This blog was originally a tool to promote BrownStone Chinooks and communicate with family and close friends. At one time my followers grew close to 1,000. I was flattered but declined when advertisers came knocking. My writing is a gift to myself and others. Over that past year, as Dave was getting more and more frail, dying, and after his death, several people asked me for daily updates. Being private, I used e-mail for that purpose. The overwhelming burden of grief is easing. I made it through the holidays. I feel I can be more public even though it is not my inclination. I'm afraid not that much interesting is happening with the dogs to post about - me either for that matter - but, I am still getting numerous requests for updates. Please excuse me if you were looking to read about the joys and antics of living with a pack of Chinooks. I do not have any more litters planned beyond putting Trask up for stud. The dogs are an enormous part of my life and I do plan to pass on isms about them, but general life updates will also creep into the content.
I am trying to communicate more but then I am not sure a lifetime of being reclusive will alter that much. I was sent this quote today. I would title it:
ME
This morning the 70 something year-old, delivery driver brought
my serviced tractor back and the new rear window for my Kubota. The directions for the
window installation said to ”allow 30 minutes for installation”. That is a skilled mechanic, in a tractor factory, with power tools, who has done it before. We knew we were in
trouble before we started. Three hours later, after we had removed the roof and
rear frame of the Kubota cab then, put everything back together with only a few
spare bolts, we decided that I should charge the tractor store: mechanic work wages; for use of my ladders and bigger hammer; plus extra for all the laughs (employee entertainment) the two of us had
putting the heavy, bulky thing on. There was absolutely no way he could have physically installed it alone. The directions said
nothing about the brackets we had to remove and use again, upside-down in another place or, the
fact that we had to take off the cab top. I guess whoever wrote the instructions assumed that the window was going on a bare roll-bar frame, not a retrofit. I haven’t called the tractor store yet to voice my pay
suggestion. They did charge me $300 for three hours
labor for servicing the tractor, so I may have reasonable grounds to invoice them or can write it off to an enjoyable, blind-leading-blind, problem-solving project.
The delivery guy is great. We have known him for a long time due
to all the tractors, quads, ATVs and mowers we bought from them over the years.
Now that I am widowed, he comes by every once in a while to say “hi” and see
how I am doing. Today he was full of tales of widows that had immediately sold
their tractors and got a great laugh that I need two. But to my credit, I did get rid of the
Audi and trade in DB’s fancy, but useless ATV for my new, hardworking, basic
one that now has a rear window. I didn’t originally order my Bota with a window because my
old one had the expanded metal guard right against the window. Not being able to clean the window really impacted my vision. (I've been known to take my ATV places that I had to awkwardly, and sometimes dangerously, back out of.) I figured that if I got cold or it rained, I could just put on a hat. However after using my Bota without a rear window and tossing loads of dirt, weeds and branches in the dump bed than having a large portion land on my seat, I decided that maybe a window would be a good option. The new one no longer has the expanded metal guard right up against it - actually the way we installed it, it doesn't even have the metal guard at all. Maybe that's where the extra bolts and nuts came from.
The dogs did get their pedicure today but no dog pictures were taken. Because it was raining, the weather station remains in the shop. I went out to lunch with a good friend and discovered, to my surprise, that left-over Canadian bacon, cheese, spinach, pineapple, artichoke, jalapeno pizza makes a "high value" reward during nail trims.
So, that's today's story.
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