Fools Never Learn

"I fixed that (%#^f*!) sink!" I said this for a week, to anyone who would listen, including the dog, after recently replacing a kitchen sink. It took me an entire afternoon to do it and several days later to find and fix all the leaks.

Such is my mechanicl aptitude. I lack the the 3 T's. The Time, the Tools, and the Talent. I don't why I persist in trying. Maybe I think something will change some day. Maybe it's just foolish male pride, or the Scots in me. Some times I feel as if I have no choice.This is the case in my current debacle.

I have a 1994 Ranger PU. It's a second vehicle, I kept parked on the street in front of my home. It has always been a difficult starting vehicle. One day it just refused. I wasn't towing it in anywhere and paying commercial rates. I didn't have the first clue how to diagnose the problem. I called a mobile mechanic.

I live in a small market and the options were limited. The first guy I called out spent two hours working on it, and didn't even manage to diagnosis the proplem. I called a second, who at least had the right tools. It took him about a half hour to discover that my fuel pump was the problem. I authorized him to do the repair, as it required removing the gas tank. We pushed the truck into my carport, displacing my nice little car, where he began. He did not get far into the job when he pointed out to me a "Stop". The fuel fill hose would need replaced. It was a factory item and he was not certain he could get it, as it was Saturday. Two weeks passed, and I didn't hear from him. He was one of those angry old guys anyway, and I guess he lost interest in the job. I reconciled myself to tackling the chore.

Temperatures have been rising to the high thirties in the afternoons. I would wait until then to begin working. I started on a Monday. By last thing Thursday, I had the tank out and the pump replaced. When I figure out how to replace the fill hose I destroyed taking out the tank, I can begin putting the thing back together. It will probably take another week of afternoons.

I can understand how someone might not want to tackle this chore, but I am a talentless ametuer. I might have been been better off having it towed in and paying the price of a real professional. I would just not have had the satisfaction of saying "Yeah!! I Win!" I would also not have had the opportunity to learn this one thing. I will never do anything like this again!

Yeah, right.