groundhog day

Charlie packed up the Silver Weenie before hitting the road with Toby on Thursday morning. It was a wonderful visit and I was especially glad to have him here to talk with during a time of great transition for me, whatever that ends up meaning.*

Anyhoo, I got this terrific email from him this morning and had to share. He's on his way east to DC to be with his mom for her 92nd birthday.

"Lovely overnight stay in the natl. forest east of Butte, MT. Got up, had coffee, Tobes and I get in the truck, start the engine. Crash, bang! Terrible noises from the engine. Turned it off. Chirp, chirp, continues the engine. Pop the hood. There's a ground hog ensconced under the fan, and 6 blades on the fan broken off. Chirp, chirp goes the fellow. And I can't get at him to remove him. He doesn't appear harmed. So I start the engine and limp back into Butte and the local Chevy place. All work stops while everyone is enthralled with my plight. Finally they call the spca officer who comes out and tho they get the little bugger out of my truck, he's loose in the service department with ten men running around trying to capture him. Finally trap him and he's off back to the forest. Meanwhile, I sit here waiting for a new fan to be installed. Right. Guess who is going to open the hood henceforth before starting the engine! And guess who is very unlikely to ever crawl into another engine compartment! Love you, Da"

You can't make this stuff up. Well, you can, but I know I didn't and I'm pretty sure he didn't either.

Another funny thing from this morning. I was lying in bed and Tim was in the kitchen making tea. I heard this snippet of conversation...

Rowan: Hey dad, can you get me, uh...

Tim: An apple?

Rowan: Yeah, that's right...you took the words right out of my mouth, T.M.!

*Two days ago I requested and was immediately approved for a 3 month leave of absence from work. I'm still in a mild sort of shock that I actually asked and that they actually said yes. It begins next Thursday. Huh-what?