I should have written this one before the last, I didn't realize that I had written it before the "No Wheels" issue was resolved.
To continue: We tried to borrow my brother's car, but our luck with cars continued to be BAD. We got maybe a mile from his house when the car (a '77 Plymouth Volare station wagon which looked just like the one Amanda King drove in "Scarecrow & Mrs. King" drove), died! It would not start, but fortunately dh thought he knew what the problem was: a ballast resistor!" Drove to our local NAPA Auto Parts store and bought a new one ($3.59--best bargain of the week). DH replaced it--it started and ran great! However, the brakes were not very good and dh refused to let me drive it. We returned it to his driveway, and I was carless once more.
The next day I took one of the twins to work and borrowed her car. That evening we got a call that my car was ready--and it was only going to cost $145. Second bargain of the week, although that $3.59 isn't going to be beat any time soon.
By Saturday dh had figured out what was wrong with his pickup and had repaired it. Two weeks after our saga had begun, all cars were up and running, and we are now hundreds of dollars poorer, what with all the repairs and lost time from work.
Hope that is it for a while. Knock on Wood!
Thursday, September 28, 2006
We've Come A Long Way, Baby!
Last night we were pleased and surprised to see a few old favorite TV shows on a local TV station that we haven't seen in years. "Green Acres" was one, I caught the last few minutes of it as I had been gone. The other one I found to be "entertaining," was "Charlie's Angels." As I recall, the show originally aired in the late '70's, I think. Certainly no earlier than early '80's. It starred Farrah Faucett-Majors (who isn't using Majors anymore after a divorce from Lee Majors, subsequent marriage and divorce from Ryan O'Neal); Jaclyn Smith (now best known for K-Mart line of clothing); and Kate Jackson (who went on to star in "Scarecrow and Mrs. King," I have no idea what she's doing now). The premise of the show was that "Charlie" (who was never seen onscreen, other than an arm or hand or maybe the back of his head, but very aptly played -er- voiced by John Forsyth) recruited these three beautiful women to be undercover crime solvers for him. The show usually started out with Charlie calling the Angels to give them their next assignment. The assistant's name was Bosley, he was sort of the go between between Charlie and the Angels. You are probably more familiar with the movie of the same name, taken from the TV series.
However, I digress! My point in this post is that as Charlie talks to the Angels via speakerphone (wow, did we have those in the '70's?), while Bosley showed them slides on a slide projector. My daughters, in their early 20's, found that to be very amusing. Of course, they cannot remember life without at least a VCR, let alone a DVD player, but for those of us who can recall a simpler time--technology has certainly come a long way in the 25 or so years between the airing of this show and today!
Does anyone even have an old-style slide projector, movie projector, or even a record player, for that matter? These items represent an era when life was simpler, when the family sat around the dinner table almost every evening for dinner, and when the family sat in the livingroom together and watched TV. When there was something decent on TV to watch, shows not full of unsuitable subject matter or blood and gore. The times were simpler, but I liked those times.
We may have come a long way (and for anyone too young to remember--this was a catch-phrase for a cigarette back in the '70's), but I'm not so sure I'm thrilled with everything in this new phase. While I wouldn't trade my computer, DVD player, CD player, washer & dryer, hair dryer and some other wonderful conveniences, wouldn't it be nice to go back to a time when life was simpler, slower, and less stressful?
Only if my computer came with me!
However, I digress! My point in this post is that as Charlie talks to the Angels via speakerphone (wow, did we have those in the '70's?), while Bosley showed them slides on a slide projector. My daughters, in their early 20's, found that to be very amusing. Of course, they cannot remember life without at least a VCR, let alone a DVD player, but for those of us who can recall a simpler time--technology has certainly come a long way in the 25 or so years between the airing of this show and today!
Does anyone even have an old-style slide projector, movie projector, or even a record player, for that matter? These items represent an era when life was simpler, when the family sat around the dinner table almost every evening for dinner, and when the family sat in the livingroom together and watched TV. When there was something decent on TV to watch, shows not full of unsuitable subject matter or blood and gore. The times were simpler, but I liked those times.
