They went dumb...

[OldKooT]

Ever have one of those days where your fairly sure the kids went dumb? Today is that day for me....allow me to rant.

5:00am: My wife and I awake to begin the day,  it's very cold in the house. I grab my robe head down to the furnace room to find the corn boiler not running. The master power disconnect on the wall is in the down/off position and on the floor below it is a pile of shop-vac hose. So I returned the switch to the on position and went through the relight process and returned upstairs.

My wife asks what happened. I explain some idiot hung the shop vac hose on the switch, and the weight must have shut it off at some point. She then points to the wall thermostat for the forced air furnace and asks why that,s not working. I look at the switch and it's "off" ........a mystery for about two minutes, then my wife mentions she had the twins dust.

I flip it back on, the furnace lights, and we have heat until the boiler catches up and starts warming the in-floor system.

I then get dressed, swing open the door to the garage, and see my wife's car sitting there with the drivers door open and the rear hatch up...battery stone dead of course. She had the twins carry in groceries and guess what.....

So at this point I leave to check cattle and let her handle the lecturing. I get outside to my truck and go to unplug the block heater and it's not plugged in. In fact the cord is severed in half under the plow blade.....I hit the key anyway and no joy, the 6bt is not having it. It's about 4 degrees so no real surprise there. I remember the conversation...would one of you twins run out and plug my truck in..then a few min latter twin A mentioning she found a bag of sunflower seeds in the truck on the seat could she have some.... I get a mental picture of her leaning over to grab the bag, bumping the plows control switch....

Then it strikes me, the outside outlet is on the same circuit as the garden ponds circulation pump. A quick survey of that showed our new ice rink. After stomping a hole in the ice so the fish can breath, and resetting the circuit breaker....

Back in the house I go to have some words. My wife's in the shower so I slip into the bathroom to conference as to where we will hang said kids from. Suddenly I hear the garage door open, my wife's pickup is now running and my wife says.."so yeah the twins asked to borrow my truck they have a 5:30 am band practice..." I run to the door as they drive off leaving their parents with no wheels that will actually run, a frozen house, and my wife needs to be to work by Six.  AND they left the garage door open....

I take a quick count in my head of vehicles left on the property that will run...realize since I moved most to the hanger at the farm I have two possible choices...I run out to the shop and realize half way there the battery charger is at my sons house, he had borrowed it to de rust some old outboard motor he found. So now one choice... I get to the M37 in the pig barn...I throw the cover off it and hit the foot starter switch and it groans and starts turning over. I remember just about the time the batteries quit, that I had drained the carb of gas before I parked it for the winter.

I run across the property to the grainery where my 63VW Bug has been sitting for 4mo or so and jump in and hit the key. It started in two sec, how I do love those Germans.

So she got to work, everything else is now running, and I have been plotting my revenge........ but I swear those two girls just went dumb all in one 24 period of time.

[cudakidd53]

Questions from the peanut gallery..........are they blonde?  (If not, you should schedule a day at the salon so that they mysteriously become so)

Have they learned how to splice, solder or generally mend severed extension cords?

How well do the chop ice on ice rinks?

Are they familiar with checking the fluid levels in batteries and properly attaching battery chargers?

When is the next time they'll need a vehicle and will it somehow have a dead battery with a door opened so that the farm cat can have a litter of kittens on the drivers seat?


Thanks for the laughs at your expense.........anyone with kids has been there in some way, shape or form.........just not so many all at once!  ;)

[JR]

That was good, but there is no way you have 1 battery charger,,,,,,,,,,

[OldKooT]

They are all Red haired like their Mom. Normally they are reliable responsible kids considering their age.

I went to the school and stole my wife's truck... I am sure they will sort out while riding the bus that they are not going to enjoy getting home.

[EL TATE]

Norm, you can't make this stuff up! It's like I could here the clown music playing under the circus tent.

[OldKooT]

JR..I probably own 5 at least. I only keep one here at the house because I rarely need one. But I intend to snag a backup next time I am at the farm. Whats worse I have one good set of jumper cables here also...but they are missing. Thats my new "ta-do" list.... haul home stuff that I should have here that I don't.

[KensAuto]

Wow!

[TexasRedNeck]

Thanks for sharing.  Not too far fetched. Funny as hell, but not far fetched. However what I have taken to doing is explain the problem and then task them with making corrective action. So mine would be mending cords, chopping ice and jump starting vehicles.  Those lessons stick.


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[OldKooT]

Well it's day two after the dumbness took over. It seems at least so far, that things are back to a semblance of normal.

They arrived home on the bus and Mom met them at the door cheerfully. Twin A immediately says "Not sure what we did, but it was Twin B's fault"  Her attempt at humor was met with a look on my wife's face I can only explain as "weaponized ice"

So after a dressing down that they had coming, they set about figuring out what they could do to improve this attention span issue. They admitted they were rather engrossed in a running disagreement over who was going to drive Mom's truck.

I remained quiet and watched and listened. Finally twin B says well no point in any more drama, we screwed up, and we need to set this straight.

In the end they "self grounded" as I call it and decided they could ride the bus for a month. They also decided they could purchase a new extension cord. With that declaration, they went out and spent a hour busting up some ice on the pond and doing daily chores. They also made supper while Mom and I ran down to the farm and grabbed my "tool" truck which normally I keep here anyway.

This morning they declared they'd like to load up the VW and take it to the car wash or the farm and scrub it clean of any possible salt residue it could have been exposed to, and put it back in storage. So for now..... back to normal it seems.

[TexasRedNeck]

ahh, and there are the signs of maturity developing....

Nice

[OldKooT]

I think that's what really caused me to get upset. They are normally the mature ones for their age. Twin A is in negotiation to purchase a house of her own, and B is not far behind her. Oh well, in the end we all have our days we aren't too proud of.

My favorite moment was when Mom said the following. "Just last weekend you asked your step father if you could each build your own rifle. After this morning I fear we should be concerned letting either of you brush your teeth for fear you'd choke on your toothbrush. Good gawd you have me so frustrated I don't even remember your names"

[JR]

Nice to hear them get their heads.

Around here my boys (8 n 11) first thing out of their mouths on anything is "not me" or the others name.

Last line reminds me of Cosby fatherhood recordings, can't remember your names but I can find out,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Flyin6]

Good story!

Salt out there? Wouldn't have thought so...No place safe from that stuff!