last 10-15 years look like this. I think the fact that I don’t have to stuff them into bookbags and lug them around school or campus saves on the wear and tear. For example? My copy of Archangel. I’ve said many times that this is one of my absolute favorite books. In the nine years since I bought this copy, I’ve read it somewhere around 15 times, and you can see that it’s in great condition.

Tags: Family, General, Reading // 14 Comments »