Men And Their Toys

Well whadda ya know, there might be hope for the hubster after all. Of course it took another man to tell him he was pissing in the wind by getting his transmission flushed. Didn't even register when I said those exact words to him. But when our son in law (the Army Sgt, thank you very much) said it, suddenly it was gospel. Sgt Son-in-law also urged the hubster to do something ASAP as in "trade that lemon in dude." So we're postponing our Maryland trip by a day or two and spending Saturday vehicle shopping so we can trade in that lemon Pathfinder.

Disclaimer: Not all Pathfinders are lemons, but the 2005 Pathfinder is the first in that series and is the biggest lemon you'll find!

 

I tell the hubster, "Since you commute 20 minutes each way, five days a week, you should get a small car that's good on gas." The rumbling you heard? That was his laughter. It would seem that he has visions of some big honking huge piece of metal and gears like a Silverado, Avalanche or Dakota or other large manly types of vehicles. I was thinking more on the lines of a VW bug or even a small KIO. Ummm...no. Why do I have the feeling we're going to be coming home with a monster truck tomorrow, which will require a ladder for me to climb up in it.

What The Fudge

I'm having a perfect, "What the fudge," moment. We've been planning a trip to our hometown in Maryland for this upcoming week. We were going to leave on Saturday morning and spend the entire week in Maryland, coming home the next weekend. Then the hubster's SUV started having transmission problems. Short term solution (rather than doing the smart thing and staying home to get it fixed or to buy a new vehicle) is to take my poor aged minivan. At twelve years old, it's not my first choice for a 1500 mile round trip. Not to mention my AC doesn't run very cold anymore and I'm too cheap to pay the $200 to get it serviced again, because the last time I did it ended up costing me $950. And then there is the fact that the wiper transmission is going up on the van and the wiper blades are stuck in the upward position when not in use. Fine for the driver, but the passenger side has a wiper blade smack-dab in the middle of their vision.

(No, we aren't getting snow today. I'm just too lazy to go out and take a picture of it this morning. But you can see the wiper blades in this picture and can imagine how annoying it will be for the passenger on a long trip--aka me.)

This morning I turn on the weather channel and learn that tropical storm Andrea will be coming right up the Eastern seaboard just as get there. Did I mention my mother in law lives in a coastal town and that's where we'll be staying? Seriously, what the fudge? Is the Universe trying to tell us not to go? Every fiber in my body is screaming that it's a bad idea to go right now. I learned a long time ago to listen to my body's signs. The hubster hasn't--or won't--learn that lesson yet. He's hell bent on going this week, come hell, high water or tropical storm.

Rest in Peace

My husbands SUV is our sturdy trip mobile. The USS Pathfinder. He doesn't like my mini van and prefers to drive his manly SUV on all of our trips. That's fine by me, because its an extremely comfortable SUV. When we were in Alabama during spring break, it acted funny one afternoon. It was acting exactly like my first car did all those years ago, when the transmission went out on it. After the SUV rested for a day it seemed to be fine. Sunday afternoon, on the way home from Cincinnati, it did it again. Fortunately we were less than a block from home. But this time it's still acting wonky (a technical term). We're afraid it's death is near. We've had the SUV since 2005, so it's paid off. But we've been enjoying spending the money we would have spent on a car payment. I fear our good times are over. The hubster is going to make a last ditch effort by having the transmission flushed this weekend, but I think he's throwing money into the wind.

Another reason he doesn't want to get rid of the SUV, other than not having a car payment, is that our dog (who died March 2008) loved that vehicle.  He loved it so much that he's still in there! Hard to believe, but whenever I take a picture of the SUV at night, he shows up in the picture. We've tried to get Moose to pass over into the light, but so far he hasn't. A Medium told me that I need to ask a friend or relative who has passed over to come and get Moose and help him go into the light. I know I need to do that. Its hard though. We've missed that dog so much that I think it became a comfort when he (and his friends) started showing up in the SUV.

(See the two dogs in the middle seat? The beagle lived next door to us and passed a few months after our Moose did. It would seem that they are joined in the afterlife. We don't know who the dog in the far back is.)

But still, you can't live your life around the spirit of your deceased pet. The SUV has to go sometime.