Check in: May 1st, 2021

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chocolite
Posts: 1444
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 8:11 pm

Re: Check in: May 1st, 2021

Post by chocolite »

Prairie Waif2 wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 10:52 am C'est matin toute le monde! (It's morning, everyone),

I can't manage the bonne matin this morning! :lol:

I hardly slept all night, I did but was up on and off with nightmares and I ache over EVERY inch of my body, even bones I've never had hurt before! The nightmares were about the car, so that figures. The aching all over is a PTSD response along with just the stress in general yesterday. I was so tenses up for all those hours that it figures I would hurt today, I just didn't think it would hurt like THIS. :roll:

I started on my jaunt to get the bike. All was going well until about an hour outside of town when the heat gauge for the engine redlined. Oh no! I pulled over to the side of the road and the exhaust was billowing smoke and it was awful!! I opened the hood and did the only thing I know how to do, check the oil. It was okay. I then let the car cool down and tried to find a gas station amongst all the small town in the area. I stopped at a very small town's convenience store that, thank heavens was open, and learned that 5 minutes away (at full speed) was a bigger convenience store along with a gas station. I limped over there at less than half the regular speed with my flashers on to warn traffic behind me I was slow moving. By now? The low coolant light was flashing too. UGH!

I got to the station and the man there was lovely. He let me use his phone to call the lady I was buying the bike from to tell her what was going on. He also had a $30 just of Prestone Coolant. I then begged a ride back to the car from a fellow as the car had died at the VERY edge of town. A wonderful woman gave me a ride to the gas station. I really, REALLY lucked out with the kind gentleman that took me back to my car. By now? The flashers had killed the battery and it wouldn't start to put the coolant in and get it circulating through the radiator. You have to be VERY careful not to open the coolant cap until the car is cooled down or it can explode over you. The man (name, Glenn) Checked all of that and when I couldn't get the coolant in properly due to a very strong wind blowing it all over the place, he kindly did that too. We jumped started the car and all seemed good for me to go on down the road.

He left before me and I could see him ahead of me on the road. Then? The heat on the engine redlines again. At this point? I thought, "Geez! I wish I could afford a cellphone!!" As I was there pondering my fate at the edge of a trunk highway in the middle of the flat prairie, Glenn had seen me, he'd been watching in his review, and came to see what had happened. At this point? We tried again and this time? The engine made some funny noises. Glenn called it kaput and I had to agree. He asked where I was going (I'm still an hour from home at this point) and he told me he was going to a small town near where the bike was located. He was going to go right by it and offered me a ride to the town about 20 minutes away. What a NICE guy! As I got in and finally introduced myself, and he as well, it turned out the town he is from is where one of my best University buddies is from and he was friends with the family!! (Good marks for him there!). We had a very nice chat on the way to the little town's convenience store which was just closing at it was now 9:00 pm.

The nice young man at the convenience store stayed open an extra 15 minutes while I called Nelly (bike seller) to tell her what had happened. She was always going into Brandon, but without the bike so my hope was to be able to get a ride back to town. She was not home like she said she would be!! She had me call her husband who was at home. I asked him about getting a ride back to town and he said he'd need about $50 because that was the cost of the gas to get his big truck into town and back to their house plus he had his two toddler daughters. I was good with that. After all, he did have to drive with his girls the hour to Brandon to get me home. He had the bike in the back of the truck.

Matthew, Nelly's husband, and the kids, gave me a ride straight to my door and he took the bike out of the back of the truck. OH! Is it EVER a nice bike!! He said he takes his electric bike all over but she could find much reason to ride her bike in their very small town (300 pop). I rolled the bike into the house, came in and decompressed for a while and had supper and then introduced May Day as I checked in just after midnight (minuit).

My little hamster is a doll! The cage is an expensive one as are all her toys! So, I'm switching the price of the ride home for having gotten my little girl for that amount and at that? She was very inexpensive (she was given to me for free). So nice to watch her play in her cage.

After yesterday's big adventure and all my pain today? I'm doin' nuthin'!

Thanks Maggine an Florida and all for the thoughts on my car. I guess it's a good thing I have a bike for transportation! And rides from friends.

That's the long and short of it. :shock:

So that's the skinny from here! (thanks to all who made it through my exciting 6 hours last night!)

