Vehicle woes and musings

Well, this is turning out to be a week for the record books. Now the car is broken down. Ok, realistically, it's been working towards this for a year. The shocks and struts are shot (believe me, driving on the rough mountain road is not pleasant on the butt), the tires are almost to needing replacement, and it really needs an alignment. But ... today, I was actually grateful hubby didn't feel well and took the day off. (He has a bug that's floating around the plant, to which I am generally immune, thankfully.) I got about two miles from the house, to near a church with a paved rear parking area. I figured with the alignment off, I should probably check for wear and so forth on the tires on level pavement. While doing so, I noticed a wisp of steam escaping from under the hood. NOT a good sign.

Upon popping the hood for a quick look, I discovered that the spot we've been patching for a year with Bars Leak has gotten to where that won't cut it now. Right where the passenger side of the fan shroud meets the radiator ... just a tiny pinhole, but it's bad enough that I didn't feel safe driving like that. I could easily blow the radiator and then poof, scratch one compact car. Called hubby, and for once he answered the phone instead of me having to call several times. Told him what was going on, and that I would limp back home. Temp guage wasn't getting over half anyhow, which is normal for the Aveo. He pulled together to drive me to work, and we made it with five minutes to spare. Of course, this meant he also had to come back after work to pick me up, but hey, at least we still have one really good running vehicle, and one we can sort of run if we keep an eye on the antifreeze levels and all ... though mostly, my car is going to sit until we get him running again properly.

I can't complain though. He's got nearly 140,000 miles on him since he was made (2006 model, so nine model years old), primarily due to the multitude of 90-minute one way road trips I had to make years ago for various things every other weekend. (Pickup and dropoff for my son's father to have his visitation - which I never could understand why he wanted it, because he usually spent it working and left my son with his wife, instead of spending time with the child.) Make those kind of round trips the equivalent of every weekend, and it racks up the miles quiiiick. But most of my car's parts are all OEM off the showroom floor, and with wear, tear, and general time, it's about time for some mechanical issues to crop up other than brakes once or a tune up once in a while. Now we're going to get into the big stuff, little by little. Once repairs start costing more than a car payment would, it'll be time for little Victor to retire to car heaven. So that's car stuff. Thank goodness we got the Dodge, because it is going to be our primarily/only working vehicle for a while!

As for musings, I tend to think that my life is pretty boring. I got a number of private comments on yesterday's post, all saying how exciting my life is. I don't see it myself, but hey, if my life is that exciting to you, more power to you? What amazes me, though, is all the people who say they wish they could live like me but that they never will because ...

Really? You say you'd love it and you're going to excuse it away? Sorry, not buying it. If you'd love it that much, you'd find a way to make it happen. If you can find excuses, you are romanticizing it, and not understanding the reality. The reality is, my life is a freaking hard slog most of the time. A day off is a treasure, because I get to run errands and play catchup on all the things I don't have nearly enough time for during the week. I get maybe half an hour a day to an hour tops for "hobby" stuff, like my needlework, and the rest is work, eat, sleep and do my darndest to build up my business. Easy life? Not a chance. It's a lot of work, and it's exhausting. But it's worth it to me, to have the things I really enjoy.

We're not talking the latest and greatest cellphone (heck, mine is a flip phone, for heaven's sake, and I'm probably lucky it has a camera in it!), I cook at home, I do puzzles and puzzle book and needlework to relax, I work my fanny off cutting woods and weeds and clearing trash and doing housework. Sweet talk yourself into it all you like, folks, but the harsh reality of it all is, the great majority of you wouldn't last a month living the kind of life I do. It's just "too hard" and has "too many deprivations and disadvantages." I'm not saying that to discourage you.

Indeed, I encourage everybody to put in a garden, learn a useful skill, etc. You never know when stuff like that will come in handy. But please don't romanticize my life, or that of any other homesteader or farmer. It's not romantic and all happy-happy, joy-joy. It's WORK. Pure and simple, it's a lot of work. You think a regular 9-5 job is hard? Try homesteading and add that on top of all you have to do as a homesteader. What I wrote yesterday about a typical day for me? Yeah - try all of THAT for a week or so and then tell me how easy I have it. I'm not bitter about these kinds of comments, really I'm not. But like most-well meaning commentary, it's critical and unkind in a backhanded manner. Anyhow, I'm actually doing this one before I head to bed, since my days at home will be noticeably shorter now. Hugs all!

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