A Day In the Life

As a lot of you know, working six or seven days a week is a good thing from time to time no matter what industry we’re in; and as long as we don’t make it our modis operandi and drive ourselves to burn-out & a negative attitude without realizing it, the short-term adrenalin increase can actually help us to step-up our drive & enthusiasm for our respective professions and generally increases productivity and/or sales… not to mention the long-term positive “successful accomplishment” influences on the team.

We’re in the middle of one such “boost” at one of the plants I’m working in, and although I wake up looking forward to going to work each morning with the same exhilaration a lot of us feel after making any positive change – it also makes it difficult to get much done around the home right now. A case in point:

Today is a day off and after having coffee & breakfast with the family, I decided to take The Old GMC out for a run since it’s just been sitting for a couple of weeks. Knowing that “around the block” here is a couple of miles and half-expecting the fuel system to give me an attitude, I hop in the cab on this beautiful, sunny morning and go for a spin.

Sure enough, about half-way around the engine starts sputtering and slowing down so I spot a flat gravel clearing a little further up the road and pull well-off onto it. Having been through this drill with this truck already, I reach into the glove box, pull out a few hand tools, and remove the filter stone from the carburetor fitting.

Yep. Just as I expected – clogged. I love these things. I have a clear-cased, plastic, disposable Fram in-line before the pump, but these old stones are much finer and this one catches everything that the primary passes and subsequently plugs-up first. I’d much rather have to deal with this than having the fines flow into the carb jets. So about 5 minutes later, I’m cranking ‘er back over and heading for home.

Happy to make it back without having to phone for “the recovery crew” to come get me, I walk into the back door and see my two lovely boys sitting at the kitchen table. From over by the oven Leigh asks, “Enjoy your ride?” but before I can answer David criticizingly interjects, “Your truck doesn’t sound like Mommy says it’s supposed to“. Jack then scoffs, “Yeah. It sounds like Donald Duck laughing!” and then they were on a roll, laughing and egging each other on, prodding their old man with verbal jabs and jeers about his truck until a small and fun-filled wrestling match ensued.

Enough is enough. I’m going outside to pull, clean and coat the inside of the gas tank. I just don’t know where they get their sarcastic wit from. Must be on their mother’s side. ;-)