What a dud of a night

I thought folks might find the humor in how my night went after I left work at 3am this morning.

 

First, I get up to my car and find my back tire is flat.  That’s ok, I know how to change a tire.  So I dig around in the trunk to find my jack and other assortment of tools along with my temporary tire.  Now I have never had to change the tire on this car so I admit I’m a bit rusty (could do my old car in 10 minutes flat).  The jack was stuck but after a bit of aggravation and a few swear words for good measure, I finally got it out.

 

So then I have to crawl around on all fours looking for the proper place for the jack.  It didn’t take long to find the right spot but wait…how does one work this damn jack anyway?  It has two long tire irons but neither fits into the little hole of the jack but they do fit together. After a few mistakes I think I have it halfway figured out…I mean, I’m not stupid. 

 

Before one starts lifting the flat tire, they are to loosen the lug-nuts first.  I’m standing there trying to remove my hub cap and it isn’t coming off at all.  Duh, it was screwed on along with the nuts which, amazingly enough, wouldn’t come loose.  I tried many things and it wouldn’t work so I briefly considered calling a kind officer to give me a hand.  However, unwilling to admit defeat or be classified as one of those helpless females, I did the old standby – I stood on the tire iron to loosen the nuts.  I only almost lost my balance once which I thought was quite a feat…who knew I was such a ballerina?

 

Finally got the car jacked up, the nuts all the way off and took off the flat tire.  I struggled with the temporary donut because it was hard to make the nuts match up with the holes but Hooray! I finally got it.  I put the nuts back on, tightened them and lowered the car.  Once the car was down, I re-tightened the nuts to make sure they were nice and snug – just as I had been taught to do when I was eight years old.  To my horror, the temp tire was practically flat itself – I knew it wouldn’t make it home without some air so I drove very slowly to the K&G and put air in it AND the flat tire just in case the temp tire gave out enroute home.

 

Whew, I was starting to feel a little bit better and had only used up a half hour of time since getting off work – not bad, I gloated.  Started limping home going very slowly when on the Coralville Strip who decides to stop me but a nice Coralville officer who noticed I didn’t have a front license plate.  When he got to the window he recognized my uniform and asked for my ID – said he would just give me a warning.  I told him the kind of day I was having he should just give me a ticket – he laughed when I explained about the tire (no doubt he wondered about the dirt streaks on my face from rubbing my filthy hands across my sweaty forehead) and told me to just go on home.

 

I have been stopped by Highway Patrol, Johnson County and now Coralville regarding this plate so just have DPS and Iowa City left to give me warnings for it.  I really must get it attached.  I left the officer and drove home trying to figure out when I would have time tomorrow to get my tire in to be fixed.  I was in a halfway decent mood by the time I pulled into our parking lot only to find a big dumb ass truck parked in my spot.  I wanted to unload the stuff that had been in my trunk so it would be nice and spiffy when I take it to Linder Tire in the morning but there is no way in hell I’m lugging stuff across the parking lot when my spot is right in front of my apartment.

 

Incensed over the lack of neighborly love displayed by my new neighbors, I wrote a nice note and stuck it on the windshield.  I imagine they will see it in a couple of hours.  I didn’t call them names or tell them how stupid they are for parking in a parking spot numbered for my apartment when there are visitor spots not three spaces down.  I simply told them there was a reason our spots were numbered and next time they should park in a visitor’s spot or risk being towed.  I had to stop my hand from writing the expletives I was voicing the whole time.

 

So now I’m home.  I walked the dogs – it is almost 5am – my back aches from changing the tire (hmmm, maybe it is a slipped disc), and my mood has gone south for the summer.  Hope you got a good laugh out of it anyway.