NOW THAT'S NOT FUNNY

The Day Before Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving... I love Thanksgiving... but I'm not suppose to be here... I wanted and planned to be in Kansas with my son and his very pregnant wife... but I had two auto mechanics tell me I needed a new radiator... hmmmmmmm, okay maybe... but I didn't trust them... nope they were too willy nilly about the reason my car kept needing coolant was because my radiator needed changing. I went to see my brother in Abita Springs... that was this past Friday... He really is an excellent mechanic...but he has serious heart trouble which really slows him down... anyway he pressured up the system in my car... yep my radiator was leaking alright... but I didn't need a new radiator ... I just needed a little nut tighten that secured some kind of hose coming from or going into (I don't know which...) my radiator... the other 2 mechanics both told me it would costs nearly $700.00 to replace my radiator... but there was still a leak... my brother proceeded to take my motor apart... nope wasn't the water pump... yikes it turned out to be the gasket for the intake manifold... I know this is serious cause I've burnt up a few engines in my 50 some odd years ... damn...

In addition to my brother's heart trouble .... the marvelous medical people over-radiated him when they were treating him for his throat cancer (he was a heavy drinker and a smoker) getting an overdose of radiation caused his teeth to fall out... Why he didn't sue I don't understand... he could have gotten the 3 or 4 thousand dollars it's costing him for the dentist to fit him for false teeth... damn

Since my brother has no teeth he can only eat soft foods. My brother made a huge pot of lima beans... cooked them till they almost looked like soup... my brother is also someone of a hermit and basically lives in the woods... the engine on my car was torn down and after two days on my brothers sofa and two days of eating mushy lima beans - I called my daughter to come and get me... I love my brother but he's just a little weird... I think the over dose of radiation did something to his brain as well... who in their right mind can eat just lima beans for days and days... damn... yes lima beans are cheap... but he didn't fix any rice either.. didn't have any rice to fix...

Well, here it is Wednesday the day before Thanksgiving... my car is still in Abita Springs with my hermit-like, toothless brother... it's my husband's birthday but he's at work... my son and his pregnant wife are in Kansas, I have another son offshore, my daughter will be over here later, my daughter in law is at work, and her husband and my son just came home from offshore...

so we will have a house full of people tomorrow... and I ought to be in Kansas.

My hermit brother may show up if he finishes fixing my car... I invited his toothless ass and explained how much soft food we'd have here to feed him (stuffing, mash potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumkin pie, mac N cheese) and NO lima beans... he may come.... we'll have to wait and see...

I've got another brother, AJ. I'm not sure where he lives now since the hurricanes, but I do have his cell number... can anyone explain to me why people don't answer their damn cell phones - especially around holidays... I've left him voice mail inviting him to eat too, we'll have to wait and see...

We've invited some other neighbors too... basically anybody whose been here for Thanksgiving before will show up... new people show up every year... it's okay... WE REALLY COOK ALOT

And here is a link to the most stupid article I've ever read:
November 21. 2006 2:25PM

Thanksgiving dinner for 10 will set you back about $40

http://houmatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061121/NEWS/611210310/1026

I don't know 10 Cajuns that can be feed a traditional Thanksgiving meal for $40.00 - that's just WRONG... can't be done... just the ammunition and the pecans will set you back more than $40 bucks... but even if you're cooking a turkey and ham, and the usual sides $40.00 just won't do it... we just spent over $200.00 yesterday... yep this year is going to be another glorious Thanksgiving at my house... but somebody needs to tell the local food bank here that they should be able to feed 10 people a traditional Thanksgiving meal for just $4 bucks a head... that'll make 'em think you're kidding...

But the lesson original lesson I intended to share today kids is "Bad mechanics make very good money...

basically my brother is overhauling my engine for the paultry sum of $400.00... that hardly seems fair... but that's all he wants. I didn't need a new radiator, but each one of the two mechanics that told me I did would have replaced my radiator and charged me $700.00 and I'D STILL HAD the same original problem... then they would have wanted more money to fix whatever else they said was causing the problem... and that probably wouldn't have solved the problem... but it probably would have costs another $700.00... so bad mechanics make very good money... I'd venture to say that bad mechanics make more money than good mechanics...

Oh and the first mechanic that told me I needed a new radiator had just charged me $63.00 to do an oil change... my brother told me the guy who changed my oil should have told me I had water in my oil too... and EACH of the two mechanics had told me to go ahead and drive to Kansas... just watch my temp gauge. A leaky intake manifold gasket is a precurser to blowing an engine... and that folks is NOT a good thing...