One Car Family

Bill turning over the title to his Jeep to Kenny

It's official, we're now a one car family.  Bill took his Jeep to Kenny's Garage yesterday.  He sold it to Kenny.  Bill turned over the title of his Jeep to Kenny.  When I got home I called State Farm and told them that Bill no longer needed car insurance.

Bill's abandoned Jeep at Kenny's

Bill seems to be all right now that he is without wheels.  One thing we have more room in our tight two car garage.  Now he can park his John Deere tractor in the garage and I can get one of those Garden Way carts and put in our 8' X 10' garden shed.  And, we'll save money on car insurance.

We're still not absolutely sure we will remain a one car household but we're going to give it a try.  We always have the option of buying a small car in the future if this doesn't work out.  We checked out used cars but they are just too expensive for the amount of mileage they have them.  We would do better by buying a new car, probably a Honda Civic.  We'll see how it goes.

We now have total role reversal.  When I first met Bill I didn't have a car.  Bill drove me everywhere.  I didn't get my own car until we moved out of center city Philly in 1980 when I was 40 years old.  Bill still continued to do most of the driving in our family, I used my car mainly for shopping at garden centers and supermarkets.  Gradually over the years I expanded my driving area to include major highways.

Now I am the sole driver in this family.  I am comfortable with that.  In fact, I like caring Bill.  After all, he took care of me all those years.  This is only right.  A new chapter in our lives folks.  I wonder who will take care of me when the time comes for me to give up the keys.

And Then There Were None

Bill had a very trying day today. He called The Garage and his car still wasn't ready. He asked me to drop him off at The Garage at 12 noon and he would wait for it. Yesterday was our day to go to the Sam's Club in Dover, thirty nine miles away. We would have to do it today. But first, Bill had to get his '91 Jeep Cherokee out of The Garage. Of course when he went down they hadn't even started on the repairs. They did when they saw he was waiting. Two and a half hours later they told him they were finished. Frustrated, Bill paid the bill and stormed out of The Garage. Note, I refer to "The Garage" that way because that is the name of the auto repair business we patronize on Route 1, across from The Hampton Inn in Rehoboth Beach.

On the way home Bill noticed his "Check Engine" light was still on. They hadn't fixed the main reason he went in! That's why he took his car to The Garage. They found the brake problem when they took his car around the back of their place. A brake hose or something like that blew (I know I don't have that right but it was something drastic like that.) Well, the upshot is that Bill is so frustrated with this place he doesn't want to go back. Thus, in that mood we took off to Dover.

Before we left I wanted to check the bluebird box. I heard and saw more than the usual activity around the bluebird box and as I suspected, all the baby bluebirds were out save one. I took his/her picture before we left for Dover.

On the way to Dover we noticed that the traffic headed south was backed up. Ah yes, this is Friday afternoon when The Horde (tourists, weekenders, etc) descend on our fair beaches in coastal Sussex County. As year round residents we know to avoid travel on Route 1 both north and south on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. These are the days of the travel vans, SUV's and car with bike racks full on the back, and the young girls driving shotgun with their flip flop shod feet propped up on the dashboard ("Hey! We're at the beach! Time to relax and let loose and show everyone I'm one cool chick!") Oh how we love it. But, these are the folks that keep the economy going so I shouldn't be complaining. However I did see a cool bumper sticker:

"Welcome to the beach. Now go home."

Shopping at Sam's Club was extra fun today with the late Friday afternoon crowd. We never experienced that before and we don't plan to again anytime soon. Usually we go very early during a weekday morning but our schedule has been thrown all off kilter because of Bill's car getting repaired. On the way back we had to stop at the Super Wal-Mart in Milford because that is the ONLY PLACE in Lower Slower that I can get my Turkey Hill Decaf Orange Diet Ice Tea. THE ONLY PLACE. Again, shopping in Wal-Mart Friday afternoon is an extra special experience. The people, the people. I wonder sometimes do I look as strange and weird to them as they do to me? Man oh man. There are some doozies that shop at the Wal-Mart, especially the Jabba the Huts riding around on those motorized shopping carts in the store.

Returning home we were right in the middle of the Friday afternoon weekend rush to the shore. One thing I've never been able to quite figure out, what is the rush? Why do so many of our out of state tourists feel they have to break the speed limit, weave in and out of traffic to get to the shore to relax? What's THAT all about?

Well, we finally got home. Now it's unwind time. I checked the bluebird box and, as I suspected, it is empty. The last bluebird is out. That puts a punctuation mark to a very interesting day.