Technology is a wonderful thing!?! and a funny childhood memory

I was helping my mother, via telephone, earlier this evening (Tuesday) reconnect her iPhone 5c to the WiFi at her home.  That being accomplished, a dear friend of the family, Russ Austin, was trying to work with her computer.  Sometime along the way her modem passed away.  Needless to say, she will not be writing tomorrow morning.  I will keep you posted on the reinstatement of the modem.  I am sure that either she or Aunt Bill will have plenty to say about the joys of WiFi.  Meanwhile, I will drum up a story or two for you.

One of my favorite childhood stories goes like this:

My father, John, was in the Air Force reserves during my childhood.  Mother worked in the Chattahoochee Avenue of Atlanta, about a 30 minute drive from our home in Smyrna, Georgia.  Some of you may know this, but when my father was younger he possessed a fiery temper.  This particular day was a Friday afternoon; he was waiting for Mother to get home from work so that he could get Dobbins Air Force Base for his weekend drills.  About the time she was to arrive, she rang

the telephone.  She said that she was out of gas and would Daddy bring the gas can to get her to the gas station.  Remember, I am telling this through my childhood memories.  When Daddy and I arrived on the scene, her car was parked on the side of the road, tilted toward the passenger side, wheels somewhat in the ditch.

Daddy poured the gas in the tank, but the car would not start!  He was frustrated to say the least.  He stated that he could not understand how she could run out of gas with a pocket full of credit cards.  He also discovered that the fuel pump could not get the gas to the carburetor since the car was sitting on a slant.  The temper began to surface.

Picture a beautiful autumn day, leaves had fallen from the trees, piled up in the ditch, and scattered across the lawns of the houses.  Soon he found an old beer can in the ditch and put some fuel into it.  He poured

some gas directly into the carburetor and told Mother to crank it.  And so she did.  The car backfired and the beer can was set ablaze.  Well, in a fit of temper, Daddy flung the beer can, fuel and all across the narrow neighborhood street, into the ditch — full of leaves.  You can imagine what happened — Now Daddy had his temper fully ablaze along with a stripe of burning fuel across the road and a blaze in the leaves in the ditch.

After all visible fires were put out, he went back to the car.  Now when he pulled up, he parked his car nose-to-nose with Mother’s car.  Daddy told Mother to try to crank the car again.  Well, now the battery was dead.  He inspected the from of the car and said, “No wonder the battery is dead, you left the lights on!”

I don’t know how the old Cadillac got moving again, but Daddy finally went on his way to Dobbins and Mother and I were at home.  Later I can remember Mother saying that she did not have the heart to tell Daddy that it was the reflection of his car’s headlights shining in hers which he  saw that evening.  She also said that she was never so happy as when he left for duty that night.  Heard this story many, many times and it still makes me laugh.  It was not funny at the time, but the family can share a chuckle every time I can get Mother to tell it.

Things go wrong, technology and cars alike.  We must take it in stride as this is a part of country living.