Coffee Break

We were putting a new coat of linseed oil on Pa's car-hauling trailer.  "When I bought this trailer, these boards were completely rotted out" he said.  "I bought this trailer for a steal but it was tough to find replacement boards for a twenty-two foot long trailer."

It always took Pa awhile to tell a story, and by the time he got this much out, we were a good third of the way done with our painting. 

"See how these boards fit tightly in those grooves on either end? If I were to cut the boards, so that they would fit in the old grooves, there would've been too much slop for them to withstand much weight. But they were so long that there was no way they were going to fit in there as it was."

"So do you know what I did?"

"No, Pa, I don't." I answered gravely.

"I poured me a cup of coffee"

We painted in silence for awhile.

After enjoying the perplexed glances I kept sending his way, he finally spoke. "If something isn't working for me, I always pour myself a cup of coffee and stare at it for awhile." 

I don't remember much how he got those boards to fit.  Bent them or something like that.   But I do know that I've taken quite a liking to coffee.  Maybe it'll make me as succesful as granpa.

And  right now I'm trying to neatly fit 4 bikes into a closet that is too small for them.  I've never found cycling to be quite so frustrating as this.  So after getting royally perplexed, I've sat down for a coffee break.

We'll see how it turns out.