Green Like Gitgan

This is great. A lot of things from my childhood seem to be having encore appearances. Things like He-Man, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers and my most recent “re-discovery”, Garbage Pail Kids.

You remember Garbage Pail Kids, they were first created as a mockery of Cabbage Patch dolls, those disgustingly cute little dolls with pudgy cheeks and birth certificates. (Those things were bigger than Tickle-me Elmo’s) They threw out the cute thing and dove straight into the disgusting part. The trading cards/stickers came with (and still do) a piece of dry taste-free bubble gum.

Well now you can create your own Garbage Pail Kid online. (Finally, the technology that we’ve all been waiting for.) You can try it for yourself here.

With all of the inclement weather that we’ve been having lately, the Smith family has sort of been “under attack.” Get this: Last Thursday’s big storms knocked out power and flooded some areas. (Our basement got wet, no big surprise.) But it was last Friday that we were “targeted.”

Perhaps it’s El Nino’. . . in reruns.

The strong winds and dumping rain knocked over the top half of a tree in my parent’s front yard. It wouldn’t have been any big deal but, my parents had returned home from camping earlier in the week and had parked the trailer, (You guessed it) in the front yard. So when the tree broke, the trailer was there to soften it’s fall. So Friday evening we were over there, cutting the trailer free. Luckily, it didn’t seem to cause any damage but nonetheless Dad’s going to have it looked at just to make sure.

It wouldn’t be so weird if that were the end of the story. That day, I was borrowing my mom’s minivan because my truck was in the shop. (See my previous entries for more on that.) Anyway, when the storm hit on Friday afternoon, I was at work. The wind blew over one of those 30 Ft. tall evergreen shrubs. (I know 30 Ft. is pretty big for a shrub but, this thing definitely wasn’t a tree.) So it just happened to land on my mom’s van. Once again, no damage but it did look like I had a Christmas tree tied to the bumper.

Then Friday night, the power went out at my parent’s house, causing the sump pump to stop working, resulting in the basement flooding, a bit. This too wouldn’t be so strange if last year’s flooding didn’t do the same thing. Thankfully, we had some friends with a great carpet cleaner that was able to suck out most of the water.

I ask the question whether or not this is coincidence or a sign from God because my parents have been considering moving. I wrote this blog and upon reading it, it made my mom have different feelings about moving. Also, I caught a lot of flack from my uncle about trying to lay a guilt trip on them. I didn’t have those intentions but, I guess it could have those appearances.

So, how do I feel about them looking for a new place now? Fine, as long as they move to a place on a hill, with perfect gutters and downspouts and a garage large enough to keep the trailer in.

Until they do that, I’ll be watching the weather channel and the real estate ads.

Well, I got my truck back already.

Turns out I was right. It was a thingamajig. Oh, the real name for that part is: relay switch. Apparently it was wearing out and not getting the fuel pump to do it’s job effectively.

So all it really took was a real car guy around to fix it. He did it in 30 minutes, for about $55 bucks. Thanks Franko. I highly reccomend him. If you need your car fixed look him up at Don Sitts in Cuyahoga Falls.

Relay switch. Yeah, I knew that. . .

Well, I had mentioned in one of my previous blogs that my truck was running rough. I thought that I had taken care of it but, apparently not.

My truck is out of commission.

My buddy Nelson and I worked on it last Saturday, after our softball game. (Which we won. - I say this to mark the occasion because in the 3 seasons that I’ve played softball in the church league we’ve never won a game.)

Anyway we replaced the spark plugs, and put in a new fuel injector. Got our hands greasy and even made grunting noises while tightening down the thingamajigs. (For those of you that aren’t “car guys” a thingamajig is a car part that you don’t know the name of.) We got everything put back together and the truck was running better but, not exactly working the way it should. So I did what any “car guy” would do and:

Called my dad to see if I could borrow his car.

That worked out well because he and mom were camping last weekend so he obviously wasn’t going to be using it, so I did. Problem solved.

- “But Josh,” you say, “what about your truck. You didn’t solve that problem.”

You’re right I didn’t but, when I had to give dad his car back I did the next thing that a “car guy” would do:

I drove the truck anyway.

And it drove just fine. I had a seminar that I had to be at and so I drove the truck out to the hotel and parked it. Once the seminar was over I went out to start it up and. . .nothing, of course.

It wouldn’t start. So I did the next thing that a “car guy” would do:

I opened up the hood and stared at all the parts that for some reason weren’t working. So after I stared at it for a couple of minutes - (I was really letting my truck know who’s boss. I mean a stern look and everything) - I got back in it and tried to start it and. . .

- “It started!”, you exclaim.

No, of course it didn’t start! Stop interrupting!

So I did the one last thing that I knew a “car guy” would do:

- “You had it towed to a mechanic.”

Yessir, how did you know?

- “You’re not really talking to me - you’re just typing extra things to make it seem like dialogue.”

Oh.

- “You better finish your story. . .”

Okay, thanks. Anyway, I told the mechanic what I had done with the thingamajigs and what happened. He asked me why I did those things, so I told him. . .

It’s because I’m a “car guy.”

I want to give a big congratulations to my good friend Nathan & his wife Sonya on the birth of their son Ezekiel. (8lbs 7 ounces - 18 inches long) Typing that out makes me wonder, why don’t we ever give weight and height as a standard part of our birthday “info”? You know like, “James Monoganan, 41, 237 lbs, 6 oz.)” Anyway, happy birthday little guy.

Thought you all might enjoy some photos:

Here’s the new family and Dad holding his son.

Ezekiel’s first close up.

Is that a little smile. He must be warming up to the camera. . .

He’s got Sonya’s eyes!

And Nathan’s smile!

Wow. Doesn’t it usually take years before they really look like their parents? Well, this is definitely an outstanding child!

In all seriousness though, congratulations guys. You’ve been blessed and we all know you’ll raise him to be a man of character and faith.