As you know it has not been my week. Well, I just got home from my first day at work all week. The pain from the kidney stones is under control and seems to be diminishing. I carry, and take, drugs that would get me arrested if I didn't have a prescription for them.

So this morning I headed out to meet my responsibilities to the school and to the new employee that started on Monday without my being there. About three miles down the road I hear a strange sound from the left rear tires. I stopped to look at it and saw that it was very low but still drivable. I was a mile or more from the nearest filling station with air. I slowly turned around and headed back. Not too far I decided to look again. It didn't feel right. Sure enough, it was flat.

Now, you have to imagine the scene. I am by the road, my right arm in a sling, with a flat tire. I am about a mile from the filling station. Wakana is twelve miles away engaged in her busiest day of the week. Gordon arrived home from a trip to the east coast the night before. I haven't even talked to him yet.

I decided to walk to the Mobil station to get a can of Fix-a-Flat. I figured that would at least get me to someone who could repair the tire. I started walking.

I totted up my miseries, the surgery, the swelling, inflamation and pain, the kidney stones, the drugs, the doctors, etc. You know, they say when it rains it pours. Well, that's what happened right after I left the car. Forunately it only poured hard for a short time, enough to soak the grass along the road side and fill the puddles so the speeding cars could splash me as they drove by. Then the sun came out again.

So, it turns out Mobil didn't have any Fix-a-Flat though if I wanted my car to sit by the road all shiny and clean they had everything I would need to bring out hte shine. I finally swallowed my pride and called Gordon.

He had a can of Fix-a-Flat and he brought it by. We pumped it in and the tire came up a little way. We drove it up to the Mobil station and put air in the tire. All was well. I welcomed him home to Guam and he went home.

I drove down to NAPA to buy my own can of Fix-a-Flat and one to replace his. When I got out of the car at NAPA I heard an ominous hissing sound. All the new air we'd pumped into the tire was leaving in a hurry. I got the Fix-a-Flat and drove next door to another Mobil station. I tried my new can of stuff but the gas ran out too fast. I tried pumping up the tire and failed. The hole wasn't allowing it.

Once more I called Gordon. He came down and changed the tire for me (remember, arm in a sling?). Now I had the little donut spare on there. I got the car to Lujan's Tire shop where the rain started again as I got out to negotiate the repair.

It's been a tough day. I am tired and sunburned and still wet.