Wiped Out

Wow - I can't believe how totally wiped out I was last night (and this morning). Granted, it was a busy day, but not so busy as some others that didn't leave me feeling like I'd swallowed a few too many sleeping pills. And I didn't have any sleeping pills or antihistamines or anything else like that.

The only thing I can figure is that it's "that time of the month," the part in the Lyme lifecycle where the little bugs are more susceptible to the antibiotics, and my body gets bogged down processing all the dead bacteria. It's a theory, anyway.

Of course, I was fairly busy yesterday. My main task was for the day was getting Kara's metal sauna hooked up and ready to run.

I needed a few screws to mount the heater, and some little plastic grommets to keep the power cord safe from sharp metal edges, so that meant a trip to Home Depot.

I also needed to try and offgas the power cord, which meant a trip to the liquor store for cheap Vodka.

I also went to the gravel store and the compost store, pricing materials for some raised beds I hope to put in next month or so. And what would Saturday be without a trip to Wal-Mart?

It was a gorgeous day, so I had the girls come out and help me wash the van. The thing was so dirty that when I came out of one of those touchless car washes, the van looked the same as when I went in. I should have taken before and after shots, but I was just too anxious to get the thing taken care of.

The girls helped Shari wash her car, too.

Later that afternoon, Shari and I were on our way to Costco when the van started to make a noise and smoke. Nice. I pulled over to the side of the road, and when I opened the hood, smoke came billowing out from the side of the engine where the belts are located. It smelled like burning plastic.

I could see that the belts were still in place, so decided to try and drive back home slowly. Fortunately, the van didn't give us any problems on the return trip, and we took Shari's car to do our Costco run.

Later in the evening, I did a closer inspection of the belts. To my surprise, they all looked really good, and I couldn't figure out where the problem was. Then I noticed a plastic mud flap below the engine was pretty chewed up. I reached my hand down, and found I could bend the thing up to where the chewed place touched one of the pulleys. How it would have gotten there to smoke and whine, I really don't know.

We'll be taking the van to church today, with a prayer that this really is the problem and not a belt on it's way out.

Then last night we watched Harry Potter #1, and I was so wiped out I managed to fall asleep during the climax. That never happens!

And that's how I spent my Saturday. What did you do?