the pickup in happier, enviornmentally friendlier times in its life as a tree
“You have to take your pickup to a transmission place.” Words to cry over, aren’t they? Well, there are better (worse) things to cry about in life, so I’ll move on.
So it’s been over a week since my pickup broke down. In the whole scheme of things, it broke down in the light of day and I had time to spare before I had to be somwhere else (like an hour and a half down the road to pick up Nina from the airport – whew!). I rented a car for a while, but now that I feel like I’m hemorrhaging money, I turned that back in on Saturday.
So I’m on foot, which is limiting and freeing both at the same time. I get up earlier and am out the door earlier since I now have a commute: the 20 minute walk to work. Here is what I have seen, heard, and learned in my morning walks:
- In the mile to the church, only one stretch of about 10 feet of sidewalk is shoveled. There is one other stretch where it looked like they put up a good fight for a while, but the snow won.
- I rarely pass another person on foot. I am astounded by this, as this is the part of town where people walk. A lot.
- I have been getting to the church earlier than I do when I drive. Huh.
- I leave the apartment better prepared, knowing a quick run home isn’t in the cards.
- I really like my iPod. (This is not a new revelation. Just reinforced.)
Oh, and I don’t walk at night or flaunt the iPod-wearing. (That’s for you, mom.)
While I am ready to get my vehicle back, I have enjoyed my morning walks.
[...] $2,190 bill to replace the timing belt, water pump, and leaking cam seals. (Nothing compared to the new transmission my sister, a not-exactly-rolling-in-the-dough seminarian student at that, had to put in. [...]
Okay, how did that nest get there?!
This was when I was moving from Idaho and when the guy at the Uhaul place hooked up the trailer to the back of my pickup, he had to get under it to hook up the electric and found the bird next under the bumper! So, when my pickup would be parked for weeks up at camp without moving, some creative bird made it’s nest there, and then I drove its tree away with its unborn babies. Kind of sad, really. But we laughed a lot that day.