TOYH is taking the Crapmobile into Perry's for a going over. What's wrong? Lessee... Windshield wipers stuck in permanent, hillbilly-looking "up" position. Broken tail light lens. (Honestly, this is the third one we've replaced. I really believe there is a minivan tail light vigilante roaming south Mpls. Ours isn't the only one I've seen smashed. I have no other explanation.) Power door locks do not work. Oil needs to be changed. I'm sure there are other things, and when TOYH made the appointment for the repairs, Perry said he'd just write down "crappy van" on the work order. Bingo.
My 10 year old Taurus still runs, but it's making it's cold weather complaints. Some, but not all cold mornings there is a whining belt or something coming from under the hood. It's not an awful screech like you hear on most cars when they start up cold. It's truly a whine that doesn't easily go away even when the engine warms up. The cold weather thumping from the front end has also returned. I first noticed it last winter. It is most pronounced when my foot is off the accelerator and not on the brake. In other words when I'm coasting. As soon as I step on the gas or the brake, the sound pretty much disappears. It quit making the noise over the summer but now it's back. Maybe I should call Car Talk so they can call me a moron for not taking it in to Perry to have it looked at. I really don't like automobiles. I'm glad for the ones we have - they're paid for - but it seems like you either limp along getting nickeled and dimed to keep them running or you spend a ton of money to buy new or almost new.
I find the whole car culture rather depressing. It's like people need a living room on wheels because they spend so much time in their vehicles. I see the traffic reports on the morning news, and I just shudder. Since people have to have their 4 acres and a mule, they live miles and miles away from work and as a result 5 days a week twice a day, they sit in traffic in their $25,000, depreciating-every-day-so-you'll-never-get-your-money-back, living rooms. It doesn't make sense to me. Spend money on a house far away from everything because far away land is more affordable, but then all the money you save is eaten up in having to buy a comfortable vehicle because you live so far away and sitting in traffic to get to your far away home just isn't worth it unless you're sitting in your rolling living room. The money part may end up being a zero sum game, but now it's 10-15 hours a week lost to commuting. Blech.
KyKy has been complaining that her room is cold. Baby. I did take a look at the boiler downstairs and the pressure was pretty low. I called the Dreadful Man, since he has some kind of provisional boiler license to run the boilers at church. He told me to release the pressure valve coming from the overflow tank and then fill the system back up to 20 psi. When I released the pressure valve, I got a few gallons of rusty, nasty smelling runoff from the tank. It kept dripping for an hour or so, so I did it again. Same result. It ended up dripping all night into a bucket since our ancient house does not have a floor drain to run a hose to. It may be that the pressure release valve is gummed up and will not seat properly, thus the drip. I sure hope not. I don't want to call in someone to fix this at great expense, nor do I want to have to empty buckets of nasty smelling water for the rest of my life. Maybe it'll just go away, or maybe my basement is flooded right now. Sigh. The radiators do feel warmer though.
KyKy has a concert tonight. I think they're calling it a Holiday Concert, but it's being held at the Basilica. Wrap your head around that one.
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I, for one, am eternally grateful for having a father who was willing to join the slog of traffic so WE could have our 4+ acres (but no mule, just freely-roaming dogs). I appreciate it all the more because I'm not willing to do the traffic thing myself to give my own kids the same experience of growing up in the country on the outskirts of a small town. I'm somewhat regretful that my kids won't have the same opportunties I had (all those long, deliciously isolated walks in the woods and fields; the snowmobiling; the numerous snow days that kids in the city never get; going to a school where you know everyone in your graduating class by name). I like the convenience of where I live now and my commute is nothing to complain about. But I can understand why people choose the sacrifice in time to get those little perks of living away from it all. If Dad is reading this: Thanks for YOUR sacrifice.
I totally agree with the sacrifice dad made (and mom too frankly - at least one 14 mile round trip daily to get the mail, groceries etc) but at some point one has to simply ask whether the cost was worth it. Not being a "nature boy" (going on long walks was not my thing) so I didn't take advantage of the opportunity. Face it, we've all spent a lot of time sitting in our cars. My old housemate Dale Skiba used to drive 80 mph to work everyday because he figured it saved him so many minutes a week that could be spent juggling or some other strange thing he did. Now that's just weird, but if one spends tons of time in the car, there is a diminishing return on having your 4acres and a mule since so much of your time is spent in the car and not enjoying your spread. It's not only time, but it's stress too. Traffic jams and slowdowns make me crazy while I'm driving and there are days I get home cranky because of my participation in the herd. I don't know. I guess I just want to live a mile from where I work. But I ain't moving to Maplewood.
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