I called my mechanic this morning, gave him my name and model and color of my car, then told him about the power steering--or lack of same. He said come on over, so I did.

He looked at it and commented that he had another Ford with the identical problem.

The bad news: new pumps wouldn't be in till Friday.

The good news: if it happened to be the rack and pinion, it was still under warranty.

However, he was pretty sure it was the pump.

Usually I drive back home (about 2 miles) and he disappears with the car. Not today--he didn't want it driven any more than absolutely necessary.

So, I am at home for the next few days. That's okay, except I need to contact my neighbor and see if she'll pick up some possum and raccoon food for me. I have just enough for tonight.

Once I was back home I had no excuse to put off yard work. I got another trash barrel filled with weeds etc., and then I rested a bit. It was definitely WARM and I sweat a bunch. Tomorrow I'll fill up another barrel (in the morning when the sun is lower and it's shadier) then burn the stuff.

Oh well, I don't have a valid excuse to procrastinate on the yard work.