I got two mysteries going on.
One is simpler. I found this, while doing the outside cat feeding this afternoon.
The mesh used to replace the cloth hammock that was damaged during transportation to us is completely torn up. How on earth did this happen? It looks like maybe a cat fell through it. This stuff is pretty strong – it’s meant to protect gardens from things like deer and other critters.
No chance of repairing it until spring. That gives time to find some other material to use. If I can find some that is strong enough, I should probably replace it with fabric, like what was there originally. I’ll have a few months to find a proper alternative. Until then, the original fabric hammock on the other side is still very much being used and enjoyed by the cats. It even still had straw on it. The straw that I’d put on this one got knocked away, long ago, so that cats weren’t actually using as much.
Also, that’s Frank enjoying her supper, well away from the other cats crowding the kibble trays in the sun room and isolation shelter. Smart girl.
A rather minor mystery here. Then there is a much bigger mystery.
I got a message from the garage, asking me to give them a call about the truck. I talked to the owner. He told me they’d gone over the truck and found nothing. They still replaced fluids, just in case. He’s just taking it for a test drive.
The truck was running fine.
He’d even taken it on the highway and and drove it at the 100km/h speed limit. He drove it on 2 wheel drive and both 4 wheel drive settings.
It ran fine.
He drove it with the mechanic that had driven it with me and had felt exactly what I was talking about, and how it happened only while on 4 wheel drive but not 2 wheel drive.
The heard and felt absolutely nothing wrong.
What the heck??? They are completely perplexed, but there was nothing for them to fix.
About the only thing he could think of is that something had been frozen in the wrong place. The truck had been in the garage overnight, where anything like that would have melted away and left no trace.
We talked about it for a while and I commented on how I should probably drive it on 2 wheel drive instead of auto, just in case. I would just switch it to 4 wheel drive if absolutely necessary. He said that would be good, anyhow. While the manufacturer says it is fine to keep it on auto all the time, he disagrees.
The truck is now ready and waiting to be picked up.
Given that today is Thursday, I had figured there was no way I’d get the truck back before the weekend. If they found something minor but needed parts, they could order parts today, which would arrive tomorrow – but with so many vehicles bring brought in due to the weather conditions, that doesn’t mean they’d be able to do any repairs right away. I had messaged my brother and SIL asking if it were possible to get a ride for grocery shopping, just to the nearest Walmart or something. Before they even saw that message, I changed it to asking about the possibility of getting a ride to pick up the truck.
We started going back and forth on that for a while. They weren’t available during the day, while the garage was open, but could drive me in the evening. Would the garage be okay if I picked it up while they were closed? I hadn’t thought to ask what we owed for the truck, though; I am assuming there would be a charge for the fresh fluid, but they have not charged me for stuff like that before, so I may owe nothing. So we were thinking that I might call tomorrow during the day to find out what I owed, before working out picking up the truck.
Then my brother phoned. He had had an idea and did some searching online.
It turns out our neighbouring town has a taxi.
Singular. One taxi.
He had called the company and talked to the driver to see if they went as far as where we are and apparently they do it regularly.
!!!
I had no idea. I remember seeing a taxi in town once, years ago, so it never occurred to me that they might still be around. It might not even be the same company as years ago.
After talking to my brother about it, I got the number and texted. It is now arranged for a taxi to come here for 11am to take me into town to pick up the truck.
It should cost somewhere between $40-$50, but is about what it would cost my brother in gas to come out here and drive me to town, then drive home again.
I won’t be doing any city shopping after picking up the truck. I’ll go across the street to get a few more groceries, but the drive home will be my test drive to see if everything is still okay.
I admit, I am very nervous about driving the truck at all. We don’t know what went wrong in the first place. Perhaps our mechanic was right. Perhaps it was something frozen that caused it to shudder like that. If that wasn’t it, there is no way to know whether it will happen again!
So I will do some local driving first. As it stands now, I think my first stock up shop will be Costco on the weekend.
I need to talk to our mechanic again about getting a replacement vehicle. That it’s working fine and they didn’t have to repair anything is literally the best case scenario and I want to be happy and thankful about it. However, the truck has been so weird lately, it’s really been hell on my nerves. I just don’t trust it. There was no mistaking just how bad that shuddering was by the end of the test drive I did with the mechanic. They were just as confused about why it was happening as they are now confused about why it stopped!
Hopefully, I will have the truck back tomorrow, and it will continue to behave. I just wish I was more confident that it has worked out for the best, and that it won’t happen again while I’m driving home!!!
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 