More ‘News’

Hello, all!

Well, here at ’sick cat Central’ things are (I hope) looking ‘up’. It’s been several trips to the vets since Saturday and we now have the exact opposite of ‘blocked urinary tract’… an incontinent cat! Today’s visit found the vet writing us a prescription for a medication that will help reduce the size of the bladder so he will (hopefully) be able to ‘feel’ when he has to ‘go’; for now we’re borrowing our neighbor’s huge dog crate and confining him to that with a small litter pan and old bath towels. Without making you ‘ill’, this is the best solution so that the whole house doesn’t reek. Ah, the joys of pet ownership, eh? The good thing in all this? The vet isn’t charging me for the daily re-checks!

The other ‘good news’? I think we’ve finally figured out my ‘car problem’! (trying to make this short) I believe the problem lies in the fact that my car thinks the ‘alarm system’ is being tampered with, hence the start right up then die/no gauges thing. I remembered that the last time it did that, I had pressed the little automatic lock button on my key chain (I usually just push the button inside the door when locking my car). Very rarely do I use the keychain button and, now that I think of it, I’m wondering if ‘that’s IT‘! We’re going to do an experiment and both my husband & I will not be using the keychain button any longer and see if that does the trick. A person I was chatting with at church said his friend has the same problem; they just wait 10 minutes and it re-sets and they’re good to go! Crazy, but I think we’ve finally ‘got it’!

That’s what’s shakin’ around here; need to get off here and go iron my youngest son’s clothes for his choir concert this evening.

Enjoy your day!

Hugs;

Pammie

Here We Go Again…

Here we are at Saturday again; it’s been another kind of unusual week:  our cat was overnight at the vet’s, he’s doing better (obstructed tract), my car stopped running on me (AGAIN!) and had to have it towed. Like before, let it sit awhile and it runs just fine so that the mechanics can’t find a thing wrong with it! UGH! Rented another PT Cruiser and upon returning it got a tip from the rental guy for a new car repair place nearby that only does electrical work…just what I need! Have to arrange to get my car there soon (before I’m stranded again). The general consensus is that the problem lies somewhere between the starter and the gauges, as when it ‘does it’s thing (starting then immediately dying) I finally noticed that none of the gauges works, except the digital clock works…go figure! This is, what…the third time this has happened in the past 2-3 months now? Sure isn’t cheap when you factor in all the car rentals! (fortunately the car repair place isn’t charging me for keeping my car overnight and trying to figure out the problem. You KNOW you’ve been there waaay too many times when they greet you by name as you come in the door! Enough of all that…

Tonight is the Homecoming dance for my youngest son; he’s going ’stag’ and hanging out with his friends for the evening. We’re to drop him off at “On The Border” restaurant around 4:45 and one of the kid’s Dads is driving all of them to the dance after dinner. Meanwhile, my husband & I will be attending an annual fund-raiser dinner and auction; we’ve attended something like three years now.  The food’s great and we get to visit with people we both worked with years ago (or, in my husband’s case, is still working with…I’m retired). The great part of this night is that I will be able to closely observe all the workings of their auction! Our special needs Potato Dinner & Auction is this Friday, so I’ll be on the look-out for any tips to make our event more dynamic. So far we have 11 baskets donated and 3 ‘other items’ (like a laser level, a Madame Alexander Coca-Cola collector’s doll and one more thing). I’m getting excited and a bit nervous at the same time; we have several volunteer ladies from the church to help set up and serve. We’re hoping for close to 100 people, but of course, we’ll be happy for even 50!  One of our volunteers is coming in early Friday to scrub, dry, poke holes and wrap in aluminum foil all 100 potatoes! That’s some job; I guess she’s bringing her mom to help out (Thanks, Mom!).

That’s what’s happening here this week; the weather is chilly but (so far) no white stuff. The newspaper was saying we were supposed to get snow flurries and some accumulation yesterday; fortunately for me, I didn’t even SEE that prediction until late last night when reading the paper! As you know if you’ve read my blog before, I’m NO fan of the nasty white stuff, but know that it’s necessary for the continuation of our lake’s health around here in the “Great Lakes State”. (Michigan, in case you wondered).

Enjoy your day!

Hugs;

Pammie

ps: UPDATE: Just got back from an emergency trip to the vets; cat had another obstruction and THANK HEAVENS the vet was willing to do a quick anesthesizing, catherization and flushing instead of sending us to the weekend emergency vets which runs tons of $$$. He’s home now, doing ok but a little groggy from the visit; recheck on Monday.

Of Cabbages and Kings…

Hello, all! It’s been awhile since I’ve posted – not that I haven’t thought about ya, just been too busy/pooped/stressed (fill in the blank here) to compose my thoughts enough to make up a blog post. What’s been happening, you ask? Where to start . . . I guess, for starters my BACK is doing MUCH better (I’m still dreading going for the adjustments but it’s worth it). I actually went from Monday to Friday before having a return visit/adjustment . . . that’s a three-day reprieve! YAY! Next visit is an evaluation and adjustment, but I’m actually much more agile which makes me happy.

