It was a quiet day, and I was even able to get some crochet done.
I do have a bit of a morning update on the truck. More perplexity. They test drive the truck a couple if times yesterday.
It was working fine.
At least, the first time they drove it. The last time they drove it, it started making noises again. They needed to wait for an available hoist si they could check out whatever us going on.
I got a city trip and a visit to my mother with no issues, but that short trip to the dump had do many issues in such a short time, with all those warnings from the onboard computer, it’s bizarre fir it to be working fine after being parked for a day and a half.
Funny how things can go so wrong – yet go so right, at the same time!
First off, I am seriously glad I cancelled both my own doctor’s appointment, yesterday, and my daughter’s on Monday, because of concerns about road conditions.
Second, it’s amazing how there were the right people available at the right time, and even the right places.
The truck just got towed to the garage again.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but my first warning of a problem was while backing out of the garage, to load it for a dump run. I wasn’t going to drive up to the house, but I at least wanted to back up closer to the cleared path to the chain link fence. As I was backing up, the truck basically stopped moving. I knew there was a snow bank I needed to clear and I thought I might have backed into it. I tried to get out in 2 wheel drive at first, then switch to 4 wheel drive, but eventually was able to pull forward while in 2 wheel drive and didn’t try backing up again. As I went to the house, though, I could see by the tracks that I never got anywhere near the snow bank. It was just loose snow over ice, and no traction.
My daughter and I loaded up the truck, and then I headed out. Things were really slippery on the gravel road, but once I was on the highway, it was fine.
It was slippery on the gravel road to the dump, but not too bad. I drove up to the booth to show my access card number, but there was no one there. The guy was at the pit area, using a front end loader to clear up the driving area in front. So I went to the recycling bins first and unloaded there, before heading to the pit. I did notice, every time I tried to move, everything was very slippery and the tires were spinning more than usual before I could get traction.
At the pit, I drove further in, to where it was already cleared, then turned to one side, so that I could back up to the pit and unload.
I got stuck.
Tires spinning, no motion.
I tried a few times in 2 wheel drive, then drive both 4 wheel drive settings. I could move forward slightly, but no traction in reverse.
At one point, the guy with the front end loader passed in front of me, clearing way more snow. I hoped that would help, but it didn’t.
After a while, he came out to talk to me. He made a comment about this being a problem with 2 wheel drive. I told him, I’m in 4 wheel drive! He said that only my rear wheels were turning, not the front wheels. !!!
I tried again, setting it to 2 wheel drive, and the front tires started to spin – but now I started getting messages on my dash. Stabilizers Off. Then Service 4 Wheel Drive.
The truck was not moving.
The guy then said he would try to find some cardboard or drywall or something to put behind the tires. I got my handy garden cultivator that we keep in the truck as a grabber, and used it to scratch up the ice behind each tire.
He found some drywall pieces and set them behind the tires, then suggested something to me, assuring me that he’s done it before, and would be safe. He said that he could try standing on the tail gate and bouncing the truck up and down while I reversed, so help it gain traction. So we did that, and it worked! Once I got far enough out, the tires were no longer spinning and I could back up normally.
He then helped me unload the garbage bags. When it was done, he said he would follow me out to make sure I got out okay.
So awesome!
Once I got on the gravel road, though, I could feel the truck starting to fishtail, and I kept having to slow down. The “slippery conditions” light was on continuously. By the time I got to the stop sign and started braking to stop, I started getting “stabilizer is off” and “traction is off” messages. As slow as I was going, the truck fishtailed to a stop.
Once on the highway and starting to accelerate, it started again.
That shuddering that, until now, only happened while in 4 wheel drive or auto.
I quickly pulled over. After putting it in park, I thought I would just try again and started to move forward again, but the shuddering immediately started.
So I parked, turned on my hazards and got to work.
This is what WordPress AI thinks my truck looks like. No rust. 😄
First was to try and message the family but, for some reason, my phone hasn’t been able to send messages while on data only. So I phoned home and left a message (I knew no one would be close enough to get to the phone before the answering machine kicked in). Then I called CAA.
Thankfully, this time, after going through the initial answering system, it went straight to a live person. The only difficulty there was, they need a physical address. I was on the side of the highway. There was, however, a driveway a short distance away, so I walked over until I could read their driveway marker number. I knew the tow truck drive would be able to find us, but CAA needed a physical address.
That done, I tried to message my brother and his wife, but it wouldn’t send. After some searching in my phone, I found a setting that, for some reason, was off, so my phone was trying to connect to the internet through my phone’s web browser, instead of through a data signal. I’ve never seen this setting before, so this must have been part of the latest OS update.
That done, I could finally send messages, and even look at the CAA map to follow the driver. Not that I was going to use it much, since it’s all open highway. I would be able to see the tow truck from a mile or more away.
Then it was time to wait.
I even had a couple of vehicles slow down beside me to check if I was okay, which was really nice.
I did get a call from the tow truck driver as soon as he got the CAA notice. We talked about my exact location, which side of the highway I was on, etc. He then asked if I would be riding in with him. That was when I asked about the possibility of getting a ride home. He would have to go past the turn to our place anyhow, and we were only 2 miles out of the way.
Also, just one mile past his sister’s place, at the large animal rescue. So he had no problem knowing where I was, and agreed to drive me home along the way.
Which is so extra appreciated, as it turns out my brother wouldn’t have been able to come out – they were on their way to an event in another town – and my sister and her husband might not have been able to, because today is the Sabbath, and their “church” is pretty strict about that sort of thing. Helping me out might have been okay, though. Still, it would have been at least an hour for them to reach me, or they would have to meet me at the garage. Which closes at 1pm on Saturdays.
So that was something else that fell into place.
While we were driving, I told the driver about what happened and what warnings I was seeing. I had left a message on the company phone, but I was able to give him more details this way.
He asked questions about the mileage and stuff, and I told him a bit about the many very odd and unpredictable problems we’ve been having, as well as how this shuddering thing would come and go, and they could never find the cause. It would work fine while they were testing it. He laughed about that part, because he understood completely. He has that happen with his own vehicles! He even brought up that, for the potential cost, first for how much time it might take to find the problem, then the repairs themselves, it might be better to trade it in. I told him that I’ve already been talking to his brother about that, but we still have almost 3 years of payments on it. He assured me, his brother would be able to help us (he even mentioned that, for regular customers, he can do payment arrangements for work done). I brought up that we (my brother and I) have been talking about including my mother’s car as a trade in, but it was suggested we could get a better price by selling it ourselves. I said that’s not something I would feel up to doing, but my brother suggested we could sell it on consignment.
It turns out, our mechanic does sell on consignment!! Plus, we could probably do better that way, since it would be highly visible on the lot.
Something to work out. I co-own my mother’s car, as I needed at least partial ownership to be able to register and insure it. My brother was able to arrange that, as my mother’s PoA. If we do work out something to sell it, it might be easier for him to make me full owner, so he wouldn’t have to come out and sign things on my mother’s behalf.
But I’m getting ahead of myself on that.