MJ
Oh MJ ..... I'm so sorry for all you had to go through yesterday. I hope you're able to get your car in working condition and safely back to you, or if not, sold for a good price where you can look at getting another vehicle. I hate car trouble and I totally get how stressful it is. Take care of you!

And congrats on the new little fur baby! Have you named her yet?
Last edited by chocolite on Sat May 01, 2021 4:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Patty
jckitty
Posts: 3400
Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2015 8:55 pm

Re: Check in: May 1st, 2021

Post by jckitty »

Hello all,

(((MJ))), that is one thing that scares me so much...car trouble. Is the car totally kaput and do you have free/reduced public transit available?

I had the youngest grand for a couple hours this AM, then DD2 and I attended the graveside service for my friends parents. DD2 is named for this friend. It was wonderful to see them, but such a sad occasion. It was a lovely service, very windy and I was cold. But I wore my wool hooded cloak from Ireland and put the hood up and it was cozy. My friend has now lost both of her parents also.

Is is so windy again today, I wanted to try to mow this afternoon but not in this wind. so just hanging out in the house.

My buckeye trees are in full bloom and the pollen is everywhere...the hophornbeam tree blossoms have already blown off the trees...this wind is awful.
Not potting up my plants until better weather....the greenhouse is a madhouse with people buying ...it will be picked over by Mother's Day.
I did see a hummingbird today, but with this wind it would jostle all of the nectar out of the feeders so I will try tomorrow.

No clue as to what I will do this afternoon...I will probably go to bed early., I am already tired :roll:

JCKitty
Prairie Waif2
Posts: 1893
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:33 am
Location: Brandon, Manitoba CANADA

Re: Check in: May 1st, 2021

Post by Prairie Waif2 »

LogicsHere wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 11:15 am Are there any Prepaid Cell Phone Plans in Canada? I was going to suggest a Tracfone, but found out that Tracfone doesn't work there. I picked up a smartphone here in the U.S. on QVC for $87 US which included 800 units (which I haven't found to be any different than minutes and 1500 MB of data; which carries over to following year. It's not much but if you only carry it for an emergency it isn't bad). Renewal for 1 year is $140 prox. If they had something like that where you live and can afford something like that to carry around only for emergency use, it might be worth it.
Logics,

Years ago, when I was still working, I had a cell phone that was only for calls and texts. Up here, you have to buy a phone (last one was about $120) and then pay a connection fee and buy phone minutes ($30) and then buy text messages, so after the expense of the phone, it was $60/month because they didn't rollover unused time to the next month. All that may have changed by now and I'm not so certain it would be cheaper. :?

I don't have a car anymore so I'm not going anywhere without a ride that has a cellphone. I'm the only one in my group that doesn't have one.

Thanks for the suggestion. If the car is fixable, I may look into that for the next time I do a road trip to Minnesota.

MJ
Hope has a good imagination.
chocolite
Posts: 1444
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 8:11 pm

Re: Check in: May 1st, 2021

Post by chocolite »

Afternoon, all. It's been a quiet day around here. Audrey has been glued to my side all day. I do wish she wasn't as clingy as she is. She's like a heater pressed up against me every time I sit down. Ugh.

Today has been a spendy day. I ordered DH's birthday gift from Amazon. He wanted Airpods with the wireless charging base. Sheesh. But he deserves to have a great birthday. I will make him a chocolate cake, which will make him happy too. I use my mom's easy recipe that has mayo in it, and it's super moist and delicious, and I make the frosting from the recipe on the Hershey's Cocoa box.

We got our tax assessment for our house this week, and it gave me sticker shock. It went up $59,000 over last year. I know houses are selling for more, but good grief. I have a friend in the neighborhood who is a realtor and she's going to look at nearby comps with me to see if it's worth appealing. Ugh.

It has been a beautiful day here, quite warm. I think rain is forecasted to come through tomorrow.

I made a roast with vegetables in the oven yesterday, so that's on the menu today as well. I'd like to make a dessert but Lord knows we don't need it.........
Patty
Prairie Waif2
Posts: 1893
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:33 am
Location: Brandon, Manitoba CANADA

Re: Check in: May 1st, 2021

Post by Prairie Waif2 »

Bonne apres midi toute le monde!!

I am so glad that Teddy has a diagnosis for his itchy. Poor little guy! Well, there's all kinds of new dogs foods without poultry in them so he should have fun trying those out.

