Lesson # 8: How to fix a tire (So much for a restful Sunday)

After so many weekends away from home, Wyatt and I planned to spend this one just relaxing. We had waffles for breakfast and were going to just chill out all afternoon. It sounded so nice. And in theory, it was.

Our yummy waffles for breakfast. We each had one regular one and we split a chocolate chip one for "dessert."

In reality though, at about 4:00, we decided to go to the car wash to wash Wyatt’s car. At this point, we remembered that, despite just buying four brand new tires two weeks earlier, we’d had a flat tire yesterday morning. We had aired it up and made it all the way home to KC, thinking we’d check it again if it got low again.

And it was all the way flat when we went downstairs to leave for the car wash.

Awesome.

So Wyatt got to work to get it off the car. His jack makes this job a lot easier, and I am a firm believer that everyone should have a jack like that. And then he carried the up the stairs to look at it. (I rolled it up the first flight “to help” but he got impatient of that so he just carried it the rest of the way.) And when we discovered the culprit, a screw, we headed to Walmart to get a tire repair kit. And then home again to begin the process.

Our bathroom, all prepped for "tire repair."

At this point, my job was to stay out of the way and open up the glue and hand Wyatt tools. (Yea, yea, I know, he didn’t really need me, but it made me feel better than to just to sit on the couch and watch TV, right? What else is a wife supposed to do at a time like this?)

The root of the problem.

How frustrating. A 2 inch screw. Shoved all the way into our BRAND NEW TIRE. Grrr…. But we were now ready to begin the actual repair work.

The contents of the “deluxe” tire repair kit from Wal-mart.

 It didn’t take very long for him to get the plug in there. And then we were off, back down the three flights of stairs to air up the tire and see if it was leaking. Checking to see if the plug leaked. Using soapy water is the way to do this. (It is also the way to check for a leak in your gas line, in case you didn’t know that.)

It didn’t leak, so he put the tire back on and we headed out to find a car wash. Which we didn’t find. So we just cleaned the inside and out with our car cleaning kit (windows and dashboard wipes) and called it a day. 

Sheesh.

And now we’re having margaritas and watching pumpkin carving shows on TV.

So it isn’t a complete loss.

 

Changing Plans and Changing Tires

Saturday was a busy day.

It started early when my aunt called to tell me that her dog wasn’t well and needed to be put to sleep. I was sad to hear it, of course, but he’s very old and we’ve been expecting it for awhile. After discussing the possibility of burying him, she decided she’d have him cremated, I offered my condolences and hung up.

I apologised to Wyatt for waking him up and we lay there, just talking and thinking. I wasn’t sure if I had offered “enough” and I mentioned I couldn’t tell if she was okay or not. Wyatt was quiet for a minute and then softly said, “I can dig a hole pretty fast.”

So we called her back and offered our “services” in addition to our “sorry’s”and got out of bed and bundled up to go dig in the rain. (Luckily it wasn’t raining while we were actually digging.) And after saying goodbye, we headed back inside to get warm, and get ready for the wedding we were attending that afternoon.

At that time, my dad called and needed Wyatt to make a drive to bring him some fuel so he could keep combining. It was about a 45 minute round trip, but it gave me a head start getting ready, and since Wyatt doesn’t need as long anway, it worked out okay.

So we were on our way to the wedding, on track to get there about an hour early since I was reading at the ceremony and needed to get there ahead of time. We were driving on a part of the road where there was some construction, which was fine, but I started to hear a strange bumping sound coming from the front tire on my side.

I mentioned it, but we both decided it must be because of the rough road surface.

But…it wasn’t.

We had a flat tire. A very flat tire with a big hole in it.

Good grief.

So we pulled over in the first driveway we came to, and of course, there was a dog. A boxer. Not on a leash.

Just great…

But Wyatt, dressed all handsome in his new suit, got out and set to work getting the donut out of the trunk. The dog turned out to be friendly, just nosy, and wasn’t an issue, but I still had to occasionally shoo her away.

And I did have the foresight to make Wyatt put down an old jacket so he wouldn’t get as dirty.

And of course, it helped that Wyatt happens to be a master at changing tires, because in ten minutes we were on our way.

Our hands were dirty, his from doing the actual work, and mine from rolling the tires to and from the trunk and helping put the old tire back underneath everything in the trunk, so we used an all-purpose cleaning wipe for car surfaces. I’m pretty sure it isn’t safe for use on skin, but we managed.

We made it to the wedding with plenty of time, and it was beautiful of course, but before we could go enjoy the reception, we needed to go and get 4 new tires.

So we headed to Wal-mart, the only place we thought would be open, and it turned out that they would need 2 hours to get us in. So I called my mom and she came to pick us up so we wouldn’t be late to the party. (Wyatt’s dad had to run him back a couple of hours later to pick the car back up before they closed.)

And by the time we had partied all night and driven the thirty minutes back to his parents’ house, we were ready for bed.

Still, as I lay in bed that night, awake by myself since Wyatt had fallen asleep in about four seconds, I had to admit that I was proud of us. We had done a lot, and hadn’t complained at all. In fact, the whole “we’re going to be late, I can’t believe we had a flat tire” experience made me respect him even more. He didn’t cuss, scream, or even silently fume as he set to work. He just got to work and got it done.

But we were pretty tired on Sunday, and by the time we got home last night, Wyatt breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Honey, let’s never leave our apartment again.”

And while he had to go to work and I am about to head out for a run and then to the store, and I have a ton of laundry and cleaning to do since we were way too tired to clean anything last night, I plan on staying in tonight, and maybe every night this week. Which I think sounds great.