June Already Conclusion

We had gotten to the point in the last blog, where it was to be determined what was to be done about the discarded rug.  Jake wanted nothing to do with it.  He is a retail shopper all the way.  Brooke wants to find out the condition.  If it passes her inspection, it's okay.  Someone else must face the humiliation of retrieving it.  Ken feels there is already enough to be dealt with in the family's life.  They decide to check back after dinner to see if the rug is still there.  The rug is still there after dinner.  It has been moved, indicating others have looked at it and passed it up.  Ken and Jake go to check on the condition of the rug.  Ken (I) knock on the door but there is no answer.  The rug looks pretty good but has an animal smell (urine) which doesn't seem too strong.  If the rug is worth at least $200 it is worth getting it cleaned.  That's what I thought.  We should be hearing from Hagopian this week.  We may have a "new" rug soon or one for sale at our garage sale.  It is a nice looking, machine made rug.  Made in Egypt. I have since spoken to the homeowners who put the rug out.  They had put it out to air out and some animal had urinated on it, possibly a raccoon. She said it was an expensive rug and they were told of a product called "Skunk out" that allegedly would get out odors.

So much for that topic.  I hadn't been watching any sports on TV this Spring.  Well, golf, but that's hardly a sport.  So, I decided to watch some of the basketball semi-finals and finals.  That was very enjoyable for me.  The teams I favored won.  Twice I turned off the TV thinking the game was decided and woke up the next day to find there had been a big come-back in the final minutes.  I think Dirk and the Mavericks deserved the title.


My Brother-in-law needed a sub in his golf league for a couple of weeks.  I filled in and played with his partner Don Bunka.  I did well considering I haven't played in over a year.  The missing ingredient in most players games is practice.  I have been having problems with my chipping.  When I played regularly, I prided myself as having a good wedge game.  I was so distraught at my chipping after my second round this year,  I got out some practice balls and hit about 50 shots.  Just that helped a lot.  I feel guilty going out in the yard to practice golf when there is trimming, edging, planting, scraping and painting to be done.  I'd like to move to a condo.

I'm thinking of writing a book and self publishing it.  "How you can maintain your dignity while retrieving items from the Trash".

June Already

How time flies.  If I start thinking about all the things that I think need doing, I'll really start feeling bad.  Let me say what has been done. 

I couldn't get the Troy-Bilt running last year.  That is it wouldn't stay running for long after it started.  I knew this was something I would have to confront this Spring.  The Troy-Bilt is short for Troy-Bilt Horse, a rototiller that Ray bought in 1979.  This was his pride and joy and helped greatly in gardening  here at 819. 

I was thinking I would have to take the machine to a small engine shop to get it repaired.  I called and was prepared to load it up the next day.  I went out to the shed and dug out the Horse from the far corner.  It would be foolish of me to blindly take it in and have them fix something that was minor and doable right here.  I put in gas and got the engine started and adjusted the screw at the bottom of the carburetor.  It seemed  to be running pretty well!  The fuel line was leaking so I went to Taylor Hardware and got some fuel line replacement.  That wasn't the end of it.  I ended up getting a carb. rebuild kit and using almost all of the parts in there.  The rototiller is working well now and the garden is tilled.

We have also put up a fence to keep out rabbits.  Almost all of the vegetables are planted and it looks pretty good down there.  The flowers are next.  We almost feel an obligation, living here, to have a garden and have a beautiful display of flowers. 

Another item that came up this Spring was a "free" Oriental Rug.  This brings out our psychological interactions.  A rug appeared at the curb in our neighborhood.  No sign of any kind, but close enough to the curb to indicate it was available for free.  We were interested in something for free, of course.  Who would do the embarrassing task of knocking on the door or just taking the rug?  What is wrong with the rug?  To be continued...