Dare to Repair

When I was in elementary school I was enrolled in the T.A.G. program. It stood for Talented and Gifted. 

Now, before you start thinking very highly of me, this Dippy Do had to call the refrigerator repairman earlier this week to ask him how to turn the fridge on. (Fortunately, I discovered the "on" switch before he called me back.) So I'm not that Talented and Gifted. 

I'll never forget one of my TAG sessions. We were taken to this garage-type room of the school and asked to dismantle an entire push lawnmower. We quickly got to work taking all the parts off of it. When we were done the instructor said, "Okay, now put it back together."

Apparently it was their belief that smart people learn about things by taking them apart and putting them back together. 

I was not impressed. 

I was 10. Besides, my Dad used a riding lawnmower at home. I had no use for learning how a push lawnmower worked.

Though I was miffed at being asked to put an unimportant machine back together, that idea stuck with me for the rest of my life. All those times I saw my Dad fixing something or building something at our house suddenly made sense. So THAT'S how my Dad figured stuff out! I remember he always had a book in one hand, and a tool in another, whether he was fixing a car or the dishwasher or rewiring the house. 

My Dad is a self-taught man. He can fix cars like you wouldn't believe, yet he never took a single auto mechanics class. He learned how to wire the house he built by reading a book. He learned plumbing the same way. He hooked up furnaces, our wood burning stoves, everything, by reading and figuring it out for himself.  Right now he's teaching himself how to do body work and paint jobs on cars.

So today when the part arrived for my refrigerator it occurred to me that I could probably figure it out myself, instead of paying the repairman $100 for labor. He was set to come tomorrow. So I got out my tools while Olivia played in her room, pretending to give her dolly PiPi drinks of tea from her random toys. She does not have a teaset, but I'm totally getting her this one for her unBirthday (half birthday--why not?):

Nice plastic teasets are hard to find. Often they have garish cartoon characters on them or something. Not necessary.  As a bonus, this one is made in the USA from recycled milk jugs. Well done, Pottery Barn Kids!

Anyway, back to the fridge. I looked online to find out how to get to the part to replace it. Apparently there is a panel at the back of the freezer that I had never noticed before. So I opened it up and found the part that I had to replace, and replaced it. I had never seen the inside of a fridge before, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was pretty straight forward. And as long as you remember where everything goes, you can put it back together (without having any extra screws!!).

Then plugged in the fridge, sat back, and was thankful for my TAG pushmower experience and for my Dad's example.

Turd Creek

The other day I said to my coworker Brenda, “Then you’d really be up Turd Creek without a paddle!”

“Well, that’s a new way of putting it!” she replied.

I asked her what she meant and she said that she’d never heard that term before. She is from New Jersey, though, so I figured that this was a regional saying.

Then I dropped it on the in-laws last weekend. Mark and Marian laughed at my remark, but I was being serious. They, too, had not heard of Turd Creek. Like Brenda, they’ve heard of “Up a creek…” but not specifically Turd Creek.

I got this term from my Dad. I googled it though and there was almost nothing on it. My dad’s family is from Alabama, so I’m wondering if it’s a Southern thing. I think it’s a much more effective saying than plain, “up a creek without a paddle.” Whoopie do. You’re up a creek without a paddle. Just use your arms, fool!

But if I found myself up TURD Creek, I’d be more concerned. Not dipping my arms into that water! If THAT doesn’t mean stranded, I don’t know what does.

So, has anyone else out there heard this term before? Or is this a “Tom Teague Special”?

Santa and the Walnuts

Fourth of July was good, but busy. JB and I helped get things ready for the annual Teague 4^th of July party. We also just hung out with Mom and Dad and siblings and had fun.

Two best Quotes from the weekend:

"These are great almonds!" said Tommy, as he fishes some nuts from a large bag.

"Those are walnuts," said JB (or Virginia, or me—we were all aware that they were walnuts).

"No, they're almonds," he insisted.

"No, they're walnuts—it says WALNUTS on the bag," we insisted back.

"Walnuts? No. It says ALMONDS. See, right here: D.I. ALMONDS."

Sorry, brother…

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When Ivan got to our house for the party, his father Eric told him that my Dad is Santa Clause, and that Ivan had better be good because Santa will remember if he was naughty or nice. The wonderful thing about children is that they believe anything you tell them, especially when the big man standing at the grill looks JUST LIKE Santa Clause.

When Ivan needed to go in the house later, he politely approached my Dad and asked,

“Santa, can I use your bathroom?”

Ivan was especially geeked when Santa let him drive his lawnmower around.

There are more photos from the party. You can check some of them out at www.flickr.com/violetjane if you want.