Running on Empty

"I just felt out of gas," was my husband's way of describing the way he felt a few days ago as a description of his loss of energy.  Since he was also dizzy and having a headache, we checked it out with the doctor.  He ordered medical tests, even an MRI, although the symptoms could have been from elevated blood sugar.

I have been  helping Howard out all week, especially with the tasks of feeding and watering the chickens.  Today we were doing the chores as usual, and I was relieved to find plenty of water in the pail from yesterday that we could use to fill the chicken waterer.  No dragging the heavy hose for me today, thank goodness.

After gathering the eggs, we were ready to go.  The beautiful morning had grown positively hot!  I opened the car doors to let the heat out and waited for Howard to get in.  He turned on the key, but the car didn't start immediately.  When another try didn't start the motor, I asked suspiciously, "Are we out of gas?"  None was registering on the console dial, and sure enough, I could see a big "E" on the indicator.

"No, we're just parked on a slope and it's not getting to the engine," he said.  "We will have to push it to a level spot."  No way could we do that in this hot sun!  Then he remembered there was a gasoline can in the garage at the top of the hill.  I volunteered to hike up after it, although after I made the trek the contents in the can felt scanty.  I sat at the wheel ready to start the engine after he poured the gas into the tank.

"What's wrong?" I asked, after several minutes.  He had the cover off the nozzle and was trying to remove the spout  from the can.  No gas was getting through the spout!Turns out it had a safety device preventing him from pouring it!  Now what!  Our road service had expired, and all our family was at work or school.  Lord, help us! I prayed.

I tried the engine again and it started!  When we leveled out, it showed 24 miles of gasoline left!  Thank you, God!  But when we got on the highway, nothing was registering.  Thankfully, we made it to the station a few miles down the road.

We had a good laugh about it with our son when he came over to pick up the little girls after school.  Oh, and we had good news to tell him.  Howard's MRI came back completely normal!  If he is out of gas now, it's because of the stricter diet regimen I have him on!