Oh, and I did get complimented on the fact that I understood the risks of buying a high mileage vehicle. He said that he’s had quite a few people he’s towed that got high mileage vehicles, then would be really angry and upset because things were wearing out and breaking down. I told him, we knew the risks, but it was what we could afford – and his brother really went above and beyond to help us with the financing (I’m still convinced he sold it to us at a loss). I actually love the truck. It’s the vehicle we need, but all these weird break downs are just too expensive on a fixed income. I told him about some of our past experiences with the high mileage Uplander we had previously, which did remarkably well for us until we finally sold it for scrap. I then mentioned, the vehicle I liked the most was the Dodge Caravan. He perked right up on that. He said that the Caravan is one of the safest vehicles. He told me he’s rolled a bunch of them for the fire department, and has had one roll 10 times, and still not be crushed. !!!
How does one even get a job like that? 😄
As we were driving down the gravel road to our place, I suggested to him that he could drop me off in the intersection, rather than go to our driveway. With the walls of snow, the driveway is pretty tight for such a large vehicle, and he wouldn’t have room to turn around. He appreciated that! Once he got the tow truck turned around, it also gave him a chance to double check the straps securing the truck before he headed to the garage, and I walked the rest of the way home.
As much of a pain this break down is, it couldn’t have happened better.
I had been thinking of doing our Walmart and Canadian Tire run after my medical appointment, yesterday. Because I cancelled that, due to the weather, we didn’t have this happen while we were much, much further from home. Instead, it was only about 10-15 minutes from home.
We did get our Costco stock up shop done. We got the cat food donation. I got our lysine picked up from the feed store. We are good for some time. I even managed to get the dump run done before the break down. Yes, we still need to do our Walmart and Canadian Tire run, but neither of those are urgent. More importantly, I got a visit in with my mother.
I’d already cancelled my daughter’s medical appointment on Monday, just in case, so we won’t be needing to phone to cancel on the day of the appointment.
There was the guy at the dump, able to help me out.
Our regular garage now does CAA towing, and the driver is our mechanic’s brother, so not only do they know the area and could find me where I was, but I knew that anything I told him about what was going on would actually get to our mechanic. Plus, he was able to give me more information and assurances about other things, like that we might be able to get my mother’s car sold on consignment through the garage.
In the end, I have many blessings to count. For something that went wrong, it couldn’t possibly have gone more right in the process.
The first thing I noticed when I started it this morning was that the clock’s time was wrong. I’d reset it yesterday. Which means, we lost power to the console during the night, and it came back.
As my daughter and I were starting the drive, we were talking about what’s been going on with the truck, and how weird it was for the tire warning message and light to not be there anymore.
Then, just shy of the highway, less than 2 miles from home, both the light and the message came on.
*sigh*
We had left earlier than usual to meet someone from the rescue to get our top loading cat carrier back, but also to stop in the town my mother is in (again). We picked up a couple of energy drinks and sandwiches for breakfast, then went to the feed store to pick up the lysine. They were still closed, though, so we kept on going to where we were arranged to meet up. We had plenty of time to eat our sandwiches and just sit and talk.
Once we had the carrier again (they even cleaned it!), it was off to the city and Costco.
I could not believe how full the parking lot was, for a Wednesday morning! It was really busy in the store, but the bigger surprise was as we left. There was a huge line to the customer service desk, running all the way to the main doors outside. I don’t usually see that kind of line except after Christmas.
Still, we got what we needed to get here; anything left on our list will be done on our next Walmart run.
There is is. $760.67, before taxes. After the cart was re-loaded, we had to stop and my daughter reorganized things. Because of the crowds and line to the Customer Service desk, we had to do it outside. As our stuff was being scanned, a guy showed up to load the cart and he basically just threw everything onto the flat cart with no attempt to be secure or even logical about it. My daughter and I are both very keen on packing and stacking things well, so it was hard to watch! 😄
This picture was taken before my daughter was done reorganizing so no, those eggs did not stay balanced on top of the pierogi at the end of the cart!! 😄
This is what we got today.
We did get cat supplies, though with the generous donation, we should only need maybe one more 40 pound bag of kibble before the end of the month for the outside cats. We didn’t need any for the inside cats, so the two 9kg and two 11.6kg bags are all for the outside cats. I think the price on the 11.6 kg bags went up. Either that, or they were on sale that last time I remember getting them.
We also got a case of canned cat food and a case of XL puppy pads. We now have enough canned cat foot that we won’t need to pick up more for the rest of the month. Usually, I get a couple smaller cases at Walmart to have enough for the month.
For non-food items, we got our toilet paper, AAA batteries, and some more Head and Shoulders that gets used as an anti-fungal body wash.
For beverages, we got a case of Coke Zero and a case of Monster. The Monster variety pack had replaced one of the flavours from before, and it’s to one I like but haven’t been seeing in stores much at all lately, so I’m happy. It was also on sale, so that was bonus. There is also a 3 pack of oat milk for the girls.
In dairy, we got a 4 pack of cream cheese, a carton of whipping cream, a block of Old Cheddar cheese, plus 5 pounds of butter.
For meat and other protein, there is a double flat of 60 eggs, a panini pack of sandwich meats, some pickerel fillets for the girls, two big packs of drumsticks that were $5 off at checkout, a pork blade, a pork loin, and a variety pack of dry sausages that was on sale. I also got two garlic coils, as the price was almost half what they are, locally. Oh, and some canned chicken. The price on that seems to be staying under $20 for six cans of late.
There is also a bag of carrots – organic, but they were on sale, and we didn’t see any non-organic ones anywhere, a 20 pound bag of Russet potatoes, frozen perogies, a case of ramen noodles, a bag of basmati rice, a case of tomato soup, large jars of mayo, peanut butter, and pickles. There is a two pack of butter chicken sauce, a shaker of powdered garlic (which, oddly, had more product for a lower price than the granulated garlic I usually get), and a large bag of granulated sugar.
For bread products, I got a 2 pack of rye bread and we got two packs of tortilla wraps. Finally, as a treat, my daughter selected from toffee and chocolate chip cookies.
Note that we did NOT get any beef. We haven’t been able to afford beef at Costco for a while, now. Lately, I’ve been picking up the odd package on sale, locally. The last couple of times I was in town because of the truck, I got some stew meat and some ground beef with sale prices much better than Costco these days.
Once the truck was loaded up, we filled the gas tank. Costco gas was at $1.239/L instead of $1.359/L everywhere else! It cost $51.69 to fill the tank.
On the way home, we stopped at the feed store and picked up the lysine. It came in adorable little 1kg buckets from a different brand this time. The price went up, so the two of them cost $67.20 after taxes. The containers I got before had been $20 each. Still better than buying it elsewhere.
When I saw the buckets, I commented on them, and that I would probably be keeping them to reuse. The woman behind the counter completely agreed with me – you can’t have too many buckets!
She also asked me if I was still wanting to get chicks.
I said yes, absolutely.
She asked if I was after a specific breed or anything like that, and I said I just want laying hens. She named several breeds, and I was fine with any of them. Then she asked about the date I’d want them, snowing the hatchery’s schedule on their white board.
There was no way we’d be ready for them in April! I told her, we need to be able to assemble the chicken coop first, which means, no snow on the ground. (Yes, I know; they’ll be in a brooder for weeks, first, but I still want to have the coop assembled and ready, before we get them.) So she put me down for the latest date they had, which is May 27. She has two other people who are interested in getting a smaller number of chicks than the 24 chick minimum the hatchery sells them for. I told her that, with our coop, we can have a maximum of 10 chickens, so we can go under, but not more than 10. So she will talk to the other two people and see what can be worked out to split an order of chicks between us, as well as splitting the shipping costs. With three people, we’ll be paying $15 each for shipping instead of $45.
