Scooter vs Cat

I had to run to town for a minor errand. It was a warm day, so I rode my 125cc scooter. It was only the third time I've been that far from home on it, including the trip to town to take my motorcycle skills test.

I didn't see the cat in the grassy ditch until it dashed out into the highway. I hit it at about 50 mph. I wobbled but stayed up and stopped. As I slowed, I recalled the small dog that had dashed out of a yard and knocked my new Vespa out from under me nearly fifty years ago.

The cat was curled on the hot pavement as if asleep. I U-turned to get back to it before the next car hit it. I parked my scooter and picked up the cat and carried it to the house it had been headed toward. I set the cat on the porch and knocked on the door and told the man who opened it that I hoped this wasn't their cat.

It belongs to the folks in the house behind theirs. It was out cold when I picked it up, but it came to sort of, pupils huge and panting with mouth wide open. It had a patch of skin peeled back along its jaw, but the jaw is straight. The cat finally focused its eyes and began yowling and hissing at anyone who got close. It jumped up and hobbled off the porch and crawled under it.

I'd hit it on the left side, but the right hind leg wasn't working well. The cat did put full weight on it at one point, so I think it's not broken. I suggested they put water where the cat could reach it and said I'd check in on my way home. The cat was still under the porch an hour later, but it looked okay to me. I hope so.

The weird thing was, the folks were impressed that I'd stopped after hitting the cat. I thought only scumbag slimeballs (I'm being polite here) would hit a cat or dog and keep going. I guess I wasn't raised right.

New, "Improved" Stihl Chainsaw

After dropping a tree on my saw last year, I bought a new Stihl. Couldn't get the model I had before, of course. They don't make 'em anymore.

The old one(s) had simple, screw caps for oil and gas tanks. Any idiot could unscrew them and screw them back in. The new saws have an improvement in the caps. They now have moving parts. Plastic parts. The new caps don't screw in. To take them off, you flip up a lever, turn it, and lift the cap out. to put it back, you reverse the process. Or try to.

The saw is new. It was probably only the fourth or fight tank of gas and oil. I filled the oil, put the cap back in, turned the lever, pushed it down, and the cap came apart in my hand. Cheap plastic.

It's not the kind of hole you can plug with a cork, so I'm idle for nearly a week while the Stihl dealer orders a new cap.

I'm not picking on Stihl. Too many manufacturers make unnecessary "improvements" that aren't as good as what they replaced.

They ignore a basic rule: Never mess with good enough.