… Guinness was the last thing on my mind but little did I know I was going to be having one during lunch!
Coffee in hand I headed out the door ready to start the day. As it goes in my morning routine is best for me not to speak unless I have a cup or two. The peanut gallery says I am cranky, I think I just need to wake up! In my mind though I am prepared for what ever the day may throw at me, or so I thought.
Scanning through my workspace I load up a few of the tools I am going to need today. A quick twist of the key in the ignition and I realize that my truck isn’t ready… it refuses to start! I check for spark…good. Plenty of fuel yup, I just filled up in the middle of the week. What could it be!?!? I am definitely not a mechanic by any means. Luckily I have two in my family, one is a high performance boat mechanic and the other is a former tank mechanic with the Army turned automotive.
At this point I am thinking to myself, “The day is not starting the way I thought it would!”
After a call to a friend, to let them know that their kitchen cabinet installation was going to be held up a little bit, I called my brother Chuck. He just happened to have the day off! So I explain to him what is going on. A few minutes later he narrows it down to a couple problems and says he will be right over.
In his opinion though the issue is most likely a fuel pump.
Yikes!
A few short YouTube videos later containing info on replacing a fuel pump I realized its going to be quite the day stopper. I basically had three options:
- Jack my truck up and drop the tank. (Which wasn’t going to happen, it was to muddy.)
- Cut an access hatch into the bed of my truck with a grinder. (Bad idea.. sparks next to a fuel tank, no thanks!)
- Remove the bed of my truck so we could access the fuel pump.
Chuck arrived shortly there after. Once he finished popping the hood, crawling under the truck, and doing a few tests he made it clear that the issue was in fact the fuel pump. It needed to be replaced. He said I am going to have to take his car to the auto parts store to get what we needed. Opening his car door I turned to him and offered beer as a suggestion and he said, “Grab me a few Guinness!”
“No problem,” I said as I hit the road. A half hour or so later I was back with Guinness, Coronas and a new fuel pump.
Two cold Guinness in hand we toasted, “Prost!”
My brother looked at me then said,”Ok, lets get this done!” So we did.
Now fast forward to the holidays, which is a super busy time for everyone. Shopping, visits to friends and family, tons of turkey, and best of all pecan pie! My wife and I always say to each other that we are only going to relax and stay home. We want to enjoy the time off; but that rarely happens. We have a huge family, I mean really big! In total there are 10 siblings plus all of ours kids, our spouses, parents, and grandparents. At some point we all decided that it would be best do a secret Santa drawing for each other. Then every year we would meet up at my mothers house and do the exchange. This past year I drew my brother Michael, who is professional musician. My wife on the other hand drew Chuck and somehow that fell onto my never-ending-always-growing-honey-do list! Love it!
Of course being who I am, I tend to wait till the last moment to do shopping, according to my wife! This year was no exception. So here I am in my shop the day of my mothers Christmas dinner making the last of the puzzles for the year. Now Chuck is a mechanic through and through and loves beer, so I had to include a few special cut out pieces to reflect those details. The butterfly is my signature piece that I cut into every custom wood jigsaw puzzle.
Needless to say I finished everything with an hour to spare. I had just enough time to take a shower and get to the party.
In my book I call that perfect timing as opposed to waiting till the last minute!