Grease Monkey

It was another incredible March morning.  We woke up to the hammering of a woodpecker and the peeps of countless frogs while the thermometer read 60 degrees!  I fixed sausage patties, eggs and toast for Cowboy and he fixed the coffee.  (It only reads like I thought I did more than he did...Ok, maybe that is what I'm saying).

After breakfast we took a gator ride... for my enjoyment.  I told him I insist that we not work today.  "Even God took a break!"  I thought I throw that in as a convincer.  While I enjoyed the gator ride, I could tell he was working!  While I was admiring the beauty of an early Spring, he was inspecting fences and downed trees, formulating plans and agendas.  Killjoy.  You know what they say about all work and no play!  Dull boy!

We drove out on the horse/4-wheeler trails past a grove of redbud trees just beginning to bloom.   The tiny new leaves on the undergrowth of the woods looked like a mist of green gossamer.  Covering the ground all through the woods was a blanket of pink and white flowers:  cut-leaf toothwort (I know, right!), Dutchman's breeches, spring beauty, spring cress.  All these tiny blooms!  And for whom?  Deer?  Wild turkey?  Hawks?  Squirrels?  Then I realized:  For Me!!  My birthday is the 20th..so yeah....makes sense.

An abandoned road borders our west.  Its bridge is long since washed out over the creek.  The creek was shallow enough for the gator to fjord.  We followed the abandoned road to the point where it joins with a section of the state road that was abandoned when a new part was constructed.  (I don't yet know the timeline of the history out here, but I'm curious).  Again, Cowboy was looking at what needs to be cleared along the trails and I was in imagination world!  Who went along here on horseback or in a horse-drawn buggy ... or in a Model A?   I asked Cowboy, "Do you think that anyone just stopped out here and said 'this is beautiful; let's live here' and built a little log cabin?"  He said, "No!   They knew they'd have to make a living!"

Why does he always have to be so practical?

Later in the afternoon I was tricked into working!  I'm so gullible!  Somehow (I don't remember) Cowboy lured my into the shop and I found myself listening to his plans to repair one of the 4wheelers.  I helped him put a new battery in (I held one of the battery cables out of the way).  Then suddenly, I was holding the choke open.  I heard myself say, "I don't think it's getting fuel."  (Who the heck said that?!!!  I shy away from things that have moving parts.  I'm more comfortable with pencil, knife, etc).  Next, because my hands are small, I was on the floor undoing fuel lines. What has my life become!!!

So, yeah...we (really it was I who) got the 4wheeler going (hahaha).  I've NEVER ridden one before in my nearly 5 decades of life....'cause I'm skeert.  All over the thing are stickers saying things like "doing this will result in injury or death"    Ride without training:  injury, death.  Passengers:  injury, death.  No protective gear:  injury, death.  Riding up a hill:  injury, death.  Ride too fast: injury, death.  You get it.  These things are dangerous!

So, yeah...Cowboy taught me to drive it.  I must admit:  Great fun!  He rode as my passenger and I didn't injure or kill him.  He did scream when I topped 13 mph.  Said I was driving like a bat out of hell.

What's next for this grease monkey?  Trannies, tune-ups, oil changes?....maybe....  but I know how to drive a 4wheeler!!!  Don't make fun of me!