full circle

ya' know how the story of the full circle goes? our parents take care of us when we are young but as we age they start to depend on us to take care of them.

i experienced a little of that yesterday. me mum (no, i'm not british but i like the way that sounds) called me friday and axed if me and me brother could come over on saturday and help my dad work on his lawn mower.

now, my dad can do anything on a house. he taught me all of my carpentry and plumbing skills. but, he never did teach us any mechanical abilities growing up. cuz, he doesn't have any.

my brother became a pretty good self-taugh mechanic working on his cars because he was poor when he first married and always had piece of shit autos and couldn't afford to pay someone to work on them. i've helped him change clutches out on his old truck.

i learned quite a bit of mechanical skills through my job. even tho' i was technically an electronics technician, the truth is, the electronics rarely fail. but the mechanical parts of machinery will fail just through normal wear. beed has replaced hundreds of bearings and pulleys in his lifetime.

back on point. i had just finished working on my pool filter yesterday morning and my little bro' called me and said "did mom tell you she wanted me and you to work on dad's mower and rhonda's stove?"

i said "yup about the mower but i don't know anything about rhonda's (my little sister that is moving in across the road from me mum's house) stove" he said "well, it's not working either" i said "glad you told me, i'll bring my voltmeter (actually a multimeter but the 2 or 3 folks that read this drivel will understand voltemeter better) with me"

we both load up our respective conglomeration of mis-matched tools and head to the mum's casita. nobody was home but the mower was outside so it didn't matter. pops was trying to get the blades and the rear wheels off his mower to replace them. he had previously rented a tool to help him pull the rear wheels but the puller they gave him didn't work.

we decided to take the blades off first. them sumbitches wouldn't budge so i suggested we drop the deck and pull it out from under the mower. that way we could stand the mower deck on it's side and tommy could crank on one side and i could lock down the top pulley. the nuts were rusted on solid so we used a 3 foot long pipe as a cheater bar on the ratchet. i had to use all of my body weight to hold my side whilst he cranked on the ratchet. we got both off.

i use my multi-meter and check the fuses that go to the stove. sure enough, one of the fuses was blown. no continuity in that baby. electrons need continuity to flow from the fuse box to the stove.

tommy wanted to try to beat the wheels off with a crowbar. i argued with him that he'd booger up the axle too badly and suggested we go to lowes to buy the blades and fuse and then on to e-z rent and find a puller.

since i'm the older brother he bowed to me and off we went. before we could leave me mum and dad had returned and were hovering over us thanking us repeatedly for coming over to help. i repeatedly told them, "don't worry, we don't mind at all" (we really truly didn't, glad to help, hell, it's our parents....what kind of sons did you think us carter boys are?)

before we could go to lowes they made us sit down and eat a sandwich and drink a coke on them. the cokes were very cold and in aluminum cans. i don't know why but they just taste better that way.

we get the stuff at lowes and then on to rent a puller. they had about 5 different variations. at first we didn't think any of 'em would work but then we saw one that if we stopped at a hardware store and bought some long bolts and some nuts it just might work.

it wasn't easy and still took about an hour but through me and my brother's imaginative rigging we were able to pull the rear wheels. pops again with the "ya'll don't know how much we appreciate this, and i'll fix you two a steak dinner whenever you want one."

they had to leave and were going into town and would be able to drop the puller off. then we went over to my sis's house and installed the new fuse. since nothing ever goes easy we had to kind of bang the fuseholder into the fusebox. but it fixed the stove. heck, we even set the time on it.

we both drove off and i had a really good feeling about how my day had unfolded. i was truly happy that i had been able to help my mum and pop. it was good to spend time with them. i also enjoyed spending the day with my brother. two men doing manly things. busting their knuckles. you can NOT do any mechanical job like that without busting your knuckles at least once and this job was no exception.

tell you what though, my ass was sore as hell this morning. when you're an office puke like me that manual labor can put it to you. but it's a good sore. let's you know you're alive, doesn't it?

i know that as my mum and pop continue to age we'll be called on more often to help out but i don't mind. the tally sheet is still way ahead in their favor. don't know if i'll ever catch up and don't care. just happy that i can help out.

i love me mum and pop,

your friend (the devoted son)

dahbeed