The Secrets Men Keep

It's not too unusual.... he's over there... I'm here, and something breaks, wears out, disappears, or flies away. Most of the time I handle it. I'm a fixer. My father's daughter. Perhaps it's not the the exact way something should be done... but I don't like being told "to wait until I get back."

Poor Jim. He's had to live with my sense of adventure, and most often, had to repair my sense of adventure. But sometimes it's not so bad.

This particular spell has been par for the course.

The tires on my 4-runner were near bald. Where did we travel in that 114,000 miles? Really. I've bought big purchases without Jim before; bought cars, cameras, dogs, so tires are easy. True to myself, I visited the local Costco to inquire about the best deal, smoothest ride, and longest tread wear. "Ricky" was a bit taken back by my questions, but soon was showing his computer screen to me, comparing tires. We settled on "touring tires," instead of the "all-terrain, hit as many bumps as possible" tire that I previously had. And oh what joy I have found in driving without feeling my teeth clatter. Jodi 1 point.

Gilly our bird of 16 years flew away. It was sad, yet I was dealing with it.... except she stayed in the neighborhood calling out to me every time I walked outside. "Here I am.. Save me." I listened for her location, ran through the field and found her settled in a Pepper Tree.... 3 fields away. After trying to coax her down from afar, I drove around the block to the nearest driveway, knocked on the door of the house and explained that my bird was in their backyard. The lady said, "Whatever. Do what you need to do." I smiled and ran to the backyard, calling out "Gilly, Gilly." She responded with delight and a few chirping sounds. She even puffed up her feathers like she was ready to fly to me. Then stopped. I got back in my car, drove home, found a bunch of extension poles and drove back to encourage her down. She squawked at me andstarted her decent toward me. I dropped the pole and was ready to run to her, when a dog barked and she swooped up to a 60 foot Eucalyptus tree. Aughhhh! If she is going to fly away....why doesn't she just go without all the noise? For the next 3 days she notified me of her locations. Each time I introduced myself to the homeowner and strained my neck for a few hours trying to persuade her to come down. Austin even climbed a tree in attempt to catch her. He lost his shoe and hesitated to come down after he realized how high he had climbed. I finally had to say "bye bye birdie" and make a lot of noise everytime I walked out the door to muffle her sounds . Jodi Minus 1 point.

Our dog Louie has been sick. I'm not sure what to do for him... even ice cream isn't drawing him out. Poor Lou. Jodi Minus 2 points

I noticed that a headlight was out on my 4runner. Of course, I have the "super bright, see everywhere in the dark" kind of lights - so I asked Jim and JT exactly what I need to replace the bulb. They both said just go to Autozone and tell them you have the super, ultra bright lights and they will help you out. I scouted Autozone out, waiting to stop when there were just a fewcars in the parking lot, hoping I would get a guy that would see a damsel in distress and offer to change the bulb. No such luck. The inventor of the automobile must have been my sales associate. He was very helpful and found the bulbs I needed, stating "that these are great, but they don't last long because they are so bright... but if you can afford them, they are great."

I forked over $53.00 and decided it couldn't be too difficult to do. I found the owners manual and the page where it clearly states how to change the bulbs. Step 1. Remove the rubber boot, pulling on the top tab. Step 2. Relase the hold-down spring. Step 3. Pull out old bulb. Step 4. Insert new bulb. Step 5. Carefully reinstall rubber boot, being sure Top tab is on the top.

mmmm. Step 1. The top tab was off to the side. I guess JT/Jim didn't realize that was important when pulling it off. After a little struggle the boot came off. Step 2. Spring was tight as a tick. About 13 minutes later and a bloody finger, the spring loosened, and I was able to grasp the old bulb... for a second. It then jetted into the headlight.... just millimeters from the reach of my fingers. Aughhhhhhh! I found a piece of wire and was able to lasso the bulb, but could not get my finger into the tiny opening and pull it out. Darkness came. A few more tools were tired, but nothing seemed to give me the clearance, movement, or ability to reach, grab and pull at the same time.

Then I remembered Jim and JT's car musuem.... where they gather tools that are absolutleynecessary, but are often used for one particular purpose. I braved the dark, eventually found the master switch to turn on the lights and spotted "The Tool. " It was laying on the counter, guarded by a masage spider web with a black widow nearby. I attacked with a broom and battled the web and spider, grabbed The Tool and ran out. I had no idea what I held in my hands, but it was flexiable, long, slender and had a little grabber on the end. As I practiced the technique, I discovered a bright light on the end of the grabber! What an amazing tool. It took only seconds to retrive the bulb, pull it through the impossibly smallopening and install the new one. Even the rubber boot slid on without incident. Turned on the car. Lights! Bright lights! - Jodi 3 points! ( Extra points for discovering the secrets men keep!)