My Quest for Wheels

Ever need to buy a new car, or a replacement car?  It's easy, right?  Just go down to the nearest car lot, pick one out, haggle with the dealer and drive away $$$ poorer, but at least driving.  Wrong!  For me anyway.  There is so more to consider than just "oooh, pretty car".  Is it good on gas?  How many people will it seat?  Then there's size, and yes size matters.  If it's too large, I can't park it comfortably.  If it's too small, I can't pack enough stuff or haul enough people, etc.  So do I get a minivan, a small  SUV, a crossover, or stick with my comfort zone and get a regular full size 4-door car.  When I got my Cutlass Supreme in 1997 it was classed as a mid-size.  Now cars that size are considrered full size.  Growing or Shrinking?

The Test Drives
 I drove a 2002 Honda Odessey (red)  and a 2006 Chrysler Town & Country (blue).  Both nice minivans, but for comfort and drivability, I preferred the Town & Country.  The downside was the 119" wheelbase which would make parking between two cars in a 90 degree parking space at best a challenge or possibly a nightmare.  I've learned more than I ever wanted to know about the importance of wheelbase and  turning circle in everyday driving.  So even though a minivan can carry 7 people or lots of trip stuff, it doesn't seem practical for my every day use.

Next I drove a 2000 Honda Accord (gold).  Nice car with leather (a must for me).  It drove all right although the acceleration was more sensitive than I'm used to so I pulled away from the traffic lights a bit more aggressively than normal - unintentionally.  I felt rather low to the ground, and it also has visible body damage, so I left that one with the dealer, too.

Yesterday I tried out a 2002 Toyota Highlander 4WD (blue).  It was nice but the steering felt a bit mushy (that is compared to the pickup I've been driving since that fateful day in November).  It also made weird squealing sounds when you turned the steering wheel back and forth.  It also stalled out while my husband was parking it so he was leary of driving it too far.  When I did drive it, I was able to nail the parking in a 90-degree space, granted there were no cars to park between, but I hit the space on the first shot.  The reason being that the wheelbase and turning circle are similar, if not smaller, than my car.

On to the next vehicle - a Ford Escape (silver?).  This is a relatively small SUV as well, but unlike the Highlander, it drove more like a truck (built on a truck platform).  The Highlander was built on a Camry platform.  The Escape was comfortable enough and had good acceleration (bigger engine), but I really want something with a more car-like ride.  I'm spoiled - I've driven Oldsmobiles for 20 years! 

When we arrived at the dealership, a salesman asked if he could help us.  They always ask that.  We'd been working with Tim, so they paged him.  He came out, we told him what we came to look at, and he went back for a tag so we could take it out.  When he came back he said they'd asked him if he ran us off.  He said "no - they adopted me".  He's been nice and helpful and not pushy, and we (I) have been upfront that I'm trying out a lot of different types of vehicles and am not to the "buying" point yet.  With that understanding out in the open, I feel comfortable driving first one then another to see what fits. 

I have noted the color of the test cars for a reason.  Yet one more thing to consider when stepping into the car shopping arena - Color!  I don't want white, black, silver, or most reds.  White and black show dirt, and I just don't care for silver.  Red, eh...some are all right, but no fire engine red, please.

When you only have a few hours one day a week to get out there and look, and drive and then dissect the couple of cars you lined up, it tends to become a long, drawn out experience.  I'll be glad when I actually find something "acceptable". To make this saga more interesting, my hubby is also looking for a replacement car.  Stay tuned for the latest adventures in my Quest for Wheels.

Quote of the Week

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.  

- Dr. Seuss

Not to be taken extremely literally, because you could hurt someone's feelings.  That said, there is a measure of truth to this statement.  Those who truly matter, will accept you exactly as you are.

Quote of the Week

Pay attention to your dreams - God's angels often speak directly to our hearts when we are asleep.  

- Eileen Elias Freeman

Although I can't say that this has happened with me, I would suspect that it happens far more often than we realize.  We just don't know how to "listen" to our dreams.  Mine are often a reflection on what I've been focusing on that day.  I do know, though, that dreams can provide insight or give us a sign, but usually only if we understand and act on what we've been "told".

The Long and Short of it.

I caught this really cute pose, and just couldn't resist posting yet another picture of my "babies".  Actually, Rosie is my baby, and Sophie is her "Daddy's Girl".  They both have their quirks.  Rosie is the old timer around here.  He will be 13 in June, whereas Sopie is truly the baby of the household at about 3 1/2.  We believe she'll be 4 sometime in May.

Sophie (back) and Rosie

This is a shot of Rosie with his other bud, Doodle (or Dood for short).  Not to be confused with Dude, although he is that sometimes, too.  The reason for the title of this post is that when Doodle was a baby, we think he had an accident involving the under-the-hood area of car (possibly one of ours), that injured his tail, and we had to have it amputated.  It is a cute little black stub about 2 inches long, and yes, the hair did grow back, thank goodness.  It was quite vulgar looking for a while.  He was born in the summer of 2000 and lived outside until Christmas of 2007, about a month after we got Sophie.  Now the three of them are friends, and Dood idolizes Rosie.  There are more kitty cat stories and pictures where these came from.

Doodle is the black and white one.

Recycle your Christmas Tree

Christmas has passed, the decorations are packed away, and the tree is bare.  Do you put your tree out by the curb for recycling, toss it in the woods, or take to a drop-off point, or does it get picked up by the trash collector and wind up decaying in the landfill?  The latter is of no benefit to anyone, and the tree is wasted.  Let's all put our trees to good use.  Recycled, they become mulch to beautify the landscape and enrich the soil.  Even those who recycle their trees in the woods are benefiting the environment by returning the tree to nature, and even creating a winter sanctuary for birds and animals.

The cats especially enjoy having a live tree of their very own (or so they think anyway).  Sophie and Dood like drinking the water from the stand.  I'd rather they didn't, but it hasn't seemed to do them any harm, and it's not like they don't have fresh water in their bowl every day.  I guess it's the Eau du Frasier Fir that's so appealing.

So now it is January 6th, the day of the Epiphany, and the day many people take down their Christmas trees and decorations.  The date varies for me, depending on how our tree is holding up.  This one is great, still takes up water and smells nice.  We had a tree one year that was so great we kept it up (lights only) until mid-January - I just couldn't throw it out.  They're not all like that, and some shed so bad that right after Christmas you want to get them out of the house. 

Anyway, I took all the ornaments off this morning, and all that remains are the lights.  It is still beautiful, but I need to let it go.  I'll be vacuuming up needles for weeks to come.  The cats carry them all over the house since they like to sleep under the tree.

So when do you take down your tree?  Are you motivated to get your house back to normal, or do you carry out the tradition of the 12 Days of Christmas, culminating in the Epiphany?  Whenever, I hope you remember to recycle.  It's good for all of us.