Monday Morning Chit Chat - Mechanical Failure Edition

Hello all! Hope you had a better weekend that we did here. I won't say it was horrible -- it actually started off well -- but there were definitely some less than stellar moments.

Saturday Shane was able to work some overtime. I handed Kat off to her mom (my daughter Jean) for the weekend and ran a couple of errands, including going to Sam's Club and to a grocery store that had locally-grown peaches for just 68¢ a pound.  After my errands, I came back home, did a few thing around the house and made supper.  Later in the evening, Shane and I tried to watch a movie, but he was too tired and fell asleep within minutes of starting it, so I turned it off and went to bed early, too.

On Sunday our heat wave had ended, so I opened up the house and let the fresh air in!  It was great and the windows are still open and will be for as long as the weather cooperates.

Unfortunately, yesterday morning Shane and I had a "talk", as in a heated discussion, which is the closest thing we ever have to an argument or fight.  I won't disclose what it was about, but I needed to get some things off my chest and felt better for having done so.  I guess only time will tell if it did any good, though.  So, it put a bit of a damper on the morning, but that storm blew over quickly and it was back to normal for a while.

I spent some of my morning peeling and slicing peaches.  They are so good and so sweet that we later went back and bought another half-bushel of them (25 more pounds!) to freeze for use throughout the year.  I'll probably slice and flash freeze most of them, which is what I did yesterday, saving the peels for making jam, but I also learned that you can freeze them whole, either in a single layer on a big tray, or by wrapping each in plastic wrap first so they don't stick together.  Then when you thaw them later, the peel slips right off.  I already do this with tomatoes with great results, so I'm sure I'll end up handling some of the peaches this way, too.

Just after lunch, the weed-eater quit while Shane was using it.  It seized up and he doesn't know why, but it's a complete goner.  He found a used one on craigslist to get us through the season at least, but all the while he grumbled about how he hated that things keep breaking down on us, referring, I think, to the mower breaking down about a month ago.  So, when we jumped in the van to go pick up the used weed eater, imagine his frustration when the van wouldn't start! 

We don't know why.  The battery is good, the fuses for the ignition are good, we tried all the little tricks we know, like making sure it was fully in Park, rocking the steering wheel back and forth, etc. but nothing worked.  So, we suspect it's a starter/solenoid issue, an alternator issue (though probably not if the battery is still good), or a "neutral safety switch issue" (the switch that keeps you from starting the car unless it's in park or neutral).

All we do know for sure is that we can't -- or at least, we shouldn't -- tow our van with our truck, so I'll have to call a tow service to take it in to our mechanic as soon as his shop opens.  We ♥ our mechanic, who always does quality work at a fair price, so I'm sure he'll have it fixed up in no time. 

Meanwhile, we have back-to-school night tonight and the first day of school for Kat is tomorrow.  We live just a few blocks from her school, so walking is no problem.  Other than the 70% chance of rain in tomorrow's forecast.  Oh well, we really should be walking to school more often, even in the rain.  I usually drive her because I routinely consolidate my errands for the day into the same trip, but walking more often would be better for our health, our billfolds and our environment.

At least supper should go off without a hitch tonight.  Just good ol' burgers on the grill with some lettuce salad and some potato salad on the side, and naturally, some peaches.  The burger patties are already made.  I just have to thaw them (or not) and slap on the grill.

How was your weekend and what do all of you have planned for the week?  Do your kids go back to class this week, or are they some of the few who don't start until next week?