The Return of the Stooges

When Hollywood remakes a movie they keep the characters it is just the actors that change.  Well the same can be said of the storage world.   Today I had a visit from the stooges.  Now this was not the same actors that visited me over at Guardian but these actors played the pats quite well.

I spent the day at Access Storage with Don and Debbie (two of the big hitters in my world).   We did some work we did some planning and we witnessed some poor decisions being made.

When I arrived at work it was around 11:00 am. and I was there to relieve John who had opened the store.  Debbie had opened with John, but when I pulled in there was three cars in the parking so I picked the spot next to the odd car out, a piece of crap Dodge.  Now if it was taken care of it could be a nice old car, but I doubt that it will survive that long.

So skip ahead an hour and Moe shows up, stops in the office to explain that his car had broken down and he and his buddies were going to get it running.  I look out and Larry is now opening up the hood.   Ten minutes later Shemp shows up.  This is about the time I notice what they are doing.  The Stooges have 2 ½ gallons of gas and they are pouring some into the carburetor. Now they must know that gas has some combustible properties because at this moment Larry places a fire extinguisher on top of the engine.  Let me ask you a question if the engine catches on fire where is, the last, place you want the fire extinguisher?  I would think you would not want it at ground zero, but that is where it stayed.  Oh did I mention Moe and Larry are smoking cigarettes … and Shemp has a pipe.  If you know the substance you are working with is flammable why are you lighting up around it. 

This is the moment I remember where my car is, compaired to this insanity.  Up I jump, grabbing my keys, and I am out the door.  As I pass Moe I ask “gasoline”? He says “Uh-huh”.  I look at his car and say “In the carburetor”?  Again he says “Uh-Huh”.  “Great” I say “I’ll just be moving my car now”, and I do.

Now that my car is in a safe place, on the other side of the property, I sit back in the office.  Debbie and I spend the next houror so watching the slap stick comedy, but to no avail, they can not blow up the car for our entertainment.  Neither can they start the car so they give up and drive off. Leaving the gasoline next to the car along with the fire extinguisher.  They seem to be giving mixed singles here.

 Latter Moe does come back to tell us that he will have a buddy come tow it tonight ….  I sure hope its Curly. I liked Curly better than Shemp.

Sometimes I do not think very clear

There have been days when I go to bed and think can I just have a re-due.

I spent a lot of time in my car today because I could not get my brains in to anykind of order.  For example I needed to take some duct tape, a hamer, one nail, and a "aa" battery to Access Storage.  After three trips out I still had not remember a single Item on that list. So when I finlly get fed up with not remembering I stoped by Lowes and bought a hammer, some picture hangers an took them back to Access.
"Look " I said walking in the door "I have gifts"  I produced the hammr and the hangers with pride. John looks at me for a second and says " and the 'aa' batteries"?
Aw crap! I stood right next to the "aa" batteries and never thought about picking them up.

Now the kicker.

What about the duct tape?

My brain scares me sometimes.

Wild Weather in Oklahoma Tonight

Some things that happen in storage happen because you choose for it to happen. Then there is Friday the 13^th. The weathermen have been calling for severe weather all week and today it arrived. Hail and tornados happening all around the state and I do not have a garage or carport to protect my vehicles. But I do have 10 X 20 units available and that is a great size to park a car. As the storms came closer I realized I was not going to come close to getting my errands done for the day, so I headed back to the office to tuck my car away and do some paperwork. As I was driving back to the 200SQFT units I notice My 20 year olds car and decide to find a space to tuck it in for the night. So I called him at work and asked where the key was and took care of it. 5 minutes later he calls me and ask if we have room for three more cars, that would be for his girlfriend, her mom, and her sisters boy friend. Now this got me to think soI started calling some of the businesses in the neighborhood.

Me - “So are you guys closing up or ridding out the storm?”

Them - “We will stick it out, the storms will be hit and miss.”

Me - “I have some empty space you can park your car in for the afternoon.”

Them - “No I don’t think it will be that bad.”

Me - “Gary England said it could be up to softball size hail.”

Them - “We'll be right over with three cars.”

Me - “See you in a few.”

When Gary England speaks people listen!

I ended up with 9 weather guest for the afternoon. I also ended up with several new friends from the surrounding businesses.

Here is an interesting observation about humans.

My office is attached to the house(which makes my commute very short). From time to time while I have a customer in the office our dog, Starbuck, will walk into the room look around . Customers really seem to like the dog. She is cute and tiny and thinks she is a lot bigger than she is, oh did I say she is completely deaf.

So in comes the dog and on cue the customers will say “oh she is adorable what’s her name“? I then say that “her name is Starbuck and she is totally deaf“. Every time they bend down and say “here Starbuck” and she walks away. She’s deaf…. What do people think that means? The dog can’t hear you she has no idea your talking and even if she did do you think se speaks English?

So I about to take this picture for this blog and what do I do? I say “Hey Starbuck look here”. sometimes I embarrass myself.

Taking a day off

I am trying something new so forgive me if it comes out jumbled. My wife and youngest son and I are on the way to Love Field in Dallas to pick up my Daughter in Law and Grandson who are coming out fo a visit. What I see now is nothing but I 35. Soon it will be family time.

I left Guardian in the hands of John, he has access to my computer and my cash so he can take payments and even rent a space for me. I hope he does not have to. John will have his hand full with the car wash today.