Fort Dodge, IA - Saved by a Stash

We arrived at Lug’s about 9:00. His first words as he walked down his driveway to greet us were;

        ‘No more work now. I don’t want any more done.’

But, somehow, Gary got him to agree to one more day - with the plumbers, if we will be with them while they worked. Of course, a plumber comes on his or her own schedule and, sure enough, he came about 2:30 with only a small window of time to work before Lug returned.

Meanwhile, I was doing errands: twice to Menards (I’m becomming a regular there), once to Subway for lunch and once to Target to pick up some other little things for the house. Mostly I’ve been bringing lunch with us but today, I decided to hit Subway for lunch. I stood in line, made my order, chose the ingredients and, as they were wrapping it up, I reached for my money and - oops - it’s still at Lugs. Ouch. Well I’ll be back shortly - oh, wait, I’ve got a ’stash’ of laundry quarters in the car. Yep 21 quarters and I had the $5.00 black forest ham sub all paid for. Sheesh.

In between errands, i weeded Lug’s back yard while Gary worked with the plumber. He got several faucets fixed, replaced several turn-off valves and was finishing up when Lug arrived. Later, when Lug knew we would be leaving tomorrow and was feeling pretty mellow, he even made a joke about my cleaning. He told me that he had to wear his dark glasses when he worked in the kitchen since the sink, the floor and the windows were so clean they shone in his eyes. Now, let me tell you how I loved that joke. Praise for me from Lug is like a jewel, very rare and thus very valuable. I can live for years on that joke.

However, we’re finally done with what we think we can get done. We would like to get some other projects done but we’ll save those for another day, another time. We said our good-byes and headed on back to the RV. Barb had given Lug some potato chips for us and what a treat in the evening. I might still be yearning for chocolate but my salty fix has been fixed.

Meanwhile I’ll end with a joke a friend e-mailed me about modern technology:

I was visiting my son and his family some time back and asked if I could borrow a newspaper.

“This is the 21st century, Dad,” he said. “I don't waste money on newspapers. Here, you can borrow my iPad.”

I can tell you this: that fly never knew what hit him