Perpetual Ruminations

Extra Hour My Butt!

In our last episode, we looked at how things went from semi-serene to constant chaos; stay tuned to see how things are progressing...

It's been almost a week since my last entry, so I guess this page is an indication that things have mellowed a bit. But, they haven't mellowed much, trust you me!

Where we left off was track, vehicle problems, and a lot to do around the place. Track is still going, and will keep going until school is out, possibly a bit longer. Yes, I know, I'm the parent, I should know when it stops. But, two weeks in, and I still have not gotten a schedule.

In fact, our track star who now is doing either discus or shock-put instead of sprinting informed us that practice ended between five and five-thirty, depending on the weather. This was also confirmed by a handful of other students via their parents waiting to pick them up. The coach told me, when I asked, that it would be between four-thirty and five, depending on how quickly they changed after practice. He also informed me that once it was nicer out, they would practice outside until five.

So, I started waiting at four-thirty. They were practicing outside, the runners running around the school, uptown, and anywhere they wanted to run. I even found a small group behind the supermarket having a smoke break. The coach was working with a few of them in the gym and I politely asked him again, as it was almost five now, what time I should pick up our student.

He informed me that they were done between four-thirty and six, depending on the weather. No, I didn't say anything! I didn't have to, a half dozen other parents had come in and they went off on the guy. Now, practice is done at five, or so it was decided before a full-out brawl erupted in the gym. We will see.

It turned colder, so not a lot to do outside, but it has provided me time to go through the car we bought when our's broke. It's an older Buick my mother-in-law sold us and has been kept up well, or at least that's the story. I know she took good care of it, but her boyfriend drove it on occasion, and I think some other family members may have taken it out without her knowledge.

I assume this because of food, candy wrappers, cigarette ashes and butts, and food/beverage spills in the front and back seats of the car. Since mom-in-law doesn't smoke, or drive for that matter, and since the car has been parked in her garage since last November, I have to suspect someone else has driven it.

It's been good so far, great mileage, comfortable, rides nice, and once cleaned up, in very good shape. However, it developed a glitch two days ago. First, the Service Engine Light came on, I find nothing wrong, but I had just gone through a car wash, so maybe something got wet. This morning, the Low Coolant light came on, then after about one, maybe two minutes went back off.

I've checked all the fluids, they are good. Even so, I checked the coolant again after it had cooled down; it was full. I'm thinking something did, in fact, get wet, but it may also be a faulty connection someplace.

Hopefully, it works itself out, but then again, do these things ever work out? I know the last thing I need is another vehicle in need of repairs. I hope to get the HHR fixed this week, then we will have, I hope, two vehicles again. That makes room for me to take the pickup in and have the transmission checked and get an estimate of what that's going to cost.

With camping season coming up quickly, I need the truck to pull the camper and haul camping/kayaking stuff. But, I suspect it may be a bit before I have it fixed, and it's also possible it will cost more than I want to stick into it. So, we are also looking at purchasing a new vehicle. This week isn't good for looking, however, because my wife decided she would work some overtime.

Yea, the extra money will be nice, but with only one vehicle and her now having to be at work by five in the morning, it's almost impossible for me to get up and give her a ride and still be up at night to get the kids off to bed.

Let's remember, with the colder weather we have right now, I have not been able to get everything done outside that needs doing, but it's going to be warmer by tomorrow and through the next ten days, or so the Weather Bug tells me.

So, as you can see, things may have mellowed a bit, but it's just a little bit. I should update my Keto blog, but who's got the time?