Happy Boxing Day

I hope everyone had a pleasant weekend, with or without Christmas celebrations.

Mine was quiet but enjoyable. On Saturday, 1crowdedhour came over and we watched several episodes of The Great British Bake Off, including the 2016 Christmas masterclass episodes that fortuitously were in the right order at the right time.

On Sunday, I spent most of the day spinning, and watched the DVR'd Vikings game from Saturday (they won). I had my traditional December 24 (Erev Christmas) dinner at McCormick & Schmick's with friends. I also made chicken stock and a batch of peddernodder. It was my first time making them, but they turned out well. Though they're more properly peddernotter, I suppose, because the recipe calls for cardamom, and I discovered I didn't have any after being sure I did, so I substituted some clove and allspice instead. I'm very happy with them, and this is going to be keeper recipe.

On Monday, I spent most of the time spinning and reading Yuletide fan fiction. Greg, who has been storing his motorboat in my garage for the past several years -- and never actually used it -- finally sold it, so it's out of there. He still has a big thingie (something to do with trains) that's in there, so I still get to ask him for handyman help as needed. (I don't charge him, but he takes care of minor household emergencies in trade.)

I'm almost two-thirds done spinning the second half of the cobweb Shetland/silk that I started last Monday. If I had the rest of the week off of work, I could be sure I'd have it done before the end of the year. I'm still hoping I'll have the spinning done, but the plying is going to probably bleed into next year. There may be some difficulties with the plying, because I had a broken thread on the skein as I spun, and I think I connected up to the wrong bit. I hope I'll be able to find the other loose thread when I get to that point. It's really a challenge dealing with plying uber-fine singles.

Today, alas, it's back to work, and there's a bit of a speedbump. Yesterday, my left front tire was a bit low, and Greg used an air device to pump it up. This morning, it was totally flat. I'm not sure whether to hold Greg responsible or not. Also, my garage, which opened fine for me to drive out, wouldn't open again to let me back in. It goes up a few inches, then goes back down again. It's probably not actually Greg's fault, but everything was under control before he started changing things.

There's a Boxing Day party this evening, but only if I can get there.

A (metaphorical) perfect storm

So in our last exciting entry, I had a flat tire, and my garage door wouldn't open.

I texted Greg to tell him what happened, and that I wasn't sure whether in some metaphysical sense it was all his fault. He called me back and said he'd be over in half an hour to see what he could do. An hour and a half later, he arrived. He checked the garage door opener, and said that the spring was broken, so there was nothing he could do -- I needed a proper garage door service company.

He then tried to use his compressor gadget to reinflate the flat tire so I could drive to the auto shop, but at this point it wasn't holding air at all.

So I set up an online request to AAA, asking for either a tow or a tire change. Three hours later, the AAA guy arrived and changed the tire. I gathered all my stuff for the party, and got in the car. It wouldn't start; the battery was just alive enough for the dome light, but not to start the car.

I called a friend who lived nearby to see if he could give a ride to the party, and it turned out he'd just arrived there. He offered to drive back and pick me up, but I told him that would be silly. I took an Uber there instead.

The party was lovely, and my peddernodder were well-received, so the day wasn't a total loss. Also, the local friends gave me a ride to my usual Tuesday night trivia game, which was still in progress.

Now I'm home again.

Tomorrow, Greg will come over again if he's willing, give the car a jump, and follow me to Bobby & Steve's auto shop. Otherwise, it'll be another request to AAA. Either way, I'm not driving that car anywhere else until it has a new battery and all four tires have been checked over and replaced as necessary.