Charge!

Just like Teddy Roosevelt, George came charging up the Fair Play hills, armed with a new battery instead of a saber, to save poor old Fu yesterday morning.  Hope surged as he installed the new equipment, climbed aboard and...same performance as the day before...a roar of the engine and then nothing.  I could hear Jim McKay announcing, "The agony of defeat," on ABCs Wide World Of Sports in the '70s.  Except that George was not about to accept defeat.  George knows about engines and he fiddled, tightened, turned this and that, sadly all to no avail.  Okay, time to call in the big guns.  Using his cellphone like a Gatling, he attempted to find a repair shop.  With grass growing like weeds and people at home with time on their hands, the one shop that answered said they had an eight-week wait time.  Others did not answer at all.

George had another ace up his sleeve and called up reinforcements.  Don, a knowledgeable friend, also came charging to the rescue.  Between the two of them and considerable time (these guys blew their whole day), they finally found that it was a loose connection between the thingamajiggy and the whatsit that allowed the engine to start and stay running.  I could hear a bugle playing whatever it is that signals a successful mission to the troops.

Since Fu was up and running, the fellas asked if I wanted to go mowing.  I had spent my stay-out-of-the-way time pulling weeds and, quite frankly, hips and knees weren't up for a bull ride just then.  They explained that, given Fu's advanced age, all of the rusty, dusty wire connections would need to be cleaned and that Don would be back today to do that deed.  I've got to learn to stop gushing gratitude like an out-of-control fountain and learn to just say thank you.  It doesn't seem enough.

No, I didn't get to town and, yes, it just didn't matter.

Stay safe.  Be well.