Adventures From The Catch-up Artist

---

You know what? I kinda wish I had titled this post Adventures From The Ketchup Artist. I mean, I know that I would click on a post containing such subject matter.

Alas, I am no nightshade compote extraordinaire, so this missive will be a conglomeration of the other kind, as in, I am going to attempt to regale you with what has kept me from my blog for the past five days.

Namely, vehicles. Well, and shooting sports. And work. And my stupid thyroid gland.

Needless to say, I have been hit with a ton of things at once.

One of the things was double shooting sports coaching weekend. The hubs and his super amazing rifle team captain D had an awesome coaching clinic this weekend at the Spokane Rifle Club which is located in Riverside State Park. As far as rifle clubs go, I have to say that being perched above the banks of the roaring Spokane River is pretty dandy indeed.

Just down the road at Landt Farms Sporting Clays our son received coaching on the finer points of blasting sporting clays out of the sky from a super awesome guy named Tracy of Dark Horse Shooting.

Now the boy can drive and usually does drive himself and my hubs to all these shooting sports things, but alas, here enters the other thing, cars. Both of my vehicles are in the shop.

This guy lives at the Rifle Club. He is almost a carbon copy of the creature who challenged my car. I bet they are cousins.

The blue car is being remodeled from the great buck annihilation. I am happy about this, but at the same time our pickup, Rufus is/was also being serviced a bit. Okay more than a bit, he got new torsion arm bars, an in-line block heater, a new tow plug and relay, all new lights including wiring, and oh yes, an oil change.

Since the post covid world of ours is slightly less efficient and in overall functional working order, waiting for parts has become a normal thing. Thanks to that new norm, parts delays meant that both of my vehicles were gone right when all the shooting sports things came up.

Enter the rental car. That's right, for the last eleven days I have been zooming around in a brand new Jeep Compass.

Side note, I do not like cars that turn off when stopped. It gives me a mild heart infarction every time it happens!

Anyway, the boy cannot drive the rental car, so that meant I got to chauffeur him to his coaching event while the hubs and team captain went to their simultaneously occurring event.

Oh yes, and during all this fracas, my thyroid decided to be a complete jerk. For the past four days the traitorous gland has been so inflamed that it's been partially choking me. It's really not at all pleasant, being choked is not my thing dangit!

Honestly though, the obstructed airway I could deal with, but the bone crushing fatigue and dizziness is just the worst. So, back on the no-dairy, no-gluten, no-soy, and no-sugar regimen for this Kat.

Oh Joy.

Yesterday, we drove an hour and a half up north to collect Rufus, he was all done! Well, as I was following the hubs home, about a couple miles from home I started smelling fuel. As I pulled into the driveway and exited my vehicle, I noticed that yep, fuel was definitely what I was smelling.

It was raining down from Rufus's engine block.

Sigh.

Thankfully, it was just the return line on the fuel rail. The hubs fixed it by reclamping the hose, but I tell ya, I am on my last nerve cell when it comes to the vehicles, and I still have yet to pick up my car.

Which I believe is supposed to be tomorrow.

Eep.

All in all though, I know my life is beyond awesome. There is so much evil and angst in the world right now, and my trivial stack of incidents is nothing compared to famine, death, and destruction. As always, my heart goes out to all those who are truly suffering out there. Catching up doesn't look so bad when one thinks of such things.

---

---

And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's still warm from its three hours on the riverbank in the pleasant summer sun iPhone.

---