Tires, tires, tires

Last week before we went to Santa Fe, I had to buy two tires for Debbie's car. Why just two, ya say? Well, that's what happens when a tire is leaking air and you wait til the last minute to have it checked out and the guys cannot figure out why it's leaking and to keep Debbie from wigging out the whole trip that the leaking tire might go flat in the middle of nowhere and you decide to replace all four tires and you find out Bridgestone stopped making the tires that are already on the car and you decide to replace all the tires so you don't have two different types on the car and the store only has two of the Michelin tires you need to buy instead of the Bridgestone and you can't get all four Michelin tires before you leave on vacation so you only get two tires. So, I got the two tires installed last week. I went back Tuesday to get the other two tires installed. Except I kinda forgot I was supposed to do that first thing Tuesday morning. On Monday, a client called about a roof collapse in Edmond and wanted me to go right then to look at it. Apparently the owner was having a wine tasting party and needed to roof repaired pronto. I couldn't go on Monday, so agreed to meet them first thing Tuesday morning. Oops. Conflicting scheduled stuff and I'm not thinking about the conflicts. Another client called on Monday, also, about looking at his building where he wanted to make some door openings larger. Since both buildings are in Edmond, I said I'd stop by the second place after looking at the roof. So, I went to look at the roof. Then went to the second place to look at the walls. After unloading everything, including a ladder, that I needed for looking at the walls, I'm standing inside the building making sketches and notes when I realize, "Hey, I need to be getting tires put on Deb's car!" Crap. So, I put everything back in the car and go to the dealership where I ordered the tires. It's around 9:30 by now. I walk into the dealership and see my name on the big board telling the world when people have appointments for service work. "Roy Dean, 8:00". Just a tad late. Turns out that's ok because the tires were not there yet. So the dealer gives me a loaner car. Around 2 pm, they call and say Deb's car is ready. I go get her car and go back to the building to look at the walls. Deb's car is taken care of tire-wise after some crazy drama and about $600.

Now, for Kelsey's car. She came home last week and said she had a low tire. I went outside to check and the rear tire was low alright. Well, more than low. It was flat. I was going to take the wheel and tire off of the car and go air up the tire and then put the tire back on the car. But, she had driven too far on the flat and the tire was ruined. I noticed that the rim was damaged, too. Earlier this year, she had a damaged front wheel on the same side that I had repaired. Don't know if the rear wheel was damaged at the same time as the front wheel, but the rear wheel was messed up. So, I decided to take the wheel and have it repaired. I put the spare on the rear. Turns out that the spare has a slow leak in it. It's gone flat on Kelsey at least three times since I put it on the car. Yesterday, Deb went to Pioneer Tires in Stillwater and we made arrangements to have new tires put on the Bonneville tomorrow. We only needed three tires this time because I bought one new one earlier this year when the front wheel was repaired. Anyway, about $360 worth of three tires and Kelsey will have new tires on the Bonneville.

Megan's car is next I guess. A few weeks ago, she told me she was hearing a weird noise when she drove her car. After I got home, I drove the car and discovered the left rear tire was flat. That was the noise Megan heard. Flat tires make a flapping sort of sound. Cracks me up that she drove to school with a flat and didn't realize it. I wonder how many guys saw the little blue Neon going down the road with a flat tire. Kinda the same deal when Kelsey was driving with flats on her car. Anyway, looks like we'll need to buy four new tires for the Neon.

The white Mazda needs new tires, too. I got an estimate for four new tires on that car. About $600. Dang. I need a tire sponsor kinda like the racing guys do.

sigh.