Car deals

So the old blue truck just quit one day... I had been told by two different mechanics over a period of a year that maybe it was time for a new vehicle.
  I was hoping to get one more year at 280,000 miles.
The 2 boys and and I luckily coasted into the parking lot of the gas station on the corner of  Siler and Agua Fria streets. I called my buddy Tommy who had just told me not to spend the $700 for all new fluids and new fuel filter. "I don't work on diesels Annon." He gave me the number of Lee the tow truck guy and Ernie Clark who works on fleets.
  My buddy Tommy had told me that the new Chevy with the 5.3 litre engine was the best, I of course wanted what Ben's Nana calls a toaster. The Honda Element. So the boys and I drove the really cool(until we got it and destroyed it) 2001 golf (4 door hatchback and apparently NOT 4X4) to the Honda dealer. Naturally they no longer make the goshdarn thing.. On they way out we cruised into the Chevy dealer and they just happened to have sitting on the lot all by itself a used longbed with seating for 6. i cruised and signed a bunch of papers and convinced myself I needed the $2800 extended warranty.  Poor salesman had to drive the golf to my house.
  Of course it turns out the toaster is not the element but something called the scion. As usual attention to detail...
  I put all the tools in and a camper top on the white truck and it started shifting funny. I drove by the dealer and the little service manager told me they would not look at it without and appointment...
 Meanwhile the old truck is still in intensive care and Ernie Clark keeps telling me manana...
 So I am happily driving the truck with satellite radio and thinking I will just leave the blue truck behind.
  One day out of the blue I get a phone call from Ernie that I ow him $2,648.  OUCH! I go down and give my right arm... The blue truck is rejuvenated! Better than it has been in years!
  The new used white truck changes gears a little funny, actually it did not want to shift out of 4 wheel drive.
 I took it down to (I  know, never change tenses mid narrative...) the dealer and the nice guy up front took me back to the service area where a grumpy little stiltksin tried to refuse to look at it. I finally got him to pretend to look.. He said it was fine.
 Fast forward to first oil change. First let me say that these new vehicles seem to gt a little upset about neglect of any sort...
  The truck goes to the dealer and the say yup it does not change gears correctly and that will cost you... Right there I interrupted and told him I had bought that stupid $3,000.00 warranty. Poor guy.
  So they give me a ride home and I call every day for 11 days, while driving the rejuvenated Ford..
  Finally they call me and I ask them to come get me. Of course the ride guy cannot find my house... Finally pickup the truck and drive off.
 The next day I pull out in front of somebody and floor it to avoid inconveniencing them and the truck is stuck in first gear. The dealer says I can bring the truck in Monday...
  I drop the truck off and they offer me a ride home. I tell them I need a loaner.. So brand new four door 4 wheel drive 3/4 ton Silverado? Yup!
  So now the boys and I are cruising around in our brand new truck impressing all the girls while the dealer fights with the warranty company over  vehicle repair on a truck that has 70,000 miles on it.  



  to be continued

You know the economy is bad when...

People are so broke they have to shoplift the crap Walmart sells....
  Woke up turned on am radio(I know white trash radio) to hear Santa Fe local news that Walmart is th popular place to shoplift
  They then said that the cops said drug addiction leads to most shoplifting.... Interesting that this was part of the story.

A little fine whine goes a long way

10 days ago I bruised my sternum and have felt pretty tough about how I have handled the pain
  A few mornings with the morning hack did have me living in real fear of the next cough....
I have been sleeping very still, which has actually been helpful. Although if I forget I wake up very whiny and it takes w while to get back to sleep...
  The worst was the sneezing fit while driving....
   Anyway chatting with my client and he started reminiscing about heart surgery... Then yesterday listening to our group read of Othello with my foster parents . John is 2 weeks out from reconstructive back surgery...
  For a few hours my chest seemed to not hurt so much....
 Life is funny, for 12 days I have awoken in terror of a sneeze or cough. After a little while you start to think the pain will never go away.... This morning it just hurts when I cough... I picture a bunch of roughnecks in hard hats hauling away busted cartilage and ligaments and bringing in bunches of organic super glue with their hard hats,sexist remarks and beer for lunch... Anyway they seem awfully slow but something is happening...

Somebody up there likes me..

Went to a party last night...
 Woke up a 5:30 with what I will euphemistically name a headache. Coco nut milk coffee stretching ho bath.. Still gotta go shoe those darn horses. Of course the morning cough is torturing my bruised sternum..
  On the way out the door and My client calls. It is too muddy to work!
  Dang! Back to nursing my "headache"
 A little later my buddy call and wants to come hang out. Well alright.... Even though I have a han ..headache
  He shows up with menudo! The ultimate han.. headache cure. Off to church tomorrow!

run

MY old coach invited me for a run... Let's meet at the mailboxes... Of course I thought he meant my mailbox...for some reason he was not there....
  Being naturally aware of me and not fully aware of the surrounding world...
  I saw some guy jogging in circles a couple hundred  yards away by the fire station next to a bunch of those unamerican group mailboxes.... It still took a few seconds to translate.
  

Ouch!

Got these new glasses with progressive readers...
Went for a "run" so put on contacts...
  The glasses lady warned me to watch stairs and such with new glasses... no problem.
At end of day up and down hill moving tools in the dusk. "running"  up hill step on round rock and go flying.
 For a few seconds I cannot even figure out what happened....
  Apparently I hit my head well first headlamp then cap on sharp corner of tailgate slid up an semi impaled myself on the corner. Now sore head sore tooth and VERY sore sternum....
Maybe it is easier to adjust to "readers" than the other way around....
 Back to glasses today.

weird things

Perfumed trash bags? Maybe I will meet a cute girl at the dump and she won't like the manly smell of garbage....

Excuses...

Too tired to post... Not too tired to argue online...

rules are for a reason

I recently broke one of my ironclad rules...
  In my defense it was not entirely my fault.  My friend the mechanic refused to work on my airconditioner.
  Anyway I heard an advertisement(Always a great source for accurate and complete information) claiming I could go right down to my friendly Autozone and fix it myself.
 $80 later I was all set... Until I read the directions.. The little gauge was not reading what they said I would.
I have learned a tiny bit from experience. I called my friend, he relented.
  He opened the hood and plugged the AC back in.....
If only I could find the receipt!
 Anybody need $80 of environmentally friendly refrigerant?

Oh yeah the tragedy

Actually trying for some real composition just caused work stoppage...
  So A Kangaroo rat finds a a beautiful new home in a broad expanse of blue... crinkly stuff and moves his or her family in
  Everything is great until suddenly the whole expanse begins moving and shaking and half of the family is lost...
 When things settle down the rat goes looking for the family. It is in a strange new land with lots of nooks and crannies. Finally giving up she heads home to find it gone.
 Trapped in a strange new world like robinson carusoe...