Lesson #1 of vacation: do not try to fill the day with work. It angers the vacation gods and you will pay.

Yesterday I came up with the idea to go to my mom's and dad's and cut the grass for my Pa. It needed to be done and the forecast was calling for rain later, which would make it un-cut-able later when my dad would be coming home from work. Also, it seemed like a nice thing to do.

So I pulled his lawnmower out of the shed and went through the motions to start it. Squish squish squish to prime the motor with gas, grip the handle and then yank the starting cord. The cord was considerably longer than then one one my lawn mower and in a different place. I failed to get it started. I tried again and again and again. Left it alone for a while, tried again and then admitted defeat.

I phoned my dad and told him that if he wanted someone to look after his grass while he is on his cross-America tour this fall, he'd better get an easier to start lawnmower.

My next project was to wash Truck in the driveway with Dad's power washer. After a long search for soap, a struggle with getting the water connected and hitting my head on a hanging plant, I finally was able to start washing. I worked on my parents' car first, as it was in the driveway. I finished it and then moved it out, and Truck in. I got a quarter of Truck soaped and rinsed when the power washer died. I did not want to tell my dad about that one.

I finished washing Truck by hand with a hose and a brush. I then turned to the motorhome and decided to wash the bugs off the front of it. I soon forgot all about that dead power washer and got lost in the zen-ness of rubbing away the bug guts to reveal a clean, white surface.

Later that evening my mom mentioned the power washer to my dad. I braced myself for the grilling about what I was doing when it stopped working, was I being careful not to get it wet, and where is the thing now. But instead, my dad asked, "where did you have it plugged in?"

"Where the motorhome is plugged in."

"Did you check the breaker?"

"Um. No."

So the good news is, the power washer is not burned out. The bad news is, the fridge in the motorhome was not receiving power for a good eight hours. There was ice cream and a bag of ice in there.