My Car has Two Engines in it

(listening to the classical radio station, WCPE Chapel Hill)
It has been raining like crazy, and Hurricane Charley isn't even here yet. We've gotten 4.1 inches since yesterday evening (and it's only 8 a.m. now), and we got 2 inches the day before that. I crawled around the attic again like a nervous hen, but I still see no water. I did see, however, a couple of big cockroaches. I suppose there just trying to get out of the deluge, but they're such loathsome creatures. And so enviable - a hardier beastie can scarcely be conceived. I'm just glad that they're as small as they are. Twelve inches in length would be a bit much.

I received some enjoyable and thought-provoking comments on my previous post about milestones. My brother Scott made some very valid suggestions, particularly "burying a parent." Our Dad passed away in January of 1993. I was 20 at the time, and I have spent the years since then reflecting on it. Fatherhood, friendship, mortality, loss, life's priorities. It's a major thing, and I don't know why I neglected to put it in my list.

I wish to respond to the comment from The Little Whiskey Girl:
Learning to put the seat down - yes, learning to think of others is important. In my own life, I learned to put the seat down many years ago. I have gone one step further: a fear of dropping something in there has given me the habit of putting the seat and lid down.
Winning an Argument with the Mother-in-Law - I have never argued with either of my wife's parents. I prefer "Marrying a person whose parents are excellent people with whom you would be friends anyway." Besides, I'm a man. The Law of the Universe prevents me from winning any argument with a woman.
Learning to make awesome chili - A worthy accolade, yes. However, I must disagree with your suggestion that men are born with it. Any dish takes practice and experimentation, and you must choose your chili: Texas style, no beans? Garden chili? Ground beef? Chunks? How hot? And can you make cornbread? Also, I propose that it is a critical rite of passage for a person when they eschew store-bought chili powder and make it themselves.

El Borracho Naranjo's Moderately Spicy Chili Powder (these are the same chiles used in the beans in the June 21 post)
1 dried New Mexico Chile
1 dried Guajillo Chile
1 dried Pasilla Chile
(other chiles may me used; some are quite hot, such as Chiles de Arbol. Consult Diana Kennedy's Essential Cuisines of Mexico)

Preheat a medium cast iron skillet, dry, over medium heat.
Tear the stems off, and rip the chiles in a few big pieces in order to remove and discard the seeds. Put the chiles in your skillet. Toss them now and then for even heating. Toast them thusly until you can smell the earthy aroma. Don't burn them. Remove them and grind them up in a coffee grinder (one that you have dedicated to spices) or a food processor. A mortar and pestle works very well. Grinding a bit of whole cumin in there is very nice, too, and you can toast it in the pan if you wish.

Anyway, on the subject of milestones in a man's life, I just reached another one. Lindsey and I now own a lawnmower. It's still in the box in my car, so my car technically has two engines in it. It's been raining so much that I left it there until the Deluge passes.