We may have come a long way (and for anyone too young to remember--this was a catch-phrase for a cigarette back in the '70's), but I'm not so sure I'm thrilled with everything in this new phase. While I wouldn't trade my computer, DVD player, CD player, washer & dryer, hair dryer and some other wonderful conveniences, wouldn't it be nice to go back to a time when life was simpler, slower, and less stressful?
Only if my computer came with me!
Sunday, September 10, 2006
No Wheels
I remember having a record--a 45 (does anyone remember what we listened to before CD's?) called "No Wheels" when I was young, probably about 10 or 12. I don't remember much about the record, except the chorus was this "No Wheels" over and over and over again.
Well, recently we experienced this very thing--we had "No Wheels."
Last Saturday (Sept. 2nd) was our 8 year old grandson's baptism day. They live some 90 miles away at the coast, which is about a 1 hr. 45 minute drive for us. We were scheduled to leave home about 11:30, which should have given us plenty of time to get there. We actually left about 11:45, but we still should have arrived on time.
Except for one small problem...................
We were about 15 minutes away from home, everyone having a good time, traffic was a little on the heavy side because of Labor Day weekend. "Everyone" included our #2 dd and her 2 children, my husband & I, and our twin dds. As we were driving along in what we thought was a well-running car, DH said, "We have no power, something's wrong!" Well, those words are NOT music to anyone's ears, believe me. To make a long story short, we weren't going anywhere anytime soon. The twins called their friend on the cell phone, and she and her brother came to our rescue and got us back home. Once home, DH called a tow company and within the hour my beloved Pontiac Transport minivan was back home in our driveway, complete with a $97 towing bill. To make matters worse, the car started!
Not trusting it, of course, we piled into #2 DD's Sable station wagon--a tight fit for 7 people and one of the twins had to sit in the back (there is a seat back there complete with seat belts). We missed the baptism and were late for dinner, but we did spend a couple of hours there with the family.
Sunday we made do with Don's pickup to get to church and back. Monday was Labor Day, we didn't have any big plans but dh & I did a little window shopping and had dinner out. I told him I didn't need a car on Tuesday, but would on Weds & Thurs. We had plans to borrow my brother's extra car, and picking it up Tuesday evening.
DH's pickup had other plans.
I was working away at my computer Tuesday morning around 10:30 when the phone rang. It was dh. He was working in a town about 45 miles away, and he called to let me know that his pickup wouldn't start, would I please rent a car and come rescue him. Fortunately we're within walking distance of Enterprise Rent-a-Car, so I called them, put on my sneakers (had sandals on before) and walked the 4 or so blocks over to process the rental. I was on the the road about half an hour later, up the Gorge to North Bonneville. Again to make a long story short, picked up dh and we continued on to Stevenson, a bigger town than North Bonneville, complete with a NAPA dealer. He knew he needed a new battery by that time, so it should have been a simple matter to buy the battery, pop it in and be back to work. Chalk up another $45 for the battery, $199 a week or $40 a day for the car rental.
Nope, not so simple!
After jiggling wires and fiddling with his gear shift, it finally started, and we were on our way back home again. Lost: A day's pay!
After struggling off & on all week with it, trying different things, he finally fixed it Saturday morning. Battery cables seem to be the problem, at least it started every time for the rest of that day. Will it start again today? Or tomorrow? Only time will tell.
We took my car out to the shop Weds. evening. It started fine, but only ran about 10 or 15 minutes till it died. Left it at the side of the road, went back home. By that time the "working" twin dd was home, we used her car and went back to mine, with a tow rope. My car started again, but by this time dh had figured out it was only good for about 10 minutes at a time, so he took off and went as fast as he dared go. Made to within about 4 or 5 blocks of the shop. We put the tow rope on it and drug it the rest of the way. Cost? Up to $400, as that's what dh authorized the shop guy to do.
