Day #484 Please Send Good Thoughts to My Elliebug

So, am I going to write something brilliant this evening?

In a word, one word, No.

Yesterday, on the way home from Rancho Alegre, where I bought organic carrots and yummy blackberry yogurt and a few other things as well, my sweet little polka-dotted car died on me. Thank goodness I wasn’t in the fast lane of Highway 316 when it happened. I pulled over, let her sit for a few moments, and started her back up.

Called my mechanics -- Ray and Dan at AutoStop. Told Ray the service engine soon light had come on when the engine died. “Bring it here now, if not sooner,” he said.

Called my blessed daughter and asked her to meet me at the shop. 

The car stopped again, but once more I pulled over and let it sit a minute before starting up again. As my daughter headed my way, though, up busy Highway 20, she spotted me stopped, for the third time, beside the road. This time a wonderful young man named Tyler stopped to help. He managed to get the battery out and directed us to Reilly’s Tire Center, which was just on the other side of the road set back at the end of a shopping center.

Veronica and I drove my battery over there and had it tested. “Dead,” the testing machine proclaimed. No, I take that back. It didn’t say Dead. It said, “Bad.”

Poor little battery. Being judged by a machine.

At any rate, we went back with a new battery to where Elliebug still stood beside the road, placed the battery inside the hood, and couldn’t get the blinkin’ plastic covers off the terminals. Finally another very kind man took pity on us and searched his car for a screwdriver.

Veronica drove behind me on that final fateful mile and a half to AutoStop. I heaved a huge sigh of relief as I pulled into the driveway.

What’s the verdict? No idea. But once I find out, I’ll let you know.

Bees are lucky. They never have to worry about batteries or alternators or gears or brakes or broken windshields or empty gas tanks or …

Of course, they have to worry about marauding birds and skunks and bears and …

I think I’ll be happy where I am.

BEEattitude for Day #484:

       Blessed are those who take the time to lend a wing, for they shall feel better about themselves and shall fly straighter as a result.

_______________________________ 

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Day #160 You can't beat a good mechanic

Dan Palmer at AutoStop in Buford has been servicing my cars for more than ten years. First it was a little gray Maxima, then it was LadyBug, my little red Mitsubishi truck, and now he takes good care of ElliBug, the champagne-colored Nissan—the one who has her very own trophy for “the car with the most polka-dots.” (See Day #106  - 1/26/11 for a picture.)

Last week I had an oil change and regular vehicle check, and I got to thinking about how good it is to be able to trust that the person servicing your vehicle will do a good job. That, of course, led me to thinking about bees.

Yes, I know, EVERYTHING leads me to thinking about bees lately.

But bees trust each other to do what needs to be done in the hive. The newly-emerged  (and still rather wobbly) baby bee has her specific job, cleaning and polishing the cells, getting them ready for the next round of egg-laying by the queen. It’s kind of like the oil-change of the bee world.

As she gets a bit older and her exoskeleton hardens a bit, she begins to care for the brood (those are the newly-hatched and very hungry larvae), feeding them royal jelly for 3 days. For the next 3 days, she feeds them regular old worker food, sometimes called bee milk. But this little bee is not simply pulling bee milk from a faucet. Nope. She has to manufacture it from glands in her head.

During those 6 days, each larva increases 500 times in size. That takes a lot of bee milk from those dedicated little workers.

The worker bee still has lots more jobs to go through during her lifespan. But those will wait until tomorrow’s blog.

BEEattitude for Day # 160:

       Blessed are those who know how to repair things, for they shall be ever safe.

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       The fresh lettuce I ate from my own garden!   

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