Sometimes I Surprise Myself!!!

I've never been one to back down from a challenge ... mostly anyways ... but my mechanical skills are about as good as my cooking skills.  I couldn't get that broken screw out of the angle iron bracket, no matter how hard I tried.  There's very little space between the side of the bracket and the fiberglass fender.  The only way to grab the screw was straight on from the end.

After talking to Mr. Chance and reading Tom's advice on my blog, I grabbed my vise grips and hammer, along with a rug to lay on under the rig.  I also took my phone, you know, in case of an emergency ... like cutting my finger off or something!!

I wiggled under the edge and once in position,  tapped the screw with the hammer lightly, just enough for about a teaspoon of dirt and crud to fall in my face.  Out from under I came in a rush!!  Maybe this mechanics stuff isn't for me after all.  Once cleaned up, I again wiggled underneath the side ... keeping my head WAY out of range, and tapped it again, up then down.  Finally after three tries, I got the vise grips to grab the end tightly and slowly turned it back and forth until it came free and unscrewed out of the hole.  I GOT IT!!!!  Sometimes I even surprise myself!!  Sounds simple, but I never thought I could really get it out without help!!

Lucky for me, I finished up just in time as big wet drops started coming from the sky.  What the heck is THIS stuff???  The next thing I know, hail starts coming down like crazy, just as a bolt of lightning blinded me!!  I ran back to the patio to escape the torrent of rain that came down, filling my gutters to the brim.  I really should have cleaned out that last gutter in front, but it probably wouldn't have helped.  The entire back length of the house became a waterfall as that amount of water couldn't even begin to get down the drain before overflowing!!

The thunder rolled for over an hour as I kept poor scared Jessie company on the couch.  Flashes of  Oklahoma and Kansas went through my head!!  I immediately checked my weather radar to see the storm swirling in a big circle!!  YIKES!!!  As I looked out the back, all of my decorative bark was floating out of the flowerbeds down the sidewalk into the lawn!!  What a mess!!  My watering bucket said I got three inches!!  Sadly, Oklahoma did get hit with a tornado, including a big RV park.  Seems they had a shelter, but no one used it.  Trust me, I would have been the first one in the door and the last one out!!!

Lots on my plate today!!  Puppy meds, lunch with friends, a drill bit to make a little larger hole and a bolt to fit it, cleaning up the mess around the flower beds and my next big project ... setting up a mail service for when I'm gone in the summer.  Do I use the service on a temporary basis or make it permanent???  How often do you have your mail sent?  Any idea what the postage costs per month?