My pappy said, Son, yur gonna drive me to drinkin

I spent Saturday running around with the mom looking at car lots for a vehicle I could stand to own. I remembered I hate power locks, power windows and the chance of the battery going dead. I don't want my car to talk to me unless it's Houston calling and we have a problem. If I am not going to the moon then why do I need all those buttons and levers? I just want a car or truck that starts and stops when I tell it to and won't let me freeze to death in the winter. I like rear wheel drive and a stick shift. I like to use as little gas as possible and like a diesel engine.

I learned I am out of touch with the world - AGAIN! They want you to turn your car on when you are not in it, for pete's sake! You can unlock it without even knowing who is standing beside it waiting for you to open the darn thing. You can play music loud enough to go deef and there is still no voice that says, "You neglected to use your turn signal". Now that would be something I'd like a car to say.

I looked at Jetta's and new trucks and old cars and hit two towns of car lots with nothing jumping up and saying "buy me"! I really hate shopping for cars. I think guys like car hunting more than I do. It makes me miss having a man here to turn to. I could have said, "I really need an economical vehicle with some ground clearance for the winters and just enough power to tow a trailer with a motorcycle on it", cut the man loose with a price limit and he would be back in two days with three to choose from. Problem solved.

The other thing I was reminded forcefully of is how easily we forget how spoiled we are. The nephew, B1son, is going to let me use/buy his car that was parked. The driver's door does not open on the outside and the window only goes down about an inch before it falls off the track. The back door on the same side has never opened. The trunk opens with a keyhole saw. The head lights are so far from right that they are one under the other less than 15 feet out from the car in the center of the lane on dim and on bright only one changes to slightly further out. The speedometer is off by 10 MPH low. If you dim the dash lights they will stay on after the key is off and run the battery down. It gets less than 25 mpg. I don't think the radio works, either. If it did you couldn't hear it over the non muffling muffler.

It is very welcomed in my driveway and his kindness much appreciated. I will even consider buying it if nothing else comes up as it would be paid for and that counts for a lot with me. The repairs would be a few hundred. It runs well and drives well aside from the glitches I listed.

I have had my sweet little truck six years and planned on four or five more though and I really want to spoil me some more with a decent running vehicle.

Best Girl came over yesterday and we got the rest of the wallpaper up on the upstairs hall. I am down to painting the steps, half each, today and then putting the rest on in two days of being done upstairs except for sorting the crafts out and removing the excess. Then it's just clear off and paint the back porch and darn if I am not done on the house. Wow.

The nephew helped some too yesterday and was kind enough to take the trash out for me. We watched the Lions game and that hurt. Bag stays on.

So that's the news today. I'll catch you all out there later. Have to go paint now!