Putting it off

The deadline to apply for an antelope tag is only a couple of days away. I always wait until the very last minute.

It brings me luck.

Or at least I tell myself it does.

My wife says I simply put things off because I’m a procrastinator.

She may be right. I didn’t draw a tag last year.

I also put off buying a new bilge pump for the boat this spring and nearly paid dearly for it.

The weather forecast called for strong thunderstorms and damaging hail last weekend, but instead of pulling the boat out of the water I left it tied to the dock.

“We’ll pull it out tomorrow,” I told Barb. “A little rain won’t hurt.”

And a little rain wouldn’t have.

Unfortunately, it didn’t rain a little, it rained a lot.

Two hours into a torrential downpour later, I began to worry. The automatic bilge was kaput, and I’d also forgotten to pull the plugs so the floor could drain.

From the shelter of the cabin, I could see the little boat settling lower in the water, illuminated by the nearly constant flashes of lighting.

Every time I’d get ready to head down the hill and bail out the boat another bolt of lighting would strike nearby, and the rain would increase in intensity.

I considered heading to bed and waiting until morning, but knew sleep would be impossible. The boat was going to sink if I didn’t do something.

Zipping up my raincoat and grabbing a flashlight, I said a quick prayer and headed down to the dock. Lightning made it easy to see the task at hand. There was so much water in the boat it was more efficient to bail it out with a bait bucket than to use the hand pump.

I got most of it out, and the rain began to let up a bit as I climbed the hill back to the cabin. Barb and my oldest grandson, Isaac, had been watching from the shelter of the covered patio.

“Wow, grandpa! I thought you were going to get hit by lightning,” Isaac exclaimed when I reached the cabin.

Barb just smiled.

Now that I’m back in town I suppose I should go on line and order a new bilge pump.

But maybe I’ll fill out my antelope application first.

I’ve put it off about as long as I can.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]