I'm So Tire-d

Well, my sister has nothing on me. She may have just gotten a new vehicle, but can she brag that she just put new tires on a 15-year-old vehicle? I thought not. But I can!

This morning I went to the garage, started the Explorer, opened the garage door, and stepped out onto the driveway to start shoveling while waiting for the girls to come out and hop into the vehicle for me to take them to school. From the end of the driveway, I glanced into the garage and was struck by how much our garage floor suddenly seemed to be slanting toward the south wall. I had never noticed that before and wondered why the Explorer looked as though it were tilting to the south. Upon closer inspection, it was quite clear: the rear passenger-side tire was com-plete-ly flat.

I have needed new tires for that vehicle for years, and ever since we moved here, I've been bemoaning that fact but doing nothing about it. Well, today seemed like a good day to act. The girls and I loaded into the van with Susan, who dropped us off at school and work respectively. This afternoon I walked home from work, fired up the air compressor, aired up the errant tire, and drove to the shop to have the tires replaced (and the oil changed). The word "express" is in the title of the shop that I patronized, but apparently that business has a sense of humor and uses "express" in its name ironically--I waited 2.5 hours to have the vehicle returned to me. Granted, it's a first-come-first-serve kind of a place, and I don't know how many vehicles were in front of me, but my patience was tested, to put it mildly.

But the reduced slippage now on even sheet-ice-covered streets is definitely noticeable, so although the sizable expense wasn't glamorous, it was worth it. So take that, sister! (P.S. I'm jealous of your spiffy new roadster, but I'd never let you know that.)

P.S. See the poll in the sidebar to the right to register your vote.