Invading a Foreign Country ...

Woke up at 9:00am to the sweet sound of very large lawn mowers attacking my KILLER LAWN ...

Now, I know, 9:00am - yeah - about that - I stayed up until 4:00am reading a book - so 9:00am didn't seem so excessively slothful at the time ...

Just look at that pile of grass! I feel guilty I don't have a compost heap somewhere ... a little bit ...

Was well into my morning routine - which happened (not EVERY DAY mind you ... except as of late ...) to include CHARLIES RIDE where we just so happen to end up at Sonic and I get a drink. And while I am out, why not get the mail - because heaven knows I don't want to take that TWO HOUSE WALK to reach the mailbox later ... so the day going pretty much as normal ....

There was a package in the mail. Ryan had ordered a 72 pin connector for his brand spanking new 1985 Nintento NES system since as he puts it (and I have no idea what he is talking about) "The red blinking light on the screen says you have a problem with your 72 pin connector" but straightforward enough that we had ordered one a few days ago on ebay for $3.00. Took it up to him and he seemed a happy camper.

Later he came down and I heard him rummaging in the kitchen - I was assuming he was whipping up something for breakfast - so I walked in and found this:

Should have known that the kid would want to install the connector right away. This required taking out screws that had been snugly set in place in 1985 and Ryan was not a happy boy. They were not coming out.

Me: "I think you need some WD40"

Ryan: "Do we have some?"

Me: "Yeah, I think so ..."

Ryan: "Where?"

Me: (Gulp) "In DADS GARAGE"

Ryan: "Oh ..."

A Foreign Territory if ever there was one:

Cupboards everywhere - filled to the brim. Drawers. Shelves. Cupboards just dedicated to routers - drawers dedicated to like minded tools.

A place for everything and everything in its place. If there is one constant in Garys life is that a clean workshop is just a wee step down from Heaven itself ... and a clean workshop is how he leaves it as he departs for Australia ... always.

And off we went with the keys to PARTS UNKNOWN, to rummage around, touch his stuff, and try to find one lone - solitary can of spray WD40 ...

And what do you know - a cupboard with, well cans of all sorts of crap and sitting in the front was the WD40. We were happy campers.

I went back in and drew on my days of assembling circuit boards while going to college. I believe my soldering iron is still out there in that Foreign Territory that we sometimes refer to as a garage ... and I will BET you that Gary could tell me EXACTLY where it is sitting ... I have no clue. Why I was assembling circuit boards for some electrical company escapes me now - since I had a job in a lab in the Physics Department - I guess maybe a second summer job ... but taught me a few handy skills.

Dissembling a chunk of electronics made ABOUT THE TIME I WAS ACTUALLY IN COLLEGE seemed a piece of cake and with the WD40 the screws started to give.

I realized quickly Ryan had assembled the wrong tool for the task which meant another foray into LANDS UNKNOWN to find a REAL screwdriver instead of just the little pansy ones you could only pinch with your fingers to twist - we needed GRIP! And I was sure Gary had just the tool for the job ...

... somewhere


.... out there


.... in all those drawers


... of crap and stuff.

Being the clever gal that I am, I decided that maybe the ginormous Sears Craftsman Toolbox on his workbench would be a pretty good place to start. Pulled on a drawer - won't budge.

Me: "It's locked"

Ryan: "Why would dad lock his toolbox"

Me: "Maybe to prevent us from doing what we are doing - pillaging and plundering in his little fiefdom"

Ryan: "Man ..."

I open the top and tell him (since I am too short) to see if there is a catch or something that will unlock the drawers. He says no. I am frustrated - I mean - THE TOP IS UNLOCKED!!! Why would he LOCK HIS TOOLBOX? I pull on a drawer in total frustration and it slides smoothly open.

Either we are incredibly incompetent or the top of the box needs to be open for the drawers to slide out - go figure ...

Rummage around and find a Phillip's head that I proclaimed "would do the trick"

Out of Foreign Territory and back into the safe, familiarity of the kitchen we went to work and got all the screws out! Miracle of miracles. And, boy - they were tough!

Ryan got the connector installed, tacked a few screws in place so the entire system wouldn't fall apart and took it to test it. He has one game for it - something called "Super Mario 3" he tells me he is an Italian plumber .... what ever ... I'm not sure what the game is - unclogging toilets?

He comes back down beaming!

Ryan: "It works"

Me: (whispering) "You are really weird"

Ryan: "I think that is on a list of the top 10 things NOT to say to your son"

Me: "Well, could you get me that list, because apparently I missed that parenting class ..."

Ryan: shakes his head and walks off with his new/old prize:

Now I hear strange blips, bleeps, blorps, and blops coming from his room ....

I believe he is in Nintendo heaven ...