Part I
This week has brought much to our lives.
Sunday: A new year dawned. We had a wonderful morning of praise to our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. You can't start a year better than that. I spent the afternoon digging up part of the yard to unclog a drain pipe that was flooding out crawl space. But it was 60 that day, so it could have been much worse.
Monday, Ranelle started getting sick, again. Her fever was back as well as the queasies. (if that's a word)
Tuesday, I worked at home in case Ranelle had to go to the doctors.
Wednesday, I went to work, and all seemed fine. On the way home, the Intrepid lost a rod in the engine. By the grace of God, I caught George as he was leaving work and he drove me home. I left it parked in Shadeville for the night as I weighed my options.
Thursday (today): I got up for work and planned on getting the car towed this afternoon. I felt something odd in my eye. Ranelle cracked - "Is it pink-eye?" or something like that - always the positive one, that Ranelle is. I rubbed it ( I know - don't do that) and turned on the light in the bathroom. After struggling to see - both because of the light and the gunk - I was a bit, um concerned. My eye was (is) swollen, red, oozing, etc. So... I tried to see what urgent cares were open - none nearby - and to call off from work. If it was pink eye, I was contagious. If not, then woah - I needed help. I got in to see my doctor quite early, and the first thing out of his mouth was, "That's not pink eye, that's <insert scary medical phrase here>. So, it basically turns out that my eye is bruised, with a burst blood vessel. Yum. He faxed a prescription in for an anti-biotic eye drop (which never showed up at the pharmacy, by the way) and that was our morning.
After lunch, my dad and I went to get my car. I could have AAA tow it, but you have to be with the car, and they can't really schedule it. So we rented a dolly and hauled it home to be with it's family in it's final days. When it goes for burial, cremation, or whatever, AAA will be the hearse. We were able to start it and drive onto the dolly, but by the time we got home, it wouldn't run. It would crank away, and try - but no go. The starter was just like those machines in the hospital. It looked like it would run, but it was just an illusion.
Now, I am sitting here, blogging, with an eye that hurts. It never really itched, it just hurts to blink and especially to squint. Needless to say, I am not putting in my contacts for a while.
What will tomorrow bring? God only knows, and He will bring us through.
Part II
In honor of the passing of our car, I must write a brief obituary.
The Intrepid was born in 1996, somewhere in Canada. We do not know it's original owner, and we came to know it in October, 1998, with about 37,000 miles on the odometer. It was Ranelle's car. I was driving various cars during this time, and she had the family sedan. She liked going vrooom in it too.
Over it's life, it had various mechanical work. A multitude of tie rods and alignments were the most popular culprits. It went through two water pumps (and the accompanying timing belts, just to be safe), a wheel bearing, and the normal wear items: brakes, tires, plugs, etc. It never needed major repairs. The transmission never caused a problem (196,000 miles and it never leaked, never slipped, and never needed serviced - praise the Lord!). It usually got 25-26mpg (until recently). All the electronics work, nothing is falling off, and there are no holes that do not belong in the body.
The car has gone to several states, and knows the way to Pigeon Forge better than we do. It has hauled kids - more than it legally should, pets, stuff for camp, stuff for several people's moves, even Christmas trees. In it's last days, it was traveling over 100 miles a day round trip to take me to and from work - at higher than posted speeds (no more on this)
It was a good car.
Good-bye dear friend. We lived quite a life together. We will mourn you.
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