Nellie was fairly prancing at the door when she heard Mike's motorcycle pull into our driveway at suppertime Wednesday evening. His five-day whirlwind tour of southeastern Idaho had come to a successful end according to plan. He left with instructions: no "hot dogging," no tickets, no accidents. He reported that he had mostly fulfilled that criteria. (The policeman gave him a warning.)
Unfortunately, the time Mike was gone was somewhat of a waste for me because I was "under the weather" with the cold he left behind. So, I didn't accomplish as much as I wanted to.
Yesterday (Thursday) was catch-up day and Mike was up early and at work. It went something like this:
6:00 a.m. Called the party that farms our property to confirm weed spraying completed so that we can enroll in a conservation program with Idaho Fish and Game.
6:30 a.m. Panicked because he had forgotten to pay Idaho taxes.
7:00 Nikon CoolPix has developed problems but is still under warranty. Mike makes phone calls and receives instructions for repair work. Boxes camera for mailing. (So yes, we have no camera, possibly for the next three weeks.)
7:45 Mike can't find his motorcycle keys. We both look off and on for the next hour and a half. "Think!" I said. "You got home and you haven't been anyplace. You did something with them." He finally remembers he unlocked the compartment on the bike and left the keys in the lock.
8:00 Calls Asotin County about jury duty. They say he should call tonight for instructions – not last night.
8:15 Calls Clearwater County about taxes. They remind him those are due in June, not May.
8:20 Calls Idaho Fish & Game and leaves message for Regional Biologist that our farmer has done the necessary spraying.
8:45 Clinton calls – can't find his social security card and needs it. Mike agrees to look in safe deposit box. It finally clicks with me and I remember his billfold was stolen when he was playing soccer in high school. His social security card was in it. We didn't immediately deal with replacement and then we forgot. Mike, relieved that he doesn't need to go to the safe deposit box, apprises Clint of this info.
9:00 Makes many phone calls – mainly for pricing – relating to the day's major chore – servicing the motorcycle.
9:30 Mike leaves to run errands and pick up items needed in order to service motorcycle. Most of the rest of the day is devoted to servicing the motorcycle, getting a new back tire and replacing the wheel on the motorcycle.
1:00 Mike informs me he has lost the registration for the motorcycle. He says he left it on the seat with the manual and that it must have blown away. "I just don't believe you left it there," I said. "We'll spend an hour looking for it and then you'll find that you did something else with it." And that proved to be the case, but at least I found the garbage can lid he lost two weeks ago – on the other side of the neighbor's in some tall grass.
"I don't know why it has to be so tough -- and we make it tougher," I think to myself. "How can a retired couple have such a day!" By 6:00 p.m. he was able to get away for a short bike ride. Then Ken called and suggested they should go for wood today (Friday). And that's what they did. KW
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