more normal than not

2 quarts of power steering fluid in 50 miles of mail delivery is too much fluid to be adding….a little at a time.

50 miles of worry doesn’t make 2 quarts any different.

It is what it is.

Of course, I’m going to worry.

That’s what I do.

But yesterday, in the midst of my MAIL JEEP ANGST© , I thought, “this doesn’t do a thing to change or alleviate the cause and symptoms of my situation.”

I was talking about my worrying.

I was talking inside my head.

There wasn’t anyone with me.

I was ALONE with my troubles.

The power steering hose that I paid 90 dollars to have a mechanic (a PRO….A WRENCH TURNER AND MECHANICAL DETECTIVE WITH A LOT MORE EXPERIENCE THAN ME….A GUY WHO GOT THE SAME RESULTS THAT I DID WHEN I REPLACED THE PUMP….JUST DELAYED FOR A WEEK….A GUY I PAID WHO I’LL NEVER GET THE MONEY FROM…A…(I NEED TO STOP YELLING…IT’S HURTING MY HEAD)…..fix…..WASN’T FIXED.

So…now that I’ve learned how to replace a power steering pump, I can do it all again….but this time add “replace high pressure line” to the mix.

All this worry is really only a paper boat…set loose in a flood.

I can’t ride it out to a better place.

I can’t fit in a paper boat.

A paper boat can’t make things better.

But….when it’s all hitting the fan, I keep folding my Mental Worry Paper™ in my head….even when I know that it won’t do anything for me….making more paper boats to carry me away from a temporarily uncomfortable situation.

This, like any of the STUPID JEEP TRANSGRESSIONS™ that I have from time to time, will pass.

I need to fix this situation, clean the grease off my hands, and go on a date night with Jenny.

That’s what a real man would do.

And….I’m a REAL MAN®.

Put that in a paper boat and float it, why don’t ya?

I’m up at 4:30 this morning.

That’s the same time, more or less, that I got up yesterday.

We’re riding my route today to determine approximate mileage….and “approximate mileage” determines whether or not my route gets cut back to a more “manageable level” (=less pay)….so I need to get to the Post Office a little early to get my “ducks in a row”.

I’m driving the full route with my Postmaster….then coming back to the office to deliver the last half of the route.

I need to case everything so that the sub who’s coming in to help on the other half of the route today won’t leave it all for me to do the next day.

I need to be preemptive so that my day won’t be so hard tomorrow.

I need to get enough done this morning so that I can finish what needs to be done today without being at work for 11 hours.

Yesterday, in my nervous excitement, I got up and threw my clothes on..made the coffee….got the computer turned on to start on the morning post….and had all my t’s crossed and was looking for the i’s.

I was ready.

I was a conqueror.

Jenny got up a little ways into my preparations and asked me what I was doing.

When I explained, she said, “it’s Sunday.”

“You don’t have to go.”

Those are good words to hear when you’re nervous and up too early.

Yesterday, I got to go back to sleep.

Today?

Not so much.

I don’t suppose I’d care all that much if it wasn’t such a “money thing”.

I’m bumping up against my “route ceiling” (currently, I’m a 46K….which means my route is graded at taking about 46 hours a week to run) and if I go over that limit, they talk about creating a smaller auxiliary route and taking enough hours from me to allow them to be able to pay someone to run a small section of what used to be on my route.

So….that’s why I’m a little nervous about the outcome of riding my route today.

It’s all kind of goofy, this Post Office stuff.

I wonder if I’d listen if Jenny came out and told me, “you don’t have to go….” this morning?

Those words are true no matter what’s going on, though.

We always have a choice, don’t we?

I’m glad that there’s two days in a weekend….and that yesterday I didn’t have to go to work.

Thanks for getting up in time to stop me, Jenny.

Bumper repair on a well used Jeep.

It’s really good to see people with skills digging into a problem….and fixing it.

Now, you do have to remember that the speed in which they do this job does have something to do with how the video was shot.

I think that they sped up some of it.

The dudes are efficient….but they aren’t the Flash.

That being said….you really have to admire taking something broken, getting rid of the bad, adding the good….and making something unusable….usable again.

This guy lives out of his Jeep…so having it work like it should again is important.

I need to learn how to weld.

We found a bowl at the Goodwill the other day.

It was made in Nepal….and you can make it sing.

Of course, it doesn’t have the singing voice that these big bowls have.

It’s smaller….and thinner walled….but, still, it sings.

It’s a weak-voiced treasure.

A treasure from Nepal….via the Spartanburg Goodwill.

None of us are sitting around and doing this intense meditation, either.

We don’t even know where our Throat Chakra is.

I don’t know if I could get away with sitting around with my bowls, either.

No matter what kind of black Chakra suit I had on.