It's The Thought That Counts

Zero degrees. And there I am, lying under a semi trailer in a foot of snow, rapping on brakes with a hammer. And with every tap of the hammer, more ice, frozen mud, and snow is falling into my hair and face. Oh, the joys of trucking in the winter!

The driver next to me was loudly cursing as he attempted to deal with his own frozen equipment. He said he’d tried to find a trailer that wasn’t frozen but hadn’t had any luck. “Yeah, at zero degrees, I think they’re all pretty well frozen by now,” I said.

After freeing all four brakes on my trailer, I went to help the guy and in just a few minutes, he was ready to roll. “How do you do that so fast?” he wanted to know.

There is a bit of a trick to it, but instead of sharing my “secret” information, I simply said, “Think warm thoughts.”

The driver gave me a dubious look, probably thinking I’d been out in the cold too long and lost my mind. I repeated my advice and then added something about tomorrow things would be better. The guy didn’t argue but I could tell he thought the chances of the weather warming up were nil. (I must admit, at that point, I agreed with him).

The next day, when I showed up at work, it was still cold. I saw the same guy out in the yard, again struggling to get his trailer rolling. After a trip into the office for some coffee, I figured I’d be joining him and was prepared to hear his profanity-laced tirade about how I’d been wrong—things hadn’t gotten any warmer. But...

When I went into the office, the dispatcher said I needed to pick up a certain trailer and take it to another terminal for repairs. One of the mechanics had just parked it outside, I was told. I did my best to not laugh but did smile a little to myself. If the mechanic had just parked it that likely meant the trailer had been in the shop for several hours, which meant it would be clean, dry, and warm—with no frozen brakes!

Pretending it was summer; I went out and hooked up—just in time to see the other driver pulling up beside me. Apparently, he’d seen the mechanic bring the trailer out and had enviously watched as I by-passed all the usual winter rigmarole of hooking up a trailer.

“How’d you get so lucky?” he grumbled.

I shrugged. “By thinking warm thoughts!”

Merry Christmas! ~

Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.

Just A Few Days Off

Yay! I finally hit it right! Oh, maybe I should let you in on why I am so excited. Well, as I have mentioned in previous posts, I drive a truck for a living. A semi. And every year, I take a weeklong winter vacation. I try to predict when the bad weather will come and take my vacation that week. And almost always, I’m wrong. It will come the week before or the week after my vacation. This is my twentieth winter at this job and out of the previous nineteen years, I have been right only once—and that year I took my wife to a meeting for her job amid the ice and snow. And down the same road I drive in my truck too. Wasn’t exactly a win.

But this year... This year, I got lucky! I had last week off and nowhere to go when the winter weather hit dumping a foot of snow on us. Roads were closed (including the road I drive in the truck) schools closed, and a lot of events cancelled. And it didn’t affect me one iota! I drove around town looking at all the snow, seeing all the parked trucks, and watching people TRY to drive. It was actually kind of fun.

But now the vacation is over. Time to go back to work. Trouble is, winter isn’t over. Technically, it hasn’t even started. And looking at this week’s forecast, and that of the next week, I’m starting to wonder if I picked the right time for vacation or not. Looks like my few days off might have been a few days off—again! Most days are forecasted to have 3-5 inches of snow and/or freezing rain. That freezing rain thing is what has me concerned. 700 miles per day gets a little hard to do on ice! So, my celebrating mood might have been a little premature. Hmm, maybe next year, I’ll just take all of December and January off. But then, we’d probably get a big storm in November! ~

Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.

According To A Two-Year-Old

Today I noticed my grass is starting to grow and my rose bushes are budding! Spring! Finally! I guess I shouldn’t complain, we’ve had only a couple of snows and the temperatures haven’t been too cold this year but still, I’m ready for spring. For a lot of reasons, one of them being the need for a coat.

I really hate wearing a coat but since I also do not like being cold, I suffer through and wear one—the same one I’ve worn for about twelve years. Why? Well, I’d have to go shopping and spend money to get another one. Neither of which is appealing to me. So, I just wear the worn-out one and figure it’ll get me through another winter. And so far, it has!

Last weekend, out of the blue, one of my grandkids told me that I needed a new coat. When I asked why, he said, “’Cause that one’s old.”

“Well, that may be true,” I said. “But so am I, so...”

He nodded. “I know,” was his simple answer.

Well, that was a little funny, until I realized I’ve now reached that age where my actions and peculiarities can be dismissed and forgiven simply based on my age. But hey, wait a minute! I’m not that old... yet. I said as much to my grandson.

He gave me a long solemn stare and then with a thoughtful look said, “Yeah... you are.”

I suppose to a two-year-old, forty-eight does seem old.

But he wasn’t finished. “That’s why you need a coat, to stay warm.”

I guess in his own way, he’s looking out for me. Doesn’t want me to get cold or sick as I’m sure in his mind only OLD  people do. That’s nice of him. I think.

But according to the weather forecast, and my grass and roses, the current warmer weather will continue. So, for now, that’s solved the problem—I just won’t wear a coat. Unless it turns cold again. Then, I’ll have to bundle up. ’Cause, you know, I’m old. Just ask my grandson! ~

Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook and paperback on iTunes, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords.  Amazon Profile - www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.

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