Posts Tagged ‘new car’
Not New
Not anymore. My car is no longer a new car. Not only have I put over 10,000 miles on it, I now have a couple of bumps added to the mix.
Between my typical end of day fatigue and some mischievous force that took over my garage yesterday, I found myself ensconced in a comedy of errors, with my car as the hapless victim.
I usually back into my garage space so that my driver side door is on the less cluttered center aisle. I don’t exclusively rely on the view from the backup camera, but switch back and forth from that to the mirrors. That camera may have helped me to spot the small metal trash can that was lurking a little too far out from the side.
I heard it before I saw it. Something out of sight was indicating there was a problem. I pulled ahead and adjusted my angle.
Upon inspection, I was shocked to see how significantly that brief contact had pushed the bumper inward on that corner. I shuffled off to find a tool that would help me push it back out again. Thank goodness for the high tech materials used for car bumpers.
With that issue resolved as much as I was able, I turned my attention to the can that was sticking out. I pushed it with my foot to move it as far over as space allowed. There was a Rubbermaid storage rack filled with a vast array of yard tools stationed in the same spot. A metal scoop shovel was sticking out at an odd angle.
I picked it up and reoriented it in the stand. Before I could even turn around to walk away, it seemed to jump out of the friction latch, flipping to smack the handle into the side of my car.
You only notice the ding in the metal if the light catches it right to reveal the imperfection.
Adding one last poke at my sanity, I spotted the light overhead on the opener was glowing brightly throughout all this, regardless it being broad daylight outside. Too bad it hasn’t worked like that for the last two weeks during the mornings when it has been too dark to see at the time I leave for work.
I think our garage may have picked up some gremlins recently.
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Number Stories
What more could I write to tell the stories captured by these images?
New car.
Overnight rain.
Numbers.
Oof.
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Superb Theme
Seriously, how could I consider any other auto manufacturer when the cars I have been driving for years come from a company that uses “Love” for their marketing theme?
Apparently, I was so smitten on Friday, I completely forgot to contact our insurance company about the lovely purchase. We decided to play it safe and leave the car in the garage until they can be reached on Monday.
It was a little anticlimactic, not driving the new ride right away, but we didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.
I have a fear that my luck for avoiding collisions with deer so far in the time since we moved to the country could run out, now that I’ll be driving a new car. That’s just the way the odds seem to work sometimes.
I’m hoping I can rely on the love to keep deer from doing anything regrettable. I wonder if that could work with other drivers, too.
It’s a Subaru. Feel the love.
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Unexpected Result
I suppose you could say this about most any day, but yesterday did not turn out anything like I thought it would when I woke up in the morning. One thing just led to the next and I ended up driving home in a new car. I credit the wise advice of my sister, Mary, who found several opportunities to urge me toward taking action, combined with Cyndie’s unwavering support.
The ultimate decision happens to be a sure-fire way to fix the check engine light that kept coming on in the old WRX.
The curious trigger that set the whole unplanned chain of events in motion was an exploding tire on the wheelbarrow we use more than any other tool. It is the key weapon in our arsenal for managing manure.
I was turning and reshaping one of the compost piles when Cyndie arrived with a fresh contribution. I took the wheelbarrow from her to dump it on the pile and she noticed one of the tires looked curious. She asked if it might be flat, so I reached down to check it with a squeeze. It burst!
Boom! It was flat now. Guess I don’t know my own strength.
That was going to need repair without delay and forced an unplanned shopping trip. After a brief debate over eating lunch first or heading out immediately, we settled on the fateful decision to eat at home. During that pause, I received a call from my auto repair shop confirming the new exhaust sound I reported on the WRX was because the catalytic converter had busted.
That news quickly confirmed it was time to take action on a plan I had mulled over for months. We altered our destination for finding a replacement tire for the wheelbarrow to a store in the same town as our safe deposit box, so I could get the title of the WRX. That car is now for sale.
It just so happened that I had applied for an auto loan at our bank a few hours earlier in the day, to see how much new car I could comfortably afford. I talked Cyndie into driving a bit beyond the bank and Tractor Supply store, so we could test drive the next Subaru I was considering buying.
At the end of the day, I was driving home in a current model Crosstrek. It has been over 2 decades since I had that new car smell.
For a guy who drags his feet making decisions, that was a flurry of significant ones in a single day, one after another. If it weren’t for that exploding tire on the wheelbarrow, I would have likely spent the day wondering what to do about that WRX.
Now that problem will become someone else’s opportunity. I’ve moved to higher ground clearance, so I won’t be busting a performance bumper on critters that jump in front of me at highway speeds, and I won’t be dragging my undercarriage on snow as often, when I leave in the mornings before roads get plowed.
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Relative Something 