Unfamiliar Territory & Little Things

My wife and older daughter drove to Fairbanks yesterday, just because. It's about a 5 1/2 to 6 hour drive from here, depending on road conditions and traffic.

Because of the heavy, wet snow around the mid-point of the trip (Denali National Park), travel was slow. My daughter said she spent so much time sliding sideways that her trip computer recommended "engine service". But they made it in 7 hours or so, and are enjoying their weekend away.

Meanwhile, my younger daughter worked her two jobs yesterday, getting home at 10:30 last night. She left again this morning at 08:00 to repeat the process, and won't get home until around the same time.

When you live in a household with four adults, it's safe to say that having an entire day by myself is unusual. 

So I've been out and about this morning. The agenda was to put gas in my truck, stop at the car wash for a long-overdue cleaning of said truck, and thence home. But at the gas station, I remembered that I hadn't checked the tire pressures since putting the winter tires on. Sure enough, they were all 5 lbs too high. 

That's not a big deal, and easily fixed. But the process also revealed that two of the valve stem caps were missing, so I drove home for a couple of replacements. Then back to town for the wash, and back home again. 

I also discovered that this fall's leaves, which were at one point matted on my hood from all the rain, left heavy deposits of crud which refused to wash off. 

On the other hand, the first wet snow will take the crud with it, when it slides off ... if I choose to wait that long. What it needs is a hand-washing, but it's 34° and I don't really want to have my hands in a bucket of water at this temperature.

First-world problems, you say?  Indeed. If these are the worst problems I encounter today, then life is truly good.

And it is.