Hopefully, we’ll be able to work something out with the other two people and get it all arranged and ordered. I’m flexible on the delivery date, too, as long as it’s not in April! She said, all three of us have said we are flexible on things, so this should work out quite well.
My daughter had been waiting in the truck all this time, so once we were back on the road, I updated her about the chicks discussion.
I think she is actually starting to look forward to having chickens! My daughters had been very reticent about it. Especially her sister. They have online friends who keep chickens, and my older daughter had commented about chickens getting sick, and we wouldn’t be able to take them to a vet.
Well, no, but we would be getting what we need to treat them ourselves! The feed stores carry medications and supplements for chickens, as well as feed. There’s lots of info out there on treating chickens.
Then we got to talking about where to set up the coop.
Ideally, I’d like to have it where we can easily see it, which would be in the south yards. Most of it isn’t level, and some significant portions of it floods in the spring, so that likely won’t work. I mentioned I was thinking of having it sheltered in the maple grove, or even where we currently have a pile of maple logs from the trees cleared away from the roof. The ground under that log pile is quite level, and I can see it out my bedroom window. Inside the maple grove would be more sheltered and there are fairly level spots there.
My daughter suggested we set it up against the retaining wall blocks at the end of the old kitchen garden. I had considered that area, but it would have to be at the northernmost end, as the south end is next to an area that gets deeply flooded in the spring. It’s not as sheltered from the wind, but it does get more light than if it were in the maple grove.
The other thing to consider is being able to secure the coop from being blown over in high winds. We’ve previously talked about getting panels that we can set around the mesh sides on windy days. The roosts are under the floors of the nesting boxes, rather than inside. There are three nesting boxes, with access from outside, at each end of the coop. When we assemble it, I want to find a way to attach a couple of roosts in the space in front of the nesting boxes, so they can roost for the night indoors, and not be exposed to the wind.
Ultimately, though, where we set up the coop will be temporary. I still plan to have some sort of polytunnel or greenhouse of some sort over garden beds in the main garden area. The coop and chickens would spend the winter inside that. So while we will need to secure it to make sure it doesn’t get blown over in high winds, we still need to keep it mobile.
I quite enjoyed talking it out with my daughter!
Anyhow.
Once at home, I had to drive up to the house to unload. I had some concerns on whether or not I’d cleared away enough snow before my body gave out. Especially the area I pull into behind the garage, so I can back up to the house. Sure enough, while in 2 wheel drive, I got stuck. I switched to 4 wheel drive and was able to back up. It was hard to tell, but I think that shuddering had started up again, while I was reversing in 4 wheel drive. The distance was so short, though, I really couldn’t say for sure. I just made sure to switch back to 2 wheel drive as soon as I was stopped, so I wouldn’t forget later.
Then it was the assembly line to unload the truck into the house. Last of all, my daughter and I took the kibble bags into the old kitchen. The whole time, we were constantly needing to make sure Sir Robin didn’t get into the house! He so wants to be inside!
Once the last of it was done, I left my older daughter to put things away while I grabbed some hot water and did the outside cats early. My younger daughter took over doing the kibble while I topped up the water bowls. Once all the cats were distracted, I was able to drive the truck out of the yard. I only had to scoot two of them away, first!
So there was have it. Finally. Our Costco stock up trip is done!
We will still need to do the Walmart and Canadian Tire trips, but that’s not as urgent, and there isn’t a lot we need to get there.
What I do need to do is visit my mother! I am planning to do that tomorrow afternoon, so I’ll be calling her tonight to let her know. My sister should have been able to visit her today. Maybe. During the drive home, we hit some pretty crazy blowing snow conditions, but it did clear up before we got home. As I write this, we are at our predicted high of -13C/7F, but the wind chill is -28C/-18F
Oh, my! Not only are we warming up over the next few days but, as I write this, we’ve got a high of 6C/43F forecasted for Sunday! 6C!!!! Wouldn’t THAT be nice!!
So, tomorrow (Thursday), I visit my mother. The day after, I have my doctor’s appointment. Saturday, I want to make a trip to the dump. Just a regular garbage and recycling run, though; my mother’s old mattress and box spring, and the broken office chairs, will have to wait for another day. Monday, my daughter has a doctor’s appointment. After that we don’t have anything scheduled until my dentist appointment near the end of the month, but March is also a birthday month for my older daughter. For her special birthday dinner, she usually chooses Pizza Hut pizzas. So at least one more trip there (no one delivers where we live. 😄)
Well, our mechanic has said, we need to drive the truck often. Mechanically, it’s running fine, with the possible exception of the shuddering in 4 wheel drive that comes and goes. I can just keep it in 2 wheel drive until absolutely necessary. They’ve checked and re-checked, and they can’t find anything wrong that could be causing it. The weird electrical thing has only affected the console and radio. The dashboard display has not been affected.
It’s still hell on my nerves, though.
The main thing is, we have transportation again, AND we finally got our first stock up shopping trip done – a week later than usual!
He said the paw disappeared right after he took the photo. 😄😄
On to the weirdness of the day.
Today, I had an afternoon appointment to get the truck looked at again. When I headed out – very early – I found the console display was still working, but the warning dings from the door still weren’t happening. I didn’t even try to test it out on 4 wheel drive, though. I was already stressed out. Whether the shuddering was happening or not happening, it wasn’t going to alleviate that stress.
When I got to the garage and dropped off the key, I spent time some time talking to the owner. I told him what was working and still not working, and that I hadn’t tested the 4 wheel drive (he understood why not!). We talked about the battery, and the possibility of there being something draining the battery while it’s parked. The battery is only 2 years old. He said some batteries only last that long. We got it from him, though. It wasn’t the highest end battery, but it’s far from the lowest end, either. We also talked about the cold potentially affecting it, and I remembered to tell him when we first had an issue with the battery, early in the winter.
Then I was off.
I walked across town (all 5 or 6 blocks) and had lunch, then walked the last couple of blocks to the beach. The ice fishing village is still there.
There was also heavy equipment clearing the snow to make roads and open areas on the ice. I seem to recall seeing fliers for some sort of ice event coming up.
Clearly, the ice on the lake is still incredibly thick!
Then I started walking back, stopping at a few places long the way. I even remembered to stop at the pharmacy and get our printouts to do our taxes. My husband finally got his second T4A, so we can do that now. My daughter will be able to claim prescriptions on her taxes for the first time. I couldn’t get her pharmacy records without her permission (I have a signed document so I can get my husband’s, every year), but I was able to arrange for it to be included with her prescription delivery later in the week. This will be the first year for both my daughter and I that we can claim the Disability Tax Credit.
By the time I got back to the garage, it was about 45 minutes past my appointment time. The truck was still in the garage and the mechanic was about to take it out for a test drive to see if it was still doing that shuddering thing while in 4 wheel drive. I suggested he try it in the grocery store parking lot, rather than the highway, since it seems to be triggered in slippery conditions.
The mechanic asked me about the door chime. I told him it still wasn’t working when I drove over.
It’s working now.
???!!!
They didn’t do anything. It was simply working when he drove it into the garage.
