Making Tracks

If you are entering the new year wondering what tracks you left behind in 2024 and what tracks you might leave in 2025, I get it. And a recent walk in a typical Wisconsin winter's day showed me a thing or two.

First of all, as in usual life, there are a lot of turkeys out there! Somehow they survive Thanksgiving and then just wander around like free birds and no care in the world. I just hope they don't intersect with my windshield.

Winter is also a sign that some bunny we care about is out there and about. Love the fact they just hop along no matter what the world is throwing at us human types.

Then there are dog prints. We love our neighbor dogs so much we're just glad to see footprints in the snow (versus random piles in our yard, that is).

And finally, my favorite tracks... well that's my new tires after 78k plus miles on my original ones! I'm stopping better on our Wisconsin winter roads AND not shaking from a mis-alignment. 

No matter what my original New Year's resolution, I think I'll make these memorable tracks all year!

The Car Park

I may be watching too much British television. A parking lot can also be called a "car park." Taking your car to the mechanic for new tires and finding something is broken also means your car's gonna be parked. For a day.

Isn't that the way it goes? Go in for one simple thing and find out there's all kinds of things happening out of sight.

So yes, thanks to some broken knuckle – not caused by a fight – we've got our boy here an extra day. The mechanic hopes to get the knuckle – one preferably not attached to fingers – in the morning so they can fix up Carter's vehicle and he'll head back to Platteville.

In the meantime, he did ask if he could borrow my car to go get ice cream. "That's the only place it goes," I said. And smiled at how well I have him trained!

These are few of my favorite things!

Of course, I realized after the fact that King Cone opens tomorrow. But I suppose there's no law against having ice cream two days in a row. By the time they open, though, I won't have a willing errand boy around – if all goes on schedule.

Kind of think my car could drive there itself! My car might not share, though!

A Slow Leak

Although I can be accused once in awhile of being the Princess and the Pea (yes, there are two princesses in the house), apparently I’m oblivious to items that are larger and sharper. Like nails.

One of conveniences at my office is that we have an auto shop for non-major work like oil changes and tire rotations. I don't know why I decided today of all days I'd finally call about getting an oil change. But I'm glad I did.

They called me and said they had good news and bad news. I hate that. Because you know something is still gonna cost money. Right?

Bad news: They found a nail in my rear tire causing a slow leak.
Good news: They could fix it.

Don't let anyone tell you size matters. This little guy could have caused a huge, miserable flat-tire experience during this polar vortex we got going in Wisconsin. That would have been awful!

So thank you, eagle-eyed Auto Man. You're my hero.

And now maybe I'll start paying attention to the little things in life that are causing a slow leak – slow leak of my energy, my patience, my time – before they blow up. I guess even small things can bring big lessons.