I haven’t posted anything in 6 days. So much has happened. . .
There’s an old saying that bad things happen in threes. . . We have experienced waves of three bad events several times over the years. We just ride the wave out until it is gone. Just what we’re doing now, except now we’re at 4 events.
First event – the washing machine broke. Already been discussed.
Second event – Saturday, 12/11, at 11:30 pm, the car died, on the Beltway, on the overpass over I-45 North, near Greenspoint Mall. We were on the way home from the company Christmas party at the big boss’ house. We called AAA, got towed home. AAA pays for the first 3 miles, we paid $95 for the remaining 22 miles. Sunday, 12/12, brother Steve and John worked on the car, trying to diagnose the problem. New spark plugs, etc. Monday, 12/13, John rented a car to go to work. Our car was taken to a mechanics shop and was diagnosed with having heavy dirt and corrosion on the battery connections to the alternator and the computer chip, and also had a hole in the water bottle (secondary problem). The water bottle was replaced, the connections cleaned, diagnostics indicated no more problems, to the tune of $130.
Third event – Tuesday, 12/14, John turned in the rental car. He drove our car to work, got as far as the Beltway and Little York – *within sight of his building*- and the car died again. As he didn’t have cash or a check to pay for a AAA tow again, he called Mac Haik Ford (dealership from which we purchased the car 6 years ago). The dealership sent out a tow truck – the cost (?) gets added to the cost of the diagnostic ($90), so we will pay one bill. However, the service department was not going to be able to check out the car until today. We’re having to wait to find out what the mechanics think is wrong with it. In the meantime, John rented a Ford Escape ($44/day), to test it out, as he would really like to get one when the time is right [which may be sooner than later, depending on the car diagnosis].
Fourth event – a big fat ZERO balance in every bank account! Using a credit card for everyday purchases until payday, which was today, thank goodness!! Now to send a payment to the cc company for those charges.