When talking to the owner, he said he could even hear it from his office when the truck was driven in, and the mechanic got out, leaving the keys in the ignition.
I told him, when I parked in their lot, it still wasn’t working.
Like I said, it’s a good thing we have a good relationship. If I say it wasn’t working, he doesn’t doubt me. It’s just so very strange!!!
He told me he tested the battery himself.
It’s fine. No sign of any problems.
We talked about that for a bit, and he told me of a possibility that had occurred to me when I was first driving the truck home and realized the console display wasn’t working. It is likely that when the battery got low enough, it started shutting off anything unnecessary that was using power. With some vehicles, once the battery drops below a certain threshold, you can’t even start them until it’s been charged again. Once I recharged the battery on Sunday, that would have allowed the console display to start working again. Why the door chime didn’t start working again until today, we don’t know, but it’s likely related.
Around then, the mechanic came back with the truck, parking it just outside the bay doors. Watching the cameras, we saw him step out, look at the camera, raise both hands and just shrug.
It was working fine.
I told him about needing to drive into the city, and various other things I need to drive to, and he said it should be fine. Driving is good. Sitting parked is not. I do know that, but I try to avoid driving in winter in particular.
I did remember to ask for a price on the light on the back of the cab that I idiotically broke because the garage door wasn’t open far enough. He started to look it up and then said, get it from Amazon. I will get a better price there. Then, once I have it, I can bring the truck back and he’ll install it for me. I asked if he had a part number and he said just to look up, third brake light.
I even got to talk to the mechanic a bit as I was going to the truck. He also assured me that it should be fine for all the driving I need to do.
From there, I drove across to the grocery store, then updated my family. There were just a few things I wanted to pick up for today because, tomorrow, my daughter and I will be finally doing the Costco run! I plan to go to the older location we’ve been going to for years, instead of the new location on the other side of the city, as the old location is right next to a Canadian Tire.
Just in case something goes wrong. Because I’m still absolutely paranoid about the truck! 😄
Right now, though, not only has all the recent weird stuff gone away on its own, but so has the tire warning stuff that’s been there for so very long.
Which means that truck is actually better now than it was before, with no one having actually done anything but do lots of testing and checking.
For that, all I can say is, Thank you, God.
When I got home, I texted the garage about the tire warnings that have been there for so long, now being gone. He said, it must be a ghost! 😄😄 They’d had trouble getting readings off the sensors the last time I brought the truck in for the front tires to be worked on. They checked all four sensors because of those warnings. I remember watching four guys going from tire to tire, looking perplexed at their device’s screen. We had originally thought it was because the batteries might have died or something, but clearly, that cannot be the case! The main thing was that the tires themselves were fine.
So that’s where we are at now. The truck is home, and we’ve got a lot of driving to get caught up on things that should have been done a while ago.
Since we are finally going to be going to the city tomorrow, I’ve contacted the person from the rescue that picked up Kohl from us, taking the carrier with her. The sun room cats have knocked one of the carriers off its shelf a few times too many and it can’t be clocked shut anymore, so we need to get the carrier back. The carrier is now with someone else, and we’ve just arranged to meet along the way tomorrow morning, before she gets to work. We’ll be leaving quite a bit earlier than usual, but that’s okay.
Now it’s stock up shopping, doctor’s appointments, dump runs, runs to the feed store and, of course, finally getting to visit my mother! Once again, we are now the closest to where she is.
Oh, and our vandal and his wife have already visited her twice since she’s been transferred to the current TCU. The staff there have been warned about him, and yet… today, my brother told me that a check just went through my mother’s account. A check for a substantial amount of money, made out to our vandal and written out by our vandal’s wife for my mother to sign (my mother can no longer write checks out herself), dated just a few days ago. This is one of the reasons why we didn’t want our vandal to be able to have access to my mother without supervision. The problem is, they can’t have a staff member just hang out in the room with them. So, they managed to somehow guilt my mother into throwing money at our vandal again. The crazy thing is, while she has been able to help out with paying for things at the farm, even things she offered to pay for in advance, she does things like try to back out, or tries to use it as a way to control us, or guilt us, and makes a big deal over the fact that she “helped”. Which she has never done, when it comes to our vandal. And there’s nothing we can do about it, as long as her cognitive decline is as relatively mild as it is now. She isn’t at the state where my brother, as PoA, becomes wholly responsible to act on her behalf in that regard. At least we were able to get the doctor at the hospital to agree, officially in her file, that my mother cannot sign legal documents, and that if she is convinced to do so, it would not be legally binding. I don’t think that quite applies to writing checks.
Meanwhile, my mother says she wants me to bring her some of her cash stash she asked me to hang on to for her. Most of which got deposited into her account, which my brother explained to her when going over her finances recently, but she still thinks I have all of. She has no need for money where she is, and we don’t know where the money she had before went to. Sure, she sometimes insisted I take some cash for gas, but almost never enough to actually cover the cost of gas. A few bucks here and there. We did learn she tried to give money to staff at the hospital to basically bribe them to pay more attention to her, but never managed to actually give them any (that probably would have gotten them fired). I guess now we know where the rest of her cash went to.
We also know why our vandal and his wife have been finding ways to visit her so often, even though he’s supposedly at death’s door right now.
*sigh*
It is so hard to protect my mother, when she works so hard to sabotage our efforts.
Anyhow.
Visiting my mother is on the list of things I need to do, now that I’ve been assured the truck has been checked and rechecked and everything is running just fine.
I heard back from the garage when they checked their messages this morning (they don’t check while the shop is closed), and the mechanic agreed that it was likely a burnt fuse. I ended up talking to him on the phone and we made an appointment for tomorrow afternoon so they can look at it.
Then, I headed to the post office to finally pick up our packages. One of them was my West Coast Seeds order that came in almost two weeks ago!
Also, I’m an idiot.
I’m also short. Have I mentioned, I’m a bit on the short side?
Well, I didn’t open the garage door quite far enough. As I backed out of the garage, I hit the door. Broke the light above the box on the back of the cab. Just cracked the plastic, but still… What a doofus!
Our driveway may be mostly clear, but there is still that mix of hard packed tire tracks and softer snow on either side. The hard packed snow was already getting slippery – we have been warming up all night and were just a few degrees below freezing. Still, I got through all right and onto the road.
Where it started again.
That strange shuddering that wasn’t there when the mechanics test drove the truck before I took it home.
I was still on 4 wheel drive, as I needed it to get the truck unstuck, so I stopped and switched to 2 wheel drive. After that, it ran fine.
Then I saw the clock.
The time was wrong, but the clock was visible. I turned on the radio, and all the display information came on, as usual.
The console display is working again so, obviously, it’s not a burnt out fuse!
When I got to the post office, though, I confirmed that the warning dings for keys still in the ignition or headlights left on, that are supposed to start when the door is opened, didn’t.
I got our mail and a few groceries in the store, then headed home. As soon as I was settled, I sent a message to the garage, along with the picture of the broken light, asking what it would cost to get it fixed. Then I asked him to call me so I could tell him what was going on with the truck. I did add that it was NOT a burnt fuse, but maybe the ignition switch?
He called me back right away. I described what was happening, both with the shuddering back while on 4 wheel drive, and with the console display being on again, but not the warning dings that should go off when the door it opened.
