3131 Back and forth, north and south....

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.

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I'm north today. Heading south again tomorrow evening.

The brackets holding the exhaust system up on Fred, the van, broke loose Tuesday, in NJ, and the pipe under his middle was hanging an inch from the ground. Because of his dropped floor, there are very few garages that have a lift Fred can climb up on. I know where three places are in NY, but not in NJ, so yesterday morning I got out early to find someplace that could work on him. I ended up at a Chrysler dealership. 3.5 hour wait for parts. $150. He's solid now.

This morning, back in NY, I took him in for brake cleaning, alignment, tie rod check, and paw rotation. 3.5 hour wait. $356. He's healthy now. He'd better be. He's got a lot of work to do.

Monday and Tuesday at the new house I bought, wrestled into the house, and hooked up a mini-refrigerator/freezer, to use until I either move the old refrigerator down or find the perfect new one on sale, bought a small microwave, planted the mailbox, cleaned the porch railings, installed a drop-bar on the sliding glass doors, chiseled the deadbolt slot lower so it would lock, and a few other things. Still haven't managed to wash the floors. That seems lower on the priorities. Meals and security first.

I bought spring tension rods and some cafe curtains for my bedroom and bathroom, so I could wash and dress. I wanted cheap cotton curtains, but apparently cheap curtains don't exist any more.

The mailbox looked so simple, but it took forever! I bought a pound-in post that I could do myself, and I brought down a huge farm mailbox that I'd originally bought for the NY house. I had bought both post and box at various Home Depots.

Poor naive me.

I assumed that the connections between any post and any mailbox would be standardized. The post and brackets had several holes for adjustment, and the mailbox also had several holes. But there was absolutely no way to get any set of four to line up on the post and the box. I finally gave up and took the bracket to a store, and bought a smaller mailbox that did line up.

Sigh.

The mini-fridge and small microwave will eventually go upstairs. Nice for tea in the bathtub and yogurt in bed.

One thing I've learned - do not attempt to head south late Sunday afternoon. The 2.5 hour trip took me 4 hours last Sunday. I actually got up to 45 mph ONCE on the Thruway.