A roller coaster of a week is quickly wrapping up. In our last episode you may recall that my dog had what appeared to be a broken foot but what turned out, instead, to be Lyme disease. Not to be outdone by my sick dog, my 1997 Jeep decided it was a good time to rid itself of all bodily fluid. I was positive-based on my extensive career as an auto mechanic-that I had a cracked head casket but once I researched what a head gasket was on Wikipedia I realized that I had probably not done that. Nonetheless my Jeep was still light a couple of gallons of something so my attention turned to the radiator (again based on all my auto knowledge). Well I was wrong on the Lyme disease and I was wrong on the head gasket/radiator. My water pump was shot. It turns out that what started out as a miserable week was completely rectified by some doxycycline and a new water pump (dog and car, respectively). After two doses of doxycycline the pup has returned to his fully furry fury plus two days of pent up energy.

But just in case the week was looking dull we played host to relatives (not really but as close as you can get) from Denmark. Luckily they were/are very self-sufficeint and had no problem making their way around Boston and to a local grocery store where they stocked up on food to make us an authentic Danish dinner. It did not make me skinnier.

Stay tuned for the next episode where the car decides what will break next and planning for The Great November Ice Backpacking Trip gets into full swing.