He doesn’t think it’s the ignition switch, as he thinks that would cause other issues as well, but he will check it out.
He also asked how much we had left to pay off the truck. He knows we just can’t have this happening all the time, and we’ve already talked about trading the truck in a bit. We’ll see what happens when I get there, tomorrow.
I would really, really like to get our stock up shopping finally done!!
Meanwhile, I got to check out my new seeds and decided to make a short video of it.
You can also see how the seedlings are doing. Not the best. I’ve added “walls” around two sides of the trays to help keep the heat from the heater from blowing right past everything, and moved the thermometer to one end, away from the heater. I’ve actually seen that thermometer at 20C/68F since moving it closer to the trays! When I was doing the video, though, it was more like 17C/63F or so. It really should be closer to 24C/75C for the seedlings, but we just have no way to give them that. Still, I’m seeing more of the extra California Wonder bell pepper seeds I added, just in case, emerging. We’ve only got 3 surviving Caspar eggplants, but at 75 days to maturity, technically I could direct sow those.
There we have it, though. My little West Coast Seeds haul
After three days of shoveling and snow blowing, my daughters made sure to let me know that they would take care of the cat stuff, inside and out, this morning. Much appreciated, as we did reach that -31C/-24F last night. I don’t know what the wind chills were at the time, but from the weather reports I read this morning, we did get wind chills of -45C/-49F during the night.
Sleeping in a bit past sunrise was nice, at least.
Then I headed down stairs to check on the seedlings. I heard the septic pump running and went to the old basement to check on things.
I found water on the floor.
Not a lot, and with how uneven the floor is around there, it wasn’t quite clear where it was coming from at first. Then I opened the access pipe, and found it full of liquid and toilet paper.
I uncovered the floor drain and it was backed up to there, too, though not to overflowing.
*sigh*
What a way to start the day.
Thankfully, that commercial drain auger we got is enough to punch through such clogs without bothering to even plug it in. It’s the bottleneck somewhere between the basement and the tank that was the issue again. Thankfully, I caught it as early as I did.
Once I got through the clog, I switched to the old garden hose that’s missing its end. I don’t even bother to take it off the tap that used to be the cold water tap for the washing machine before the laundry got moved upstairs. The hose just gets hung up on hooks from the floor joists above.
The next part took longer. The drain from the weeping tile goes through past the floor drain and into the access pipe. It was blocked all the way, and took quite a bit of work with the hose to flush it all out. Then the concrete floor got hosed down and cleaned up.
Great fun.
Not.
My goal of the day was to work on clearing snow from the inner yard, though I also wanted to put the charger on the truck battery. We’ve had issues with it being low before and, with the cold we’ve been having, I had my concerns.
It took me a long time to get my act together and get back outside.
The first thing I had to do was get the extension cords running out the back door of the garage, for better reach.
What is is about extension cords? How can an inanimate object seem so determined to actively try to trip and injure? Granted, with the cold, the cords aren’t as flexible so there are plenty of loops that don’t want to straighten out, but those loops were constantly finding ways to wrap around my feet!
Then I could get little Spewie out the back door before heading back in to hook up the charger. Then I had to drag Spewie through the snow. It might have been easier to just pick it up and carry it!
Finally, all set up, plugged in and ready to go!
Nope.
As soon as I heard the off sound, I stopped it immediately. The auger wouldn’t turn, but the motor was trying to get it to!
I tried to turn it manually, which normally is easy, but it would not move.
I did make sure to brush it off when I put it in the garage last night, but I think somewhere in the workings, something froze and it keeping the auger from turning.
I didn’t have the time or energy to fuss with it.
It was going to have to all be shoveled by hand.
*sigh*
I’d already used the shovel and ice scraper to break up the more drifted areas that I knew were too packed or deep for little Spewie, so those were still handy.
I focused on clearing the area closest to the house. Then I cleared the most drifted areas along the sides, as well as clearing to the outhouse and to the litter compost behind it. I took it slow and careful. Given my physical state by then, I knew I was at higher risk of hurting myself. What I didn’t clear wasn’t deep enough to cause problems for the truck.
I hope.
Part way through, the battery reached full charge and I pause to put that away. I didn’t bring my key, so I didn’t check on the console display. I’ll do that tomorrow. I plan to call the garage as early as I can and see if I can swing by. I’m about 80% sure it’s just a fuse. I don’t have a fuse tester and even if I did, the last time I tried to check the fuse box, shortly after we bought the truck, I couldn’t get it open. It’s supposed to easily pop off. There isn’t supposed to be any sort of trick to it. I just wasn’t able to do it. I even got our mechanic to show me how. He got it off not problem, without doing anything different than I had. I’m obviously missing something, but I’ve no idea what. I mentioned that to my brother. His response was, YouTube is your friend.
YouTube is not my friend.
I did later try to look, searching specifically for the 2011 Sierra. I got videos on how to find the fuse box – with I already know – and what’s inside, a video on how to test fuses, but nothing on how to open it. Then I found lots and lots of videos on the Silverado and various other makes and models of trucks that had nothing to do with my search terms.
I just don’t have the energy to work it out.
Taking it easy did mean I was out there for quite a while. When I was done, it was late enough that I went ahead and did the evening cat feeding before heading in.
I am so tired.
One of the things I wanted to do before it got too late in the day was to call my mother. I was rather dreading it. I knew she’d be asking when I would visit next, which I probably won’t do until I at least talk to our mechanic, first. I knew that if I told her that, she would start giving me a hard time again. She doesn’t understand anything about vehicles, which is fine, but that doesn’t stop her from demanding explanations for things she can’t grasp, then making sure I know exactly what a failure of a human being she thinks I am for having any problems at all.
Still, I knew I had better call. My brother and his wife had visited her yesterday, so I knew she was struggling with things. My SIL said she was seeming pretty depressed. She doesn’t like where she is, even though she just got there and there are activities that she didn’t have access to while in the hospital, and the other TCU didn’t seem to have at all. Life is not meeting her expectations. She had told them, she has all this money, but not even a bed to call her own.
She doesn’t have a lot of money, really. What she has may have been considered a lot, 70 years ago, but our dollar is worth so much less today, it really wouldn’t get her very far. It certainly can’t buy her way into the nursing home she wants to be in, either.
My SIL said she asked my mother if she maybe wanted her own little house here at the farm, like her mother had when living on my aunt’s farm, before she moved here for her final years. My mother said no. She isn’t able to take care of herself on her own anymore.
Anyhow.
I called her up and she did sound rather down, right from the start. I asked how she was doing and she said I probably didn’t want to hear it. She was also in the common room with other people around, so she wouldn’t have wanted to talk about it. They did leave shortly after, though. She then started telling me about how she has such a tiny bed (?? it would be a standard size hospital bed), such a tiny space in her shared room, there’s always noise and TV and talking and laughing… No peace. No privacy.
She’s been there for less than a week.
We talked about how this is temporary and hopefully, she will soon get transferred to the nursing home she wants to be in. I did remind her, thought, that there will be noise in the nursing home, too. She would have her own room, though. If nothing else, she could close her door.
I did confirm that she got communion today, and it was brought to her by the same guy that was bringing it to her when she had her apartment. She was happy about that, at least.