Second: Middle son’s “CCC” (Constant Car Curse): without going into tons of details, we got the title for the ‘gift’ car, got all the paperwork transferred, had it towed to Midas to find out why it wouldn’t run; turns out it was the alternator. They replaced it, called us and we went to pick it up (5-10 min. after phone call). Got there and were met by the mechanic who was just shaking his head – it seems that when they were pulling it out of the bay, the ‘Service Engine Soon’ light came on! When they checked it, the alternator was charging TOO MUCH (which would cause the battery to blow if let continue). They assured us that they would order another alternator/no charge to us. That took another 2 days.  Yesterday we FINALLY were able to pick up the car, take it to the local tire place, get a new tire for the front ($60) so he’s not driving on a donut anymore, and now he’s ‘on his way’….for how long, we don’t know.  Amidst all the other car ’stuff’, the first time they thought they had the car fixed for us it stopped running while the mechanic was taking it for a test drive and had to have it towed back to the shop! Oh! Forgot to mention the ‘fun’ adventures of Wednesday! I spent most of that day either sitting and knitting in my car or listening to car dealers talk. Middle son had decided that since his ‘luck’ (or lack of) with cars was so dismal, he would look into buying a NEW CAR! He’d decided to go with (don’t shoot me here, it wasn’t MY idea!) either a KIA or a Honda. (the rest of the family are dyed-in-the-wool Chrysler people). He test drove a Kia something (not sure what model) that would run him something like $14,000, then we went to the Honda dealer and they were all ready to give him a car for something like $17,000 out the door (with his dad’s co-signing). He put $200 down and we were all ready for him to (finally) have a reliable vehicle until… his older brother called yesterday and we chatted about the ‘new car’ idea. He mentioned to me: “Mom, are you aware that he’ll have to have FULL coverage for insurance? That would run him AT LEAST $250!  Add that to the monthly payments of $335-350 and he won’t have any money left per month to even buy gas OR go to college classes!” (Well, folks I’ve never in my life had a new car, so I had NO idea on all this.) Back we went to the Honda dealer to get his $200 down payment back. He was very disappointed, to say the least.  AT LEAST he now has a ‘car’, even though it’s this beater Neon that leaks oil big time. Our neighbor said he would look at it to see if he can figure out why it’s leaking oil so bad. (a quart a week).   That’s my big CAR WOES story for this week (let’s hope this doesn’t continue to other weeks…at least not any time soon!).

The holiday weekend is upon us; my husband’s on vacation for a week which takes some of the stresses off me (YAY!) I’ve still been knitting/crocheting squares and am hopeful that today I’ll be able to lay out another 4-5 afghans to begin putting more together. No particular plans for the weekend – no outside barbecues, no picnics…nothing special other than relaxing (I HOPE!!!).  The laundry is almost caught up, the dishwasher needs running soon, but other than that…Pammie’s taking a break from life  and it’s stresses (I HOPE!).

Hope you have a great holiday weekend and that it’s filled with nice, relaxing things that you enjoy.

Hugs;

Pammie

ps:   Our weather is supposed to be just gorgeous all weekend – in the 70’s and sunny…who could ask for a nicer ‘end of summer’?

pss:  Perhaps you’re wondering why I chose that title for this post – the line came to me, while listing all the ‘car troubles’ stuff and searching for a suitable title.  The quote is from Lewis Carroll:

“”The time has come,” the walrus said, “to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships – and sealing wax – of cabbages and kings”

this is a quote: (from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872); the poem is called: “The Walrus and the Carpenter”.

Things are looking Up!

Guess you could say “It’s about time!” Got the call today that my car has been fixed, come pick it up. I returned the rental and was in for a pleasant surprise: it seems the other PT Cruiser (the one with the huge gas bill) was a fluke – the total cost for me driving 151 miles was $20.04 to fill up this tank! YAY! (I was really dreading the bill on that one, compared with the previous PT rental).  My car is ‘home’, I’m home and starting to relax a little; today’s been a bit hectic. Went to chiropracter and my visits are beginning to be shorter and shorter – it seems my back is healing very nicely! Another YAY! I’m learning to tolerate a little pain during the spinal adjustments, knowing that it’s ultimately working for my good. Things are looking up!

It ‘was’ raining today but even that has stopped and the sun is starting to break through … a third Yay!

Hope your day is either good or getting  better!

Hugs;

Pammie

ps: I also just discovered I can’t count! Several weeks ago I reported that I was getting very close to the 200-mark on total afghans made . . . I was wrong. I have NO idea where my head was when I was thinking that but a few days ago I went upstairs and physically counted the afghans here in my possession . . . total: 10.  Total afghans dispersed to various foreign countries: 185.  Total count of 185 plus 10 does NOT come to over 200! (goofy me, eh?). Anyway, I’m back on track at assembling afghans, working on #196 today. Sometime soon I’m hoping to report that FINALLY I’ve achieved that 200 mark!

