God Uses Coincidences To Make His Presence Known.

Well, I'd love to say that our first official Sunday open went off like the maiden voyage of the Concord or QE2, but it was more akin to that of the Hindenburg or Titanic.  And Leo wasn't even around to offer me a floating door!  We had a couple looky loo's and a drop off for repairs, but other then that I was left alone to my own vices!  It's OK, though.  First, I realize the first few Sundays will be slow until folks realize that we are open (I have to say I think we are the ONLY bike shop in town open on Sunday's!) and second, I got bitten by the motivation bug, as Momma kept all the little ones with her, giving me an opportunity to focus on work, and I put that time to good use!  Cleaned my bay, reorganized both stock and overstock (FINALLY got all the wheels on the wall organized by size, and also found several that should never have been put up there (beyond repair)) having time to actually sort and put away FOUR bins of spare parts!  UGH!  I hate doing that, but as always found many pieces that made me do a "V-8 head slap" and exclaim "GOSH!  I really could have used that (insert date here!)" I then proceeded to clean the store room, the bathroom (ICK!  Mechanics bath room!  Do not try this at home!) and finally the kids play room!  It was at that point I filled up a trash bag with laundry!  Yes, ALL the jackets, shirts and pant's (?????  Did someone go home naked?) that the kiddo's swore they didn't know WHERE they were, have been found!  NOW I just have to figure out how to get the bag home!  I also had the time to finally get MY bike serviced!  I have been running on one good brake (remember when Suzanne broke my rear brake taking off after a squirrelle?) and of course two slightly out of true wheels, oddly enough, that occurred on the occasions when I let Kaleb and Elijah use it!  This was all done by about 1.30 and with nothing left to do, I started to meander about, looking.  At this point, I got a call from a nice gent stating he had an old, decrepit bike that he was either throwing away or giving away, and do we take donation!  Never one to pass up free stuff (hence all the debris on the hidden side of our house!) I said "SURE".  He brought it in post haste, and sure enough, it was decrepit.  BUT, I saw potential!  An older standard diamond frame, I saw a sweet single speed lurking under the failing components, and faded, scratched paint!  SO, with no preamble, I tore it down (scrapping MOST parts), sanded, primed and painted the frame (matte black!) Then, while drying, dug through all our goodies, and found some candy to dress it up!  Which I will be getting to, post haste!  Bringing me to the end of my work day, I closed up and headed home, at which point I stretched my organization muscles once again, and had the kiddo's help with picking up the homestead (all kids home for a day is akin to a remake of "Twister!").  As Angi is keen to get the house dressed up for the Holidays (which, sadly are going to be REALLY light this year due to the poor showing this past summer!  We don't even have a TREE as the artificial one we have been using has somehow lost it's top AND base!) I braved the unknown and waded into the storeroom to find all the decorations.  I say waded as Owen is an even WORSE pack rat then his old man, and the storeroom has become his defacto play room.  Or, as we lovingly refer to it, an "Owen Nest".  This is a remnant of when he was younger and would literally "nest" at various places in the house.  No kidding, he'd stuff blankets, clothes, toys, books, canned food...whatever, into corners or  closets and there he would hang out, at times throwing fits if he couldn't sleep there! 
But, I digress.  After emptying out the debris (he finds stuff EVERYWHERE and brings it home) and locating the goodies, Angi went about directing the decorating.  The whole house was in a blur preparing for the trimmings.  Eventually though, as her eye for perfection drove her to "do it herself" I had to insist she stop pushing herself, especially when she climbed up on the chair!  At this point we retired decorating for the day, to the porch for a coffee and down time, joined by the  two Kaleb's. 
Now here I pause, to preface the story.
Saturday night, during relax time on the porch, the two Kaleb's in attendance, the conversations weaved in and out of several subjects, until focusing on living in our particular neighborhood.  The visiting Kaleb, having grown up in the area, told tales of Coyote's that roam the neighborhoods (in reference to the stray cat we had adopted, safety).  Angela stated she had had no idea about that, and I laughed, stating "I doubt it!" and that Coyote's were small animals ANYWAY and would pose no threat against us. (my conception of coyote's being based on the Roadrunner's nemesis)
Apparently someone REALLY wanted to prove us WRONG!!!
As we sat on the porch last night, enjoying the peace of most children in bed, Suzanne rushed up to the door, hackles up, head down, growling and barking.  She does NOT do that, unless there is a problem.  We shushed her, as the girls were in bed, and settled back down into are chairs.  At that moment, from the far corner of the adjacent house to ours, the figure of a dog appeared from the dark.
A very...BIG dog.
Angi noticed it first, and as the animal strutted across the yard, still slightly shadowed in the evening, she said "Oh look, a puppy" and clicked her tongue and in a sing song voice said "come here puppy".  The creature paused, turned to look at us, it's eyes glinting in the low light, to which we both stated "that's...not...a DOG!"
Now clearly, it was skittish around human's, as when we stood to get a closer look, it picked up the pace and disappeared through the neighbors yard.  HOWEVER, by the look and size of this animal, even from the distance, if push came to shove, it clearly could have made short work of ANY of us!  Of course, the two Kaleb's wanted to pursue it for a better look.  Their teenage bravado and "invincibility" far outweighed any common sense!
Needless to say, we let our adopted cat sleep inside for the night!
SO, today, having already treated the frame to a final coat of paint, once dried, will be assembled.  In the meantime, I'll finish up the repair and move on to the two wheel recumbent I have been avoiding for a couple of weeks now!
And don't let the gray skies and mist deter you from getting out there! 
Just imagine your on the front end of the Titanic!