Of course, she started asking me when I would come to visit. I told her I did get the truck home and got stuck in our own driveway, because there was so much blowing snow. I then mentioned that there was something else that I needed to get checked, even though the truck seems to be running fine. As expected, she started demanding explanations and started giving me a hard time about it. I basically just cut that off and changed the subject. I told her, I just don’t know when I’ll be able to visit, but I would let her know before I do. She did make sure to tell me what she wanted me to bring to her when I do make it out.
*sigh*
She told me she had been able to get her short wave radio set up and working. My brother had tried to set it up while she was in the hospital but just couldn’t get a signal. It was even worse in the first TCU, but where she is now, she can get a signal. She was looking forward to listening to Mass in Polish soon, so we didn’t talk for too much longer. She did start going on about how she wants us all to find someplace for her, where she can have peace and privacy. I told her, even if we found someplace, if she leaves where she is now, she goes to the bottom of the waiting list (or off it entirely, now that I think about it) for the nursing home she wants to be in
I don’t think she heard me. I had a hard time hearing her at times, though for a different reason. It was as if we were losing the connection, but when I mentioned it was happening, she said something about how she was accidentally doing something with her fingers. ??
Well, hopefully that won’t be an issue for much longer. After going back and forth with my brother about it, he went ahead and ordered a phone for seniors for my mother. It’s in already, but the SIM card is still on the way. The phone company has a senior’s plan, too. It’s a cell phone that looks like a small cordless phone, and is even more basic than the phone she had before. It has a charging dock just like her old cordless handset had. The display screen shows the time, day and date as default, which I think she will find useful, too.
I would absolutely enjoy having a phone like that for myself, instead of a touch screen smart phone. Those may be convenient, but I’ve never liked touch screens.
Hopefully, it won’t take her long to figure it out, and we will be able to call her directly instead of having to go through the nursing station and have them bring a cordless handset to her.
The call with my mom wasn’t as bad as I half expected it to be, at least. I just don’t quite understand what my mother’s expectations are anymore, other than unrealistic. She hated being at her apartment because there was no one around in case she needed help, but now that she’s where there is always someone around that can help if she needs it, she hates that there are people around all the time, and they make sounds.
Ah, well. Hopefully she will get to where she wants to be, soon. She told my brother that her room mate has been there for a long time already, and is staying. Which doesn’t make sense, since this place is for temporary placement only, not permanent.
As for me, it’s time to pain killer up for the night and get to bed.
I am so very tired. Tired physically, tired of the truck, tired of always being on guard when talking to my mother, tired of winter, tired of cold, tired of the plumbing in this house, tired… tired… tired.
Exhausted and cold! The high winds we got today were from the north, and my bedroom is north facing. It’s usually one of the coldest rooms in the house, but now I feel freezing. Meanwhile the rest of the house is warm enough to not trigger the furnace to turn on. I’m actually having a hard time typing!
I’ll be warm soon enough. I plan to go to bed as soon as I’m done this, even though it has just turned 6pm.
The yard cats managed to somehow flatten the cat cave, in spite of the wire supports I put on the inside. That hasn’t stopped them from using it, though! The first picture was taken when I did the morning feeding. The next two, after I did the evening feeding.
A bit early, because I did not want to go outside again.
The cab was booked to arrive at our place at around 11. I planned to meet him at the gate, since I wasn’t expecting a car to make it down our driveway though, at the time, the truck would have made it.
Yeah, some foreshadowing there!
I headed out a bit early, knowing I could wait out of the wind in the garage. The main door was open, but it faces south, so there was no wind at all coming in.
Thankfully, my brother installed a wifi booster in the garage where the lawnmowers are stores, so I was able to get a call on my cell phone. It was the taxi driver. He apparently didn’t read my directions all the way through and was at the highway, asking which side I was on. I gave him the rest of the directions and he soon arrived.
The drive into town was downright scary!
Portions of the gravel road were completely hidden by blowing snow, with hidden drifts beginning to form. It was worse on the highway. Even in town, with building to cut the wind.
Just as scary was realizing this guy was not a particularly good driver, and wasn’t driving to the conditions. Not the worst driver I’ve been a passenger with, but with the roads the way they were, it wasn’t long before I was seriously concerned he’d slide off the road! Especially as he was speeding through our little hamlet, where things are always way more slippery. We were talking about the conditions and I told him I was in no hurry, and to feel free to take his time. Thankfully, he did slow down.
Once past our hamlet, visibility kept getting worse anywhere there was open fields. We could barely see the road, nor oncoming traffic until they were quite close. As we were getting close to town, in a wide open area near the airport, I could see a dump truck just into a cross road, it’s back end leaning precariously into the ditch! Then a huge gust came up and he literally had to stop. Zero visibility. The only thing we could see was the top of the truck because he pulled over right near where it was. Thankfully, it started to clear up relatively quickly. Once he was able to start moving again, we realized he had gone off to the side by a fair bit. Thankfully, we were right in the intersection, so he was more on the gravel road instead of more into a ditch!
When we got into town, I had him stop at a bank first, where I could take out some cash to pay him, rather than try to use debit on his phone. The car was a regular car, so he was tracking the mileage and fare on his phone. As we were talking, he told me he’s been in business for just over a year. He had quite a bit more driving in these conditions to pick up other fares, too!
After I got the cash – including a well deserved tip – he drove me to the garage.
The truck was parked outside by the building. It was blocked by a car, but it was running, so I knew it wouldn’t be there for long.
I went in to talk to the owner and the mechanic that has driven the truck with me. The owner just handed me the keys. No charge!
We talked for a while, and they have concluded that the issue was never with the transfer case. It is fine. They’ve concluded it had something to do with the ABS trying to kick in. I do remember seeing the ABS light flash briefly when I was driving it. I was told what to watch out for, but in the end, there is nothing wrong with the truck. There was nothing to fix.
!!!
The owner’s wife and toddler were there as well, when I mentioned I was blocked. It turned out to be their car. I was in no hurry, though, and used the command start to warm the truck up while waiting until his wife headed out.
The truck was running fine, but… ???
There was no clock display.
The dashboard displays were fine, but not clock. I tried turning on the radio. Nothing.
This was while I got the truck out and crossed the street to the grocery store. With the road conditions, I wanted to get the shopping done as quickly as possible. My plan to stay in town and time my return for when the post office reopened at 2pm went out the window. I wanted to get home before things were drifted over too badly!
Once the shopping was done, I messaged home saying I it would be a slow drive home, and asking for someone to open the gate. I didn’t want to have to stop and lose momentum.
It was, indeed, a slow drive home, but visibility was not as bad as earlier. I did have to stop at the same intersection as on the way out, though. This time, because my side of the highway was blocked by the massive tow truck that just got the dump truck out of the ditch! So only one lane was open and I had to wait for oncoming traffic to get by. I didn’t have to wait long.
The end of the driveway and at the gate was still clear. The walls of snow were high enough to prevent drifting. The rest of the driveway had more snow on it than when I left.
Which would have been okay, if I’d managed to stay on the hard packed tire tracks. Unfortunately, I slid off, and once I was off, that was it.
Yes, I even switched to 4 wheel drive, but I just wasn’t moving.
*sigh*
With the way the truck was now diagonal across the driveway, I could only reach the driver’s side doors. I let my family know and started pulling bags on the passenger side out from the driver’s side and taking them to the house. My younger daughter booted up and came out to help as soon as she could. The green you see on the hood of the truck in the first picture is one of the grocery bags.
