9:24 a.m. - 2003-01-07
Cat Talk and Truck Talk
Every once in awhile I catch myself talking to the cats and I actually listen to what I happen to be saying to them. It's frightening, and can best be described as surrealistic baby talk.
Take last night for example. Bruce and I were sitting on the couch when Zesto crawled into my lap. This was a problem as Burroughs (aka: "Mr. 20 Pounds Of Rollicking Fun") was already holding court there. So I picked up Zesto and held him like a baby, cooing little goofy things in his ear.
Which, of course, is idiotic since he's stone deaf.
He seemed to appreciate it anyway though, the wheels in his head obviously turning in several different directions, so I kept going. "Ooooh Zesto! Oooohsta' cute little kitty! We's gonna' take Mr. Kitty up North next time and go to the Hershey chocolate factory!! Mmmmmmm! Hershey factory!!! They's gonna serve lil' kitties chocolate bars and Science Diet!! Mmmmmm! Science Diet!!! And then we're gonna' see the Amish people, and they're gonna drive Mr. Kitty around in their nice little buggies!!! And bring him buggy loads of fresh tuna!! Mmmmmm, fresh tuna!!!"
Yup, tuna-serving Amish people. This is what happens when you stay cooped up in your studio all day with no one but cats and rabbits to talk to.
*******************************************
Bruce came home last night with the news that he had gotten a call from the folks working on the truck engine. They actually wanted him to go look at the engine, so he did.
"So what happened?" I asked.
"Well, it's like this. I went in there and they had the engine out and opened up. It was on this spit thing like you'd have a pig or something. It was really interesting actually! So you could see one whole side of the engine and the oil pump and all the bearings...."
"Yeah, yeah, but what happened?"
"Well, they showed me the oil pan and how it was really gummed up and so the oil pump might not have worked. So the oil pump might be ok but it might not. I think these people are pretty honest, I'm just getting that vibe from them. But even besides the oil pump the bearings had some problems. You could see the bearings were all messed up and really just not going to last..."
"Yeah, yeah, cut to the chase, Honey!! How bad is it?"
"Well, that's only on one side. The other side of the engine could be the same or better but probably is just as bad or worse. And there are some other developing problems, too."
"So we have to junk it and buy a different truck." (Notice I did not use the word "new")
"Weeeeelll, that leads to a different discussion. The mechanic said that we could actually replace the engine with a rebuilt engine. They deal with a company in Nashville that sells rebuilts for between $1500 and $2500..."
"Bruce, for $6000 we could get a different truck!"
"Yeah, but then we're back to the same problem with a used vehicle, and we've spent more money. I think the rest of the truck is good. 99% of the problems we've had with it are with the engine. If we replace the engine with a rebuilt, which is guaranteed for life, by the way, we could probably get another few years out of it much cheaper than if we got another used vehicle for more money."
I guess this makes sense. Does this make sense to everyone else? There goes our savings account!
***********************************************
0 comments
