3813 Unbelievable!

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Back when Nugget was born in 2011, Daughter was driving a 2-door Honda.  It was a good car, but it was getting pretty old, and it was very difficult for Daughter to get the baby in and out of the baby seat in the back.  So I gave her my 4-door 2003 Suzuki Aerio, and she sold the Honda.

I had bought the Aerio for about $9,000 in 2006 when the van was having serious problems and was costing me a fortune in rentals.  "Suzie" was a great little car, with its high roof and huge windows giving a great view all around, comfortable seats, sportscar handling, and a lot of zip.  It was always actually fun to drive, easy to park, and never gave me any problems.  Well, except for the body, which tended to drop random pieces of itself everywhere.  But they were at least unimportant trim pieces. 

It was a good car for Daughter for two years, then finally something important went wrong which set off the "bad light".  I don't know the words, but it had something to do with something that sits above the gas tank and something about vapor or something.  Anyway, fixing it would require major internal surgery, costing more than $1500, which was about what the car was worth.  It still ran just fine, but not fixing it would eventually run the risk of it catching fire.  And until it was fixed, it would not pass inspection.  The trusted mechanic said Daughter could continue to drive it, but to pull over immediately if she smelled gas fumes.

It was due for inspection last month.  No way it would pass.  So Daughter bought a new car, and parked Suzie until she could figure out what to do with her.

Yesterday morning while I was still in bed I heard a sound.  Looked out the window, and saw Suzie being loaded onto a flatbed.  I threw on a robe and ran out to pat her goodbye.

I really did love that car.  Hate to see her go.

Daughter was paid $350 for her.

That was yesterday.

This is Suzie:

The photo is from a used car dealership.  They are asking $1599 for her.  They describe her as "ready to sell".  I wonder if they will tell an interested buyer that she won't pass inspection, and just might catch fire. 

Listing here:  http://www.aberdeenautonj.com/2003_Suzuki_Aerio_Morganville_NJ_224234593.veh
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3362 Nuttin'

Wednesday, September 5, 2011

Love is blind, but the neighbors are not.

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I've been eating a lot of pistachios lately, and I found a trick that really works. Know how there are always a few nuts that aren't opened, and the shells are so hard it's next to impossible to get them open? They almost always have a frustratingly tiny crack.

Simple method. Take a half-shell from an earlier nut, insert the edge of that half-shell into the tiny crack in the reluctant nut, and twist it, lifting toward the point of the nut. It'll pop the shell open. Works every time.

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Daughter and I and the Nugget went north Sunday evening, stayed in a hotel in Kingston, NY, and then picked up Suzie the Suzuki Monday morning. Daughter drove Suzie back. Suzie has four doors where Daughter's Honda has two, which makes it much easier to get the Nugget in and out of the car seat, so I'm going to give Suzie to her. Sadness - I really enjoy driving Suzie. For a small car she has lots of room, a huge trunk, her high windows allow a marvelous view, and she has a smooth ride. But I don't really need her, and Daughter's life will be much easier with her.

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I've been checking out car insurance. My NY insurance (Travelers) currently covers the three vehicles: 2011 BMW, 2000 Dodge minivan, and 2003 Suzuki, and costs about $1,800 per year. I called my agent to tell her I'd moved to NJ, and that I'd be dropping the Suzuki, so please rewrite the policy. She said "Oooo, it's a lot cheaper in NJ". I'm still waiting for the new quote, but in the meantime I've got quotes from other companies for the two vehicles, and I'm freaking out.

Geico, you know, the ones that are supposed to be pretty reasonable? Their quote was close to $1700 for six months! I had palpitations! Liberty Mutual says $1164 per year, so maybe there's an error somewhere in Geico's quote.

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Heading north again this evening.
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3289 Not a lot of headway

Friday, June 24, 2011

The question Diane Sawyer (interviewed on Oprah) would most like to ask the Pope:
What do you think Jesus would think of the way you dress?

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Yesterday I slept a bit late, shuffled a few things around in the old house, watched "The View", which I hadn't been able to watch since moving, then went into the village for lunch. When I walked into the diner I saw Vinnie in a booth, so I joined him. He said Piper would be coming. So I had lunch with Vinnie and Piper - the usual l--o--n--g lunch.

Vinnie'd had a hip replacement since I'd last seen him. Piper had just returned the day before from a two-day trip to Florida to sign the papers to have his sister (who has been trying to die in a hospital in Florida since January) taken off life support, but at the last minute her sons, who refuse to face facts, started legal proceedings to stop it, so he was very upset. Turns out that they couldn't find a lawyer who was willing to take the case for what they were willing to pay, so she would be taken off support yesterday afternoon, and Piper was angry and upset that he would not be able to be there. So there was a lot to talk about.

