sneaky ruthie
spanish moss tastes nothing like spanish rice
the sign above the hamburger factory next to the orphanage
the joke's on the publisher of this magazine- it turns out she was exactly what I thought she was
this was supposed to be an amazing museum, but what with the whittling we had planned and the shelf organizing we were already halfway done with, we just couldn't fit it in
Saturday, March 17 2008, by Mr. J (what Bomber calls me)
What’s up y’all? We miss you a bunch. Just checking in with the old bloggity blog to tell the world our latest, and silliest. As you must know, we had to get back to New Orleans by the 10th, since Lindsey was leaving, to take care of los perros magnificos. So, we took the bus back, and since then, have been to the dog park every day we had a working car, which is three days, I think. Today we hit the park in the French Quarter for a switch up, and the beasts appreciated that. They had a wild old time. About 20 dogs there, which means basically that there’s about 20 butts to sniff, which is, from my understanding, like the dog version of heaven.
Since we’ve been back we’ve had a bit of a rough time getting stuff sorted out. Lindsey said we could crash in our old place since she’s on vacation, so that was lucky break, but other than that, we’ve mostly been running into setbacks. First and foremost is the truck. Benjamin had written that the radiator was trashed, since it sprung a leak, and he tried to get it stopped but couldn’t. I tried to take it to get looked at, but never made it past the first place to get an estimate from, since there was a trail of pink fluid from our house to the shop- literally. The mechanic thought the trans had been filled with pink paint, but it was actually transmission fluid mixed with the water from the radiator. Anyway, since that was the case, we had to get the trans flushed too. We got an estimate, $250-$300, but we went back to get the car, and they had a bill waiting for us. It was $796. Ouch. Yikes.
Well, we fought the garage on that, and thought about just driving it out without paying, but they put it in the garage for the night once they realized we weren’t crazy about the bill. We ended up settling for $650 cash. That was the best I could do.
We left there with it, and decided to hook up the trailer and drive to Pensacola to pick up the boat, about 300 miles or less. 10 minutes out of New Orleans, we started feeling like we were going over a rumble strip, yet, there wasn’t one. We pulled over, thinking it was a flat, and couldn’t find any problem. We then tried to start up again, only to hear the most hideous of noises, kind of like if Loverboy teamed up with a chorus of squeaking chalkboards inside a garbage can being thrown down the stairs of the Washington Monument. Ruth pointed out that the drive shaft was laying on the ground underneath the truck. That made me think the trans had failed, so I checked the fluid, which looked like pink paint. We had just gotten our cell phones, as luck would have it, so we called and fought with the garage again. They offered to change the trans fluid again, as I yelled at them about the fact that they never did it the first time, and that now our trans was ruined, and the driveshaft as a cherry on top. I told this guy John (who has a name like that anyway? It sounds like a toilet!) that what we expected was that they would pick us up, tow the truck, fix our problems, and we wouldn’t lower the boom on them, and wouldn’t bring up to the IRS that they take cash on jobs to avoid paying taxes.
It didn’t work, they just blamed the person who had tried to fix the leak in the first place for letting the water get in the trans, and so I tried plan B, which was to say we’d buy the parts, and they fix their mistake and all resultant mistakes. They said they’d do their best if we got it towed there.
They offered a number of a towtruck, so we got that for $200, and waited. In the meantime, we disconnected the boat trailer, and realized we had been standing on an anthill. And not just any anthill, but fire ants. Nice.
Long story kinda short, Toyota wanted $1300 for the driveshaft, and who knows what they would want for the trans, but for now, we called about 25 places (no, not an exaggeration) before we located a junkyard that could order one for $225. So, we ordered one and hope to see it next week. They only take cash, so we had to drive to New Orleans East with the Honda, which has no plates (not good) and no insurance (really, really not good here) to put a payment on it, so we can pick it up next week. The upshot is that Benjamin is buying the car for most of what we paid for it, so that will buy us most of a new transmission if we end up needing one. In the meantime, we wait for the driveshaft to come in, and then I’ll install it, get the trans flushed again for free, and hope that it’s not trashed. If it is, that’s another $2000 or so. Yikes again.
So in the meantime, we’re working on the house, installing a driveway, a new gate, and a lot of odds and ends. It was fun trying to put a bunch of 2x4s, 4x4x8s, and fence slats into this tiny car, but we made do and now have the materials in order to keep working on the house while we wait. We’re sorry for the delay. We can’t wait to see you all. Tonight I ripped down our old rotting fence, and tomorrow I’ll put up the new gate. Ruth is making spaghetti, and right now, I’m drinking some beers, listening to Ace of Bass, and writing to you.
Because you’re loved. Cash and Mickey said so.
XOX
Mister J
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