Volunteerism

My father used to have a small waterfall that ran through a rock garden in his backyard. He tore it out years ago and piled up the rocks under a tree in the corner of his yard. We were telling him about our neighbor’s new pond and waterfall and my father asked if he would want some additional rocks. They were nice looking, from Masters down on Empire Boulevard near the bay. Our neighbor said yes and he offered us his truck to transport the rocks.

We were loading them in the truck and my father offered his wheelbarrow. I pulled it out of its spot in the garage and found the tire flat. I could have done without the wheelbarrow but I wanted to help my father repair his wheelbarrow so I put he wheelbarrow in the truck and drove the short distance to Bob Martin’s house to borrow some air. When I hooked up the pump the valve stem broke off the wheelbarrow tire.

So back at my father’s house my father offers a much smaller flat wheel barrel, something my mom would use for light gardening. It didn’t look strong enough for the job but I noticed it was rusting out so there wasn’t much to lose. I put a few rocks in it and pulled it toward the truck. As I rolled across the patio stones in their yard one of the plastic wheels shattered. So two wheelbarrows down.

I found a tube for the tire at Home Depot and a lawnmower wheel that was the right size for the small wheelbarrow for $32 total. But back at my father’s the tube turned out to be the wrong size for the tire and plastic wheel did not fit the axle so I’m headed back to Home Depot today to return my purchases. My brother suggested I go to the wheelbarrow citadel, Tractor Supply, out on 104 in 315 country. They had the right tube but no replacement for the plastic wheel. Grrr.

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