Then I left my daughter to put everything way and start cooking the individual flat bread pizzas I picked up, because I knew none of us would be up to cooking from scratch today. She got quite a bit done while I was gone, and was still doing the last load of my laundry for me.
Once everything was in, I got on the lovely bib overalls she got for me, because they cut the wind like nothing else, and headed back out. I was able to shovel around the truck, then had to get the ice scraper to break up the packed snow and ice that had “fenced in” the tires. I was protected from the wind enough that I actually started to overheat a bit!
That done, it was time to break out little Spewie.
There was enough drifted snow that I started out by clearing in front of the garage, so I wouldn’t get stuck again trying to pull in, then cleared the driveway up to the truck.
That took quite a long time.
Before I stopped, though, I did clear the foot path to the gate wide enough for my husband’s walker, then cleared a path to the electricity meter. That was so drifted over, you’d never know a path had already been dug out there. Several times.
I had thought to do a bit more clearing once the truck was in the garage, so I made sure the extension cord was out of the way before getting back to the truck. A bit more clearing with the ice scraper, and I gave it a go.
Thankfully, I was able to get out with little trouble and parked in the garage.
In the second picture of the slide show above, you can see the tracks where the tires had sunk on the sides of the packed tire tracks. Had I not cleared it with little Spewie, I probably would have gotten stuck again.
The last picture is where I got stuck, and the rest of the driveway that needs to be cleared.
Not today.
I realized I was done at that point. With the ice and snow I’d gotten loose with the ice scraper, it needed to be shoveled clear, first, so they wouldn’t break the blade on Spewie, and I just didn’t have the energy left to do the rest of the job.
It needs to be done, though. We’ve got someone coming out with a kibble donation tomorrow. If they can’t get through the driveway, we’ll have to haul it through the snow, and that area is now so uneven, it would be dangerous. I also want to clear the turn around area in the yard, so we can drive up to the house to unload our stock up shopping.
Plus, I still don’t have the clock display working. I texted the garage but haven’t heard back. I might need to go back for them to take a look and see what happened. Might just be a fuse.
In the end, I put Spewie away in the storage side of the garage. Normally, I’d properly put away the extension cords, too (I had to use two 100′ cords to reach the truck), but this time I just pulled them in off to the side, so they are easily accessible tomorrow.
How much I can get done tomorrow, though, is questionable. I did make sure to plug in the truck. As I write this, we are at -22C/-8F, with a wind chill of -38C/-36F. We’re supposed to drop to -31C/-24F during the night, but at least the wind is going to die down. Still, tomorrow’s high of the day is supposed to be -21C/-6F Sunday’s high is supposed to be -16C/3F, so I might leave doing the inner yard for then.
By the time I got in, it was coming up on 3pm, so I ended up doing the outside cats’ evening feeding. I had no idea I had been out that long! It wasn’t even quite noon when I got home.
The next while was spent updating the family and finally sitting down to eat. When I was still thinking of heading home late enough to go to the post office when it reopened at 2, I expected to have lunch in town. That didn’t happen. All I’d eaten all day was a hunk of cheese for breakfast, and half a can of Monster during the drive home. My poor little pizza was pretty dehydrated by the time I got to it. 😄
I also found a text from my sister, letting me know she’d tried to call our mother, but would be trying again later. My mother was busy – playing bingo and having birthday cake!
That is such good news. My mother had been going stir crazy with boredom while in the hospital. She wasn’t at the first TCU for long, but if they had any activities, we never heard of them. I think most of the people there had more severe cognitive issues and dementia. That where my mother is now already has her doing activities is fantastic news.
I really should call her myself, but I’m just too tired.
I already took my anti-inflammatories with my supper/lunch/breakfast. Now is the time to take some pain killers and crawl into bed!
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 work was done by noon. Once I was informed, I messaged my SIL to let her know. Then I suggested we got for (a rather late) lunch after picking up the truck. It took her about an hour to get to our place. Today has been technically warmer, but the wind from the south was brutal, so I asked her to let me know when she was close so I could meet her at the gate.
When we got there, I went in to pay. I talked to the owner a bit, particularly since they had just replaced a seal to stop the leak on a Thursday, and the truck broke down on the following Sunday. The problem is, where the damage was done is all internal. The replaced the seals and put in new fluid, but there was no way to actually see. Again, it’s best guess, but those oil leaks I had were leaking all over the differential, so that’s why they figure engine oil got in, and it just wasn’t caught in time. It was totally tried.
I paid the bill…
… and commented on the credit card smoking, but then added that it really was a good price, and I appreciated that they were able to keep it down for me. He said new ones can run around $2000. I told him I’d looked it up, because I didn’t even know what a differential looked like, and the lowest price I saw was in the $1200 range. So… yeah. This really was a good deal.
I also brought up that if we could just keep it running for a few more months, then told him about my BILs F150 that he was looking to sell in the summer. The owner just shook his head and said, he would never buy a Ford product. Of all the vehicles they work on, they work on Ford vehicles the most. Interestingly, my brother – who owns an old F150 – had also warned against it.
I told the owner, I have a hard time seeing it as being worse than what we are dealing with now! I made a point of saying, there was no way to predict the sorts of problems we’ve been having , but we just can’t keep this up. He absolutely agreed. I think he feels bad, since he sold it to us. It was absolutely a life saver, and I do love the truck, but good grief.
Anyhow.
With the bill paid, it was time to head out for lunch. My SIL and I were at first going to hit the Chinese restaurant in the hotel right next to the garage.
One thing I noticed right away when we parked at the hotel is that the broken plastic under the bumper was fixed! The mechanic and bolted it directly to the frame. It’s more solid there now than the rest of the piece. 😁
We went in and it turned out the restaurant was closed. They won’t open again until late March. I forgot that they do this every year. So we drove through town to go to a Subway.
Now, I was fully expecting the truck to feel different after the work done, but… what was I feeling? It was just a few blocks before I parked, so I really couldn’t tell what I was feeling. Anyhow. We had a wonderful lunch and got caught up in all sorts of things.
I really enjoy spending time with my SIL. She’s just awesome.
That done, we parted ways. I was going to go to the grocery store, then home.
The grocery store I was going to is across the street from the garage. As I was driving along, with stop sign after stop sign, everything felt wrong. There was a strange hesitation/jarring, and there was an odd noise.
Instead of going to the grocery store, I went back to the garage. I quickly messaged my family and my SIL, then went in.
My SIL told me she was still in town and to let her to keep her up to date. The owner was talking to a customer when I came in, so I just kept out of the way until he was done.
Needless to say, he was surprised to see me.
I asked him if he could drive the truck, and told him what I was feeling and hearing. He was very perplexed, partly because it was really hard to describe. He contacted the mechanic that worked on the truck. He wasn’t in the shop at the time, so there was a few minutes wait. When he got there, I gave him the keys and told him to do the driving, and tried to describe what I was feeling. He was very perplexed.
Once in the truck, I remembered to thank him for fixing the broken plastic piece under the bumper that was hanging down. He said it was no problem at all!
We headed out and he turned onto the highway that runs through town, so there would be no stop signs. The half block to the intersection, there was a noise, and he asked if that was it. I said yes, then added that I did consider that the noise might be from the ice and snow, but ruled it out.