After lunch I went to my car guys. They are willing to work on Suzie, but suggest that I have AAA tow her in, save some money. So I'll do that today.

When I got back to the house I looked in the "cars" folder in the (HUGE!) file cabinet, and naturally, the car titles, the main task for this trip, aren't there. In fact, the folder was empty. It's supposed to have all the service records, too. I don't understand. Where are they?

So all afternoon and evening I sorted through the "to be filed" pile looking for the car titles - one of the main things to accomplish on this trip. And that's all I did for ten hours. Naturally, I had to read everything to determine whether it was to be saved or tossed (I saved all personal correspondence), shredded or not, and at the end of the evening I had cleared two square feet of floorspace in the den. Wow. Only 3,998 more square feet of floor, attic, and basement to go! At this rate it will take me only three years to get out of here.
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3288 Finally upriver again.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

It is the great flaw of equality ... that everyone believes that
only [he] know[s] what is best for the others.
-- Alex Haley, Queen --

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I arrived at the old house early last evening, after stopping at the diner in the village for dinner. I had intended to visit Piper, but his office was closed and dark when I passed at 5:30, so I probably just missed him.

The minute I walked into the house, I got a discouragement headache. There's so much stuff here! I never know where to start. The Hunk has parked his dump trailer (it's so cool - it's a regular trailer, but it has a hydraulic lift on the front, so it dumps) in the driveway so I can fill it with stuff he'll take to the dump for me.

Today I want to visit Piper and then go to my favorite car guys and ask if they'll come get Suzie and tow her to their shop. I think a mouse has chewed into the heating system or something, because smoke billowed into the car the last time I started her, which was back in March, or maybe February - the last time I was able to get up here and get through the snow to get her door open.

A task for today is to locate the titles for the three vehicles, so I can get them registered in NJ. I haven't been diligent about filing, so that search alone could take some time.
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3171 Unraveling the budget and the knitting in one fell swoop

Thursday, February 24, 20011

"Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end."

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Fred the minivan has been leaking a bright pink fluid for some time now, which has made me reluctant to drive him the 2.5 hours up to the old house. I consulted the book, and it said it could be either power steering or transmission fluid. It leaks only for a few days after I'd driven him, and then it stops, and it was bright pink, not a dirty pink, so I suspected it was the power steering - on the theory that transmission fluid would be a bit more "used" looking.

I had been waiting for a warmish day with no wind so I could check the levels of both, and then it occurred to me that even if I did find one low, what then? I could add more fluid, but what if it let loose all of a sudden on the thruway? I decided to have it professionally diagnosed.

I spent a few hours knitting this morning in the Chrysler dealership waiting room. It was the transmission seals.

Net - between Hal's pothole bubbled tire and Fred's seals, I've spent about $1,500 on car repairs this past month. Taxes are due on the old house, the gas bill on the new house is murder, and premiums on three insurance policies will come due within the next month. Yeah, I've got savings, I'm not going to starve, but, let's face it, I'm the one who washes zip-lock bags and reuses them. I BUDGET!

I guess I *can* wait to find out why Suzie Suzuki is belching smoke.

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I wanted to knit a baby blanket. I bought a kit from Herrschners, which included the yarn and a pattern book, and on the last trip to the old house I picked up my needles. I wanted to make the blanket, "Little Blessings", on the cover of the pattern book.

The pattern is screwed up!

It says at the end of row 16, you should have 159 stitches. But after doing row 17 and ripping it out twice, I mapped the pattern for row 17, and it requires 160 stitches. I added another stitch, and row 17 worked. Then when I got to row 19, the repeating lacy pattern didn't match up to row 17. On row 17, the pattern repeats every 6 stitches. On row 19, the pattern repeats every 7 stitches! Something's very wrong. I ripped out three rows and tried to add a stitch to the pattern on row 17, or subtract a stitch on row 19, and then realized that since I don't really know which is the "correct" guess at the error, there was a 50-50 chance I'd run into worse problems further up, when the design changed.

I ripped the whole thing out and started over with a free fan and shell ripple pattern from the internet.

The Herrschners pattern book is three years old. You can't convince me that no one has complained about that pattern. In decades past, when there was an error in a pattern book (and it's not uncommon), there has always been a correction letter tucked in the book.

I am very disappointed in you, Herrschners.
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