Pancakes and Power Trains

Well, here we are at Thursday and the car repair place called with the specifics on why the “Service Engine Soon” light stayed on: it needs a Power Train Control Module . . . to the tune of $645! What to do, what to do? At this point in the game, we need a car and certainly can’t afford a ‘new’ used one, so it’s “fix the car”.  Sticker shock like that produced my other response to big surprises . . . I cook – specifically Pancakes! (should have taken a photo, but they were scarfed up as quickly as they were done cooking . . . the boys were hungry!). I’m still driving the PT Cruiser and having fun on the curves, but the fact that I know that sometime very soon I’ll have to visit the gas station for a fill up is not a pleasant thing, in my mind. I finally found the little button that gives you the Miles Per Gallon this vehicle is using and the answer was about what I’d suspect: 16.5  …my minivan gets something like 18! (see post a few back when I said that it cost me $32 for 1/4 tank of the cheapest gas  to fill up the last PT Cruiser I rented a few weeks ago! That broke down to: $32 to drive a total of 42 miles!) That’s just crazy! You’d think that these newer cars (even ones that were built to look “Retro”) should have better gas mileage than that!   . . . wouldn’t you? Hey, I’m no car executive, but ‘fun driving on curves’ just doesn’t cut it when compared to tons of money going out of your pocket and into your gas tank . . . that’s MY bottom line. I’ve had my fun with this one, but a very glad I don’t OWN one! (just my two cents inserted here)

Other than that, our weather is doing it’s best to convince me this has been the strangest summer (weather-wise) in my lifetime. We’ve gone from chilly June/July to a few really scorcher days of mid to high 90’s and now we’re back to 60’s or high 50’s! Drove youngest to orthodontist this morning and it was a very chilly 57 and grey out. At 1 p.m. drove middle son to work and it had got up to 71 (big surprise cause it sure didn’t LOOK that hot out, OR feel it!). By 6:30 p.m. we were back down in the high 50’s again. We had rain yesterday which cooled it off some – that’s another thing! We haven’t hardly had any rain this summer, either. (I can just hear my middle son droning on & on about “Global Warming”…yawn). I’m no weather expert, just paying attention to what’s around me and it’s certainly been a strange summer weather-wise; how about your weather in your area?

Hope you had a good day today;

Hugs;

Pammie

Not Much to Add…

Life around here the past three days has been pretty predictable: drive to chiropracters, come home…etc. My back is feel much more limber (thank heavens!) and today’s treatment wasn’t nearly as painful as days past (I’m getting more mobility in my lower back and that’s a GOOD thing!). My other ‘not fun’ thing is: my car is in the shop…AGAIN. As I write these words I have the feeling I’ve already gone over this with you, but upon checking my previous posts and drafts, I guess I’m wrong. Yes, I’m once again driving a PT Cruiser (since Monday). My car is being checked this time because the “ABS” (brake system), “Service Engine Soon” light, and the “Alarm Set” lights are all staying on. I’ve encountered various opinions on this from several friends; some say (as I believed) you need to get the vehicle in for a check up immediately and NOT drive it (especially with the Service Engine Soon light on) – others say: “Aw, those are just ‘idiot lights’…you can ignore them.” I tend to error on the side of caution, so once again…we’re playing the ‘car repair’ game. So far, I’m hearing they have NO idea WHY the lights are on…”It’s a communications problem…it isn’t really the engine.” GREAT…then FIX IT!!! I gave them until today and said that if they can’t fix it by Weds. it goes to the dealership (not wanting to do that, either…see last encounter with them…sigh). I just got back from the chiropracter’s office and am not really wanting to face the next step of confronting the repair place, but will do so when I get off here. The bad part of all this? It’s costing me $30 a day for the car rental; the good part?  THIS car rental is $5 cheaper than the last time! I’ve put 83 miles on it since Monday (can you tell I needed a car?) and tonight is my special needs group, so that’s going to add quite a few miles also. Getting really tired of the ‘car game’ here.

Not much else going on, haven’t been knitting or crocheting or sewing squares together much; I did, however, get to go to my knit group last night and that was refreshing to re-connect with friends who enjoy my yarny obsession.

Keeping my chin up, back limber and hopes high that eventually this will all clear up! Hope you’re having a good day;

Hugs;

Pammie

ps: Update: Middle son got out of work early, I had him drive my van home from repair place (they couldn’t find out why the light was on, so ‘no charge’…YAY), then I drove my van to the dealership. Word from them: they won’t be able to get it looked at until tomorrow morning, but at least it’s now (hopefully) where it ’should’ be. Got a ride home from there with their ‘Courtesy shuttle service’, so things are looking up.