Dogs, Cars, Kids

Above is a picture I took this a.m. It is the creek behind my home. I think the beavers have built this small, partial dam. Unfortunately, the light was not very good, but, it's a decent enough picture to share.

I've been bit by the dog-transport bug! One day, I'll actually take my camera along and post some pictures for you! On Saturday, I drove from Richmond to Springfield. I had two kittens who already have an adoptive home. I also had Sparky, an Australian Shepherd/Husky mix. He was about 1 year old. A sharp looking fellow, I tell you, and a sweetie pie. He's the type of dog that should go to a single guy, for every female will be oohing and aahhing over the dog!

I also had Maizey. A beautiful lab mix, though a bit smelly. She had just weaned her puppies, and she was off to a foster home. Both Sparky and Maizey were wonderful, loving dogs. Maizey was particularly needy--wanting closeness. At Springfield, Sparky met his adoptive parents. He would have gone with Charles Manson. Luckily, they screen folks well on these adoptions, so Charles Manson would likely not get approved. (Somehow all of these pet names end in the "ey" sound!),

It was a bad karmic day for me though. We have a bit of a car lot here. I have my 1996 Oldsmobile Aurora. I love that car. It has a Northstar, small block V-8 with dual exhaust. And, it is so beautifully appointed inside. A really nice, luxurious, high-performance car. It's the first car I ever bought used. I will drive it until it can no longer hoof its way down the road. As I was loading up the Oldsmobile, I got in to find that my keys were not in it.

I live in the country. If you want to come and steal one of my cars, the keys are in all of them except my daughter's. She hoards hers in her purse. My daughter had to use my car because her 2001 VW Jetta VR6 was in the shop. So naturally, as is her hoarding way, she put my keys in her purse, and she happened to be at work. I was left with my Thunderbird--2 seats. The other two suitable vehicles were in use by my husband and son. The t-bird is not much good for transporting dogs. I also have more women come up to me and tell me how much they love my car. I laughingly tell them it is my boob job and face lift--meaning my "middle-age crisis car"!. I also get older men who come up to the car because it reminds them of the T-birds of the 50's. It's very sweet, and I really enjoy talking with these nice people.

My daughter's Jetta is really nice: it's quick, handles fabulously, and there are no blind spots. it has leather interior and premium sound system. We try not to spoil our kids. We're ordinary people. My deal with my kids is that I'll match whatever they save towards their car. This car was much discounted. It's a salvage rebuilt. A salvage rebuilt is a car that has been bought from the insurance company (which labeled it as totaled), and it has been repaired. It has a title, and the title very clearly states, "salvage rebuilt." A very lucrative business. So we bought this car with 27K miles for $11K and the book value was about $18K. So we received a pretty good car for not alot of money. We took it to our friend who is a mechanic. He said we would not be sorry to own this car. Unfortunately, with a SR title, it voids the warranty. And VW's seem to have a ghost in the machine and every repair and part is quite expensive. Because this car needed a new transmission, that ordinarily would have been covered under the warranty, we've spent enough in repairs to eat up the price difference. The new transmission cost about $5K. I've NEVER spent that kind of money on a repair.

So I drove my T-Bird to my daughter's work and handed her the keys with clear instructions that she was only to drive home. The Jetta was an able dog transport vehicle. But I was getting off to a bumpy start and had to hurry a bit so I wouldn't be late. At my destination in Springfield, I managed to lose my distance glasses. I think I had taken them off to read something and tucked them in the front of my shirt, as I generally do. I'm sure they fell off when I was bending over and handling the dogs. I looked and looked. No glasses. Luckily I had my prescription sunglasses, and it was still light.

But I arrived home safely and happy for having done a good deed. I hope you had a relaxing weekend. As you can see from this post, I'm refraining from market commentary for this weekend.