It's not back yet, hopefully Monday or Tuesday (the shop guy went out of town Friday thru Sunday). My rental car goes back either Monday or Tuesday (gotta call and see which), and hopefully the pickup will start and be fine. We'll be borrowing my brother's car Monday night if mine isn't ready on Monday.
No Wheels! No Fun! Expensive, too!
Well, recently we experienced this very thing--we had "No Wheels."
Last Saturday (Sept. 2nd) was our 8 year old grandson's baptism day. They live some 90 miles away at the coast, which is about a 1 hr. 45 minute drive for us. We were scheduled to leave home about 11:30, which should have given us plenty of time to get there. We actually left about 11:45, but we still should have arrived on time.
Except for one small problem...................
We were about 15 minutes away from home, everyone having a good time, traffic was a little on the heavy side because of Labor Day weekend. "Everyone" included our #2 dd and her 2 children, my husband & I, and our twin dds. As we were driving along in what we thought was a well-running car, DH said, "We have no power, something's wrong!" Well, those words are NOT music to anyone's ears, believe me. To make a long story short, we weren't going anywhere anytime soon. The twins called their friend on the cell phone, and she and her brother came to our rescue and got us back home. Once home, DH called a tow company and within the hour my beloved Pontiac Transport minivan was back home in our driveway, complete with a $97 towing bill. To make matters worse, the car started!
Not trusting it, of course, we piled into #2 DD's Sable station wagon--a tight fit for 7 people and one of the twins had to sit in the back (there is a seat back there complete with seat belts). We missed the baptism and were late for dinner, but we did spend a couple of hours there with the family.
Sunday we made do with Don's pickup to get to church and back. Monday was Labor Day, we didn't have any big plans but dh & I did a little window shopping and had dinner out. I told him I didn't need a car on Tuesday, but would on Weds & Thurs. We had plans to borrow my brother's extra car, and picking it up Tuesday evening.
DH's pickup had other plans.
I was working away at my computer Tuesday morning around 10:30 when the phone rang. It was dh. He was working in a town about 45 miles away, and he called to let me know that his pickup wouldn't start, would I please rent a car and come rescue him. Fortunately we're within walking distance of Enterprise Rent-a-Car, so I called them, put on my sneakers (had sandals on before) and walked the 4 or so blocks over to process the rental. I was on the the road about half an hour later, up the Gorge to North Bonneville. Again to make a long story short, picked up dh and we continued on to Stevenson, a bigger town than North Bonneville, complete with a NAPA dealer. He knew he needed a new battery by that time, so it should have been a simple matter to buy the battery, pop it in and be back to work. Chalk up another $45 for the battery, $199 a week or $40 a day for the car rental.
Nope, not so simple!
After jiggling wires and fiddling with his gear shift, it finally started, and we were on our way back home again. Lost: A day's pay!
After struggling off & on all week with it, trying different things, he finally fixed it Saturday morning. Battery cables seem to be the problem, at least it started every time for the rest of that day. Will it start again today? Or tomorrow? Only time will tell.
We took my car out to the shop Weds. evening. It started fine, but only ran about 10 or 15 minutes till it died. Left it at the side of the road, went back home. By that time the "working" twin dd was home, we used her car and went back to mine, with a tow rope. My car started again, but by this time dh had figured out it was only good for about 10 minutes at a time, so he took off and went as fast as he dared go. Made to within about 4 or 5 blocks of the shop. We put the tow rope on it and drug it the rest of the way. Cost? Up to $400, as that's what dh authorized the shop guy to do.
It's not back yet, hopefully Monday or Tuesday (the shop guy went out of town Friday thru Sunday). My rental car goes back either Monday or Tuesday (gotta call and see which), and hopefully the pickup will start and be fine. We'll be borrowing my brother's car Monday night if mine isn't ready on Monday.
No Wheels! No Fun! Expensive, too!
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