Got gum wrappers?

My papa loved watching MacGyver on TV. He seemed able to take on MacGyver’s ability to fix things even with the fewest of resources. It was almost as if he was modeling himself after him — to a certain extent. And what’s not to admire? After all MacGyver is “Part boy-scout. Part genius. All hero.” Papa was definitely my hero.

Well, I now have a new hero.

My favorite brother (my only brother) drove down from Sacto and came to my rescue this weekend. It was a win-win situation: I trust him, he can do the job, he needs money, and it is always nice to have him visit.

He surveyed the various issues around my house:

• the dishwasher
• the puddle under my sink (despite my not running the dishwasher)
• my broken glass in my oven door
• the leaky sprinkler valve
• the many two-pronged outlets in need of a third prong hole
• my holy (not in the reverent way) doors
• I threw the need to drap plastic sheeting the contents in my garage (pre-roofing) in for good measure.

He got to work right away. Assessing, testing, and identifying issues such as my in-sink-erator, which was the reason for the puddle under my sink.   It was dripping directly onto the outlet. Nice, eh? Note: My model was not included in this recall however I did file a report.

My bro MacGvyer’d the broken glass in my oven door with, not the typical MacGvyer gum wrapper, but some foil tape. We tested the oven out on some of my homemade lasagna. Delish! He worked for most of Saturday and into Sunday on this and that. With the exception of my holy doors, all of the items on my list were addressed.

When Bro wasn’t in need of my decision making, I kept busy clearing out space in the garage so that all the remaining items could be covered in plastic sheeting. I found a large box of camping supplies (the ones I discovered missing on the trip to Big Trees), my mother-in-law’s well-loved Bible, a few other treasures, and a whole lot of junk. As a result, my garbage can is overflowing, my trunk is filled with items to donate to Goodwill, and I have a large collection of hazardous waste (old cans of paint, empty propane canisters, etc.) Also, I’m tired — OH SO TIRED.

In fact, after a trip to the downtown library to get YaYa a book on the Blackfoot Indians (which was not at our local library), I returned home feeling chilled and uninspired. Reluctantly, I went upstairs to dress for my scheduled long run. One glance at my unmade bed and I was quickly under the covers for a few minutes of warming up…

…and then, hours later, I woke up. Call me lazy, but that run isn’t going to happen. I just don’t have what it takes to get it done today.  On the other hand, my garage is ready for the roofers, we have clean clothes for the week, there is food in the refrigerator once again, and we can cook food and eat on clean plates again.