Clem and Penny,
I sure hope you don't get flooding or flash flooding. When I see it on TV it looks so scary and I am sure it is!

My friend, who I've been sharing the car with all winter, took the news of Daphne's death on the side of the road very well. She even said, "Well, let's go make the road trip and empty her of all the stuff in her." She also had a CAA card which we used to get a tow into the small town near where the car died. Since we have been sharing the car for 2 years, it wasn't cheating CAA. :)

We got to the car, called CAA and while waiting for them to arrive for the tow, cleaned out all my winter gear from the trunk scapers and all that kind of Jazz. The guy called to say he was on his way. He told Sherry he'd seen me on the side of the road last night but was on his way to a call from the RCMP. He said he looked for me on the way back but that must have been when I was getting coolant and had the car parked on the edge of town. What a nice tow truck driver! Kevin wouldn't charge us the $3.00/km for any extra mileage outside of the 10km limit. He would tow it to a loca garage. He then explained that he thought it was a blown head gasket from what he'd seen as he drove by last night. OUCH! (that's about $1,000 or more for a $2,500 car? I don't think so!!). He told me to ask the garage for how much it would be for diagnostics. If it was too much, he would go and get it and haul it to his compound and take a look. Then? He told me that if she was dead DEAD, he also bought scrap cars. That means? I basically covered on all of it until I find out if she is dead DEAD (and I'm pretty sure she is from the three men who diagnosed it last night as the same thing Kevin did).

There is bus service in town that I have taken over 12 years ago before I had a car. For groceries and such, I can get a ride from friends. My next door neighbor shops every Sunday and Sherry goes every other Saturday.

After another road trip today I still need to have lunch and KNOW I am having a nap.

Oh, my little Hamster is named after my Grad School landlady who adopted me as her kid. Mom's name was Opal so my lovely little girl has her beautiful name!

Well, that's the full skinny out of me today. Thanks for making your way through!!

MJ
Hope has a good imagination.
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Check in: May 1st, 2021

Post by alliesmama4 »

Prairie Waif2 wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 5:04 pm Bonne apres midi toute le monde!!

I am so glad that Teddy has a diagnosis for his itchy. Poor little guy! Well, there's all kinds of new dogs foods without poultry in them so he should have fun trying those out.

Clem and Penny,
I sure hope you don't get flooding or flash flooding. When I see it on TV it looks so scary and I am sure it is!

My friend, who I've been sharing the car with all winter, took the news of Daphne's death on the side of the road very well. She even said, "Well, let's go make the road trip and empty her of all the stuff in her." She also had a CAA card which we used to get a tow into the small town near where the car died. Since we have been sharing the car for 2 years, it wasn't cheating CAA. :)

We got to the car, called CAA and while waiting for them to arrive for the tow, cleaned out all my winter gear from the trunk scapers and all that kind of Jazz. The guy called to say he was on his way. He told Sherry he'd seen me on the side of the road last night but was on his way to a call from the RCMP. He said he looked for me on the way back but that must have been when I was getting coolant and had the car parked on the edge of town. What a nice tow truck driver! Kevin wouldn't charge us the $3.00/km for any extra mileage outside of the 10km limit. He would tow it to a loca garage. He then explained that he thought it was a blown head gasket from what he'd seen as he drove by last night. OUCH! (that's about $1,000 or more for a $2,500 car? I don't think so!!). He told me to ask the garage for how much it would be for diagnostics. If it was too much, he would go and get it and haul it to his compound and take a look. Then? He told me that if she was dead DEAD, he also bought scrap cars. That means? I basically covered on all of it until I find out if she is dead DEAD (and I'm pretty sure she is from the three men who diagnosed it last night as the same thing Kevin did).

There is bus service in town that I have taken over 12 years ago before I had a car. For groceries and such, I can get a ride from friends. My next door neighbor shops every Sunday and Sherry goes every other Saturday.

After another road trip today I still need to have lunch and KNOW I am having a nap.

Oh, my little Hamster is named after my Grad School landlady who adopted me as her kid. Mom's name was Opal so my lovely little girl has her beautiful name!

Well, that's the full skinny out of me today. Thanks for making your way through!!

MJ

MJ congrats on your little Gem Opal!

Sorry to hear Daphne might be heading towards car heaven. Good luck with the outcome of what they decide. Glad you do have others to help out with getting you to places you need to go.
Janet Alliesmama
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