Things Break

We had two minor disasters yesterday. First, a failure of our phone lines. Later, a flat tire.

The phone problem was inside the house. I was on the office phone when the line went dead. I tried the other phones and found that one still worked: the one in the bedroom. Frank said that a small wire was broken and he would fix it later. Then we left to pick up Ben at the kennel.

First we stopped at the Food Lion in Mt. Jackson. When we came out, a note was affixed to the window: "Your left rear tire is flat." It was indeed -- very flat! Frank got out the jack and the (miniature) spare and started changing the tire.

The flat tire was stuck on the wheel. A young man stopped and offered to help but was also unable to loosen it. Finally a burly guy with a hammer and a strong friend removed the tire. Frank mounted the spare and drove to Hottel's Exxon.

They said the tire was not repairable. By that time all the nearby tire shops were closed for the day. We let the kennel know that we would pick up Ben a day late and came home. We were both glad that the flat happened in a parking lot and not on the highway or somewhere remote. Also, we were in a friendly town where a number of people offered to help.

Now we have a tire on order and will get it tomorrow. Frank was unable to fix the phone so we called Shentel and they sent someone who fixed it this morning. So we have phones, DSL and a fax connection again.

Now we need to take the Montero and get Ben. I have a physical therapy appointment for early afternoon so we'll do that first. It's practically next door to the kennel anyway.