Once on the highway and starting to accelerate, it started up again. There was no mistaking it. It was even stronger than when I’d been driving it from the Subway. He immediately took the next driveway into a large parking lot – barely a block later. Once there, he tried something. The truck can be set to 2 wheel drive, 4 wheel drive front, 4 wheel drive back, or auto. I keep it on auto in the winter. He set it to 2 wheel drive, then started driving again.
Everything was gone. It was driving fine.
He’d started driving through a residential area and tried something else, pulling over and switching it to 4 wheel drive.
It was back, and even worse.
He told me he wanted to take a look at the transfer case. I told him, my ride is still in town and suggested they keep the truck overnight. He asked if I could hang around for a couple of hours. He wanted to spend the time to really look into what was happening. Then we both looked at the clock. It was well past 3, and they close at 5. No point in hanging around town. He asked if I was comfortable driving home on 2 wheel drive only. I told him, I wasn’t comfortable driving it at all!
So he parked the truck at the garage and went in with the keys to talk to the owner. I messaged my SIL, asking if she could meet me at the grocery store, then grabbed a couple of bags from the truck and walked across the street.
I am so glad I decided to wear those bib overalls my daughter got me. They do such a great job with blocking the wind. My legs were fine, by my hands and face were getting blasted with icy wind, and I only had to walk maybe 200 feet!
Once there, I went ahead and got more than was on my short list. I couldn’t be sure we’d have the truck back by Wednesday, when I would normally doing my first stock up shop for next month. My SIL and I soon connected again. As it was getting so late, she was picking things up for their own supper, since she wouldn’t have time to make supper when she got home.
Once we were done and heading for the checkouts, I was very happy to see they had gone back to the single line system! When they got rid of it, I commented on it to the cashier, and she quietly asked me to call management and let them know. The cashiers preferred the single line system, too. I ended up emailing the company, but I have also been answering the surveys on the receipts, where you can be entered for a $500 gift card for answering it. At the end of the survey, they have a space where you can make your own comments, and every time I did, I asked for the single line system to be returned. It’s just more efficient. I’m guessing I was far from the only one to ask for it!
We got through the line very quickly. When I got to the cashier, I made sure to tell him how happy I was to see the single line system back. He said they were really happy with it, too, as it makes things easier for the cashiers as well.
That done, it was off to my SILs car and she drove me home.
As I got my phone out to let the family know we were on the way, I found a message from my husband.
My mother had tried phoning me. She left a message, but it was quite garbled, and it sounded like they (the care unit people) were going to move her.
To the town she lived in before going to the hospital.
???
This was quite a surprise to us, mostly because we would have expected them to call my brother, as her PoA, right away. So my SIL phoned my brother – her car has the computer and she can do that all hands free. He was stuck in traffic on his way home from work. I read the message from my husband to him. I said I would call my mother back as soon as I got home, and talk to the nursing station first. My brother was going to call the nursing station as soon as he could, too.
My SIL got me home and then had to leave right away, she needed to get home. She couldn’t say if she could give me a ride again, as she has her own medical appointments, but I don’t even know when the truck will be ready or anything like that.
I got through to the nursing station before my brother did. I told her I had a rather garbled message about my mother being moved to another town. She told me, no, not today.
!!!
She put me on hold to get more details, then explained it to me. The care unit coordinator had offered my mother a bed. There is temporary long term care in the hospital of the town my mother lived in. They wanted to be sure my mother (and the rest of us) were good with this. I told her, this is where she used to live. She knows people there, she knows the town. (She has even visited friends that were in the temporary long term care unit she’ll be moved to.) This would be good for her, even though it’s still not where she wants to be. So there is a process that needs to be gone through, and they will likely call us about it tomorrow. I told her, she will probably be getting a call from my brother, who is PoA, soon, then asked to be transferred to my mother.
My mother was very happy to hear from me. When I asked about the move, she asked if I thought she should take the offered bed (I found out later, she had already accepted it). I told her yes!! It’s not where she wants to be, but it’s got to be better than where she is now. My mother agreed and started telling me she had lots to say about what’s been happening when I visit.
I had to tell her that I don’t have the truck because something else happened, and they need to try and find the cause, so it’s still in the shop. I have no idea when I can visit next – then went back to saying, the move would be a good thing.
I got the impression that something has happened (she just got moved away from the problem room mate!) that she didn’t feel she could talk openly about.
I was at my computer as we were talking as saw a message come in from my brother. He had talked to the nursing station and tried to call me, but the line was busy. 😂 I let him know I was talking to our mother, then told her that my brother was messaging me about having talked to the nursing station. She was all happy that we’ve all been making these calls and trying to figure things out.
We spoke for a short while longer. As we got off the phone, she was sounding very excited about this move. I let my brother know I was off the phone and he called me.
We basically had the same details – he also told them he approved of the move – and that our mother had already accepted it – then called the coordinator about it. Her office was closed by then, so he left a message which included him saying that he also approved of the move.
Hopefully, by the time I get the truck back, my mother will no longer be in that TCU and in a better situation!!
One thing my SIL mentioned during the drive home is how glad they were for me, that my mother was no longer living on her own and getting unreliable home care. With the problems we’ve been having with the truck, plus the weather we’ve been having, it would have been a real problem if they wanted me to cover for not having home care workers available for my mother. I told her, I simply could not have done it. As much as my mother is chafing about it, it’s been the best thing for her to be in the hospital, and now in the TCU, all this time.
So, there was are. I’m home, but still don’t have a truck. The mechanic did comment, as we were driving back to the garage, that it was a good thing I came right back. I’m so glad my SIL and I went out for lunch, first! If we hadn’t done that, I would have just gone across the street to the grocery store, then headed home. It would have started having issues while I was out on the open road, where turning around to go back would have been more difficult, and my SIL would likely have well on her own way home. All the pieces fell into place in the best way possible.
And now my mother should soon be transferred to better living conditions.
On the bottom, from the left, there’s Ginger snuggling Beep Beep, who is snuggling her boy, Potato Beetle.
On the top, from the left, there’s Ghosty, snuggling Tin Whistle, snuggling Shadow.
Also, my blanket is always covered in fur.
Another quiet day at home. It’s still been snowing, ever so lightly but for hours, so there’s actual accumulation by the end of the day. It looks like the next week to ten days will be the last of when we’re expecting daily highs colder than -10C/14F. By the end of the first week of March, we’re supposed to start getting highs above freezing, and staying there.
Of course, we could still get hit with one last blizzard around our anniversary in the beginning of April. 😄
We’ll be staying home for a few more days, too. Late this afternoon, I got an update from the garage. The part they ordered had just arrived at their second location in the smaller, nearer city. Not far from where my mother is right now, actually! Monday is when they’ll be able to install it. When I talked to the mechanic, I did tell him I would reschedule my medical appointment anyhow, so they didn’t have to do a rush job on it. They also know I don’t have a way to pick the truck up right, either. We’ll figure it out.
So, we are stuck at home for a few more days.
After hearing about a series from Lee Duigon’s blog recently, I have been binge watching Primeval on Amazon Prime and getting some crocheting done. I’m just starting season for, and working on bowl cozies sized and shaped for some particular soup bowls we have. I got tired of burning my hands on them. 😄 Once I get the size and shape right, I want to make a few more to match.
The Re-Farmer 