Home again, Home Again, Jiggedy, JIG!

HEY!  We just want to give all the folks that paid us visits on Saturday a BIG warm and hearty THANK YOU for making the day so Bloody fun! Got to mingle with some really great people, with a lot of nice things to say, not to mention even more "New Arrivals" to the Florida way of life from even more displaced Yankee's (watch out, native born, I think we may just about be outnumbering y'all!!) Give's me nothing but pleasure to offer up some recommendations of things and places to see down here in our little Dunedin (Flanagan's Pub ALWAYS being first on the list!) one gent, in particular, newly arrived from Indiana happens to have been lucky enough to marry an Irish woman, so he was more then excited to hear about an authentic Irish Pub in his back yard, especially with live music!  Yea, you cannot marry Irish, and not LOVE the culture!! 
We sent four to new homes, lickety split, then the remainder of the day was all about repairs, and I'll tell you, THAT is always a bit of a game for us on Saturday.  We're use to a flood of repairs, so it is a matter of personal pride that we do the whole "NASCAR Pit Stop" kind of repair!  Most folks, who come in on the weekend for repairs, are more then likely, riding their bikes in, so we give them the whole "give us a few minuets" and regardless of the repair, usually have them in and out right quick!  (OK...except for full rebuilds, need at least a couple hours for them!) It's just fun to try and beat your personal best on any particular job.  God bless the young lady who came in with her even younger sister (I swear, I thought it was Mom and daughter, until, as I was working on the little girls ride, the young lady was talking with another couple waiting on a fix, and of course, as most conversations do go around here, they and I were talking about family and kids when they came in, and she disclosed that the little girl, was in fact, her young sister (almost 20 year age difference)) so, after finishing up the quick tube fix, she asked me if we had a bike rack that would work with her car and the spoiler that she had on it.  Turns out the one we had left, did in fact, fit.  Once I mounted it on, she got so thrilled that she "Now owned a bike rack" she did a little jig.  It was so sweet! Now, as she professes, they can go out on rides together.  NEAT!  I can only hope our kids are that close!  Of course, a "shout out!" to Uncle Chippie, who helped save the day.  He heard my plaintive cry for the need of a double ringed, three speed hub for the Truck project, so he set about digging through his overstock, and found us one that fit perfectly! YAY!  I did SO want to make it a three speed!!
Of course, the day wound down quickly around 3 pm, as the massive gray clouds wafted in, and, as always seems the case, waited until a few minuets before close to dump on us.  Not wanting to get waterlogged (and Suzanne HATES to run in the rain) we stuck it out the prerequisite thirty minuets, until, like someone shutting off a tap, it stopped!  YAY!  Welcome to Florida Summers!  Get what you can done before 2 in the afternoon, each and every day!  Either that, or wait until the evening!  *sigh*  Speaking of which, don't take my word for it!  Had another couple come in for a quick repair.  They were out for their morning ride, when all of a sudden the drivetrain on his ride went "wonky" and had to bring it in (now, here's an oddity, that I have seen far to often and I have NO logical explanation for how it happens!  His ride had a seven speed freewheel on the rear.  The lock ring gave way and all the gears were a loose, jumbled mess, BUT...one of the gears was missing...entirely!  How the HECK does that happen!?  Seriously!  The wheel never leaves the bike, no other serious damage...just one cog missing?  Kind of like Nessie, or Bigfoot, or a compassionate conservative...anomalous things, outside the natural order,  that just CANNOT be explained) as we were talking, and of course, the subject of weather came up, THEY pointed out, simply, that in order to get your needed riding in, you just have to leave early enough in the morning to get a good couple of hours before it get's to bloody hot!  SEE!  We're  NOT the only one that gets it!
ANYWHO!!
Took the rainy time to clean, yet again, as I reluctantly excepted the reality, that it is, in fact, easier to find things if you keep them tidy!  So, it took me 47 years to figure that out!  So sue me! 
Was able to pound out two newbies, amongst the hullabaloo, as I have made a promise to myself that I will not detract from my normal daily chores to loose myself in the book.  Although it's hard at times, as I find myself "mentally" making notes as I'm going about my daily routine, and it's hard to fight the urge to sit down and put it on "paper", as I KNOW the limitations of my own memory.  Angi can attest to that, in spades!  With the gray clouds, however, and their propensity to drive Floridians into hiding, after my tasks were done, and I built the two newbies we got in, in trade, I had a couple hours to bang on the keyboard.  Literally...bang.  WAY too many of the keys on this thing stick! 
So then it was time to head for the homestead and enjoy an evening and a day of, basically, nothing but relaxations.  Well...as much as one can get with a cantankerous two year old, who's favorite past time is crying in demanding fury for everything anyone else has, no matter how inane that item may be.  Ever try and eat dinner when a little kid is crying because she doesn't have possession of ALL the forks at the table?  You go to tell one kid "Don't eat with your fingers!"  and they look to you, incredulously, and point across the table at the little girl, standing in her chair, trying to manipulate her dinner holding eight utensils! 
OH, funny freaking story, that makes me look like such a sap, but also gives a great deal of admiration for the INGENIOUS design of one particular video game design.
So, punting around on my LG phone, having grown tired of the one game I have on there, as the kids held dominance over the household game machine, I downloaded one that Angi had played for a while called "Panda Pop".  The premise of the game (one of the all too familiar ones where you have to make triples or more of any given object to draw the "field" down to it's conclusion) is you play a mother Panda Bear, who has to rescue her cubs who have been trapped above her in a series of balloons.  You toss up corresponding colors, to match, pop the balloons, and free the adorable little cubs who float safely to the ground in a parachute.  Simple, right?  Well, as with all these games, they get progressively harder.  At one point, as I sat on the ottoman in front of Angi, I was down to my last balloon (and when you get to ten left, the mother Panda becomes frantic and panicky, and the little babies, encased in their balloons are wailing, thrashing and crying) and I LITTERALLY became emotionally invested in whether or not I was going to be able to free the little guy!  When I made an impossible ricochet shot and freed him at the last minute I gave off a "WHOOP, WHOOP!" in victorious glee, almost in tears of relief! 
OH!  Whoever designed this game was PURE, bloody GENIUS!!  If you run out of chances, they give you an opportunity to "buy" more plays, and in an attempt to "guilt" you into doing so, a little picture shows a crying mother Panda with the blurb "Don't give up on the baby pandas!"  WOW!  Pure, "Heart-String-Plucking" GENIUS!!!  These folks MUST be Quadrillionaires! 
OKEY DOKEY!
Now, I best get to...something!  Still waiting on parts for the truck and one more repair (BLOODY HOLIDAY!!!) so I have to find something to keep busy!


Hey...here's a thought!  Why don't YOU bring me something to do!  After all, you wouldn't want MY baby Pandas to go hungry...would you??
(did it work?)

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