As I mentioned yesterday, Alison and Mike had planned to come down early, take the rented crib back to Long Beach Island, then run on LBI. The best laid plans...
We showed them the malfunctioning kitchen faucet and Mike spent some time checking to see if he could fix it, concluded he couldn't, and recommended we get a new one. After we had lunch, they took the crib back, then met me in Manahawkin at Home Depot, where I picked out a faucet and paid for it ($76). Mike installed it, with Alison's help and Pat's interested looking-on, and it works fine.
That took just a few minutes to type but, of course, it took Mike almost all day to actually do the work. I know they had plans for later in the day and hadn't intended to be here so long, but neither of them showed the slightest evidence of impatience, disappointment, or any other negative attitude. It was late in the afternoon when he finished, but they decided to run anyway and went to the end of Radio Road, returning in full dark. Not sure how far that is, but certainly more than ten miles. What a couple--talk about lucky to have them!
Pat had the good idea of giving them a gift certificate to Red Lobster that he had received for his birthday last February. (Unfortunately, right after that his health started to fail and he was never able to use all of the many such gifts he received.) The Dynamic Duo protested, but finally took the certificate and we were delighted to repay them in some small way.
In the midst of all this, I discovered that my purse was missing--not my pocketbook, but the small cloth purse in which I keep cash and my ATM card. When I go to a store, I usually put it in my coat pocket, rather than carrying the heavier pocketbook; I think it probably fell out in a parking lot. After calling the places I had been to see if it had been found, I had to call Bank of America and they invalidated it and will issue a new one. Luckily, I can use Pat's, so the damage isn't too bad--although the cash totalled, I think, about $90--damn! Well, the hell with it, I'm moving on.
Today, will try to get the place at least reasonably clean and neat, and figure out if we'll need anything else for the first course (which now seems somehow to have turned into appetizer PLUS entree) of our progressive dinner. I know I'll enjoy the evening once it's here, but I'm also looking forward to a breather after this. Of course, I'll be delighted to attend Joel's 25th birthday party on either Saturday or Sunday at Alison's--but I won't be doing the work!