And Sunday has arrived

I like to write about things that I believe are funny - or -  humorous happenings I just happen to bump into.  { For a grammar major (not me) that previous sentence would be a "major" sore spot and perfect for putting into a grammar exam. }  

The trouble with staying at home 24/7 = ? = nothing much happens inside my house.  I can arrange a few chuckles as the day goes by.  Nothing really happens that would make it into the Chuckle Hall of Fame.  Watching the news for humor is more than I care to experience.  My wife shows me photos online of funny dachshunds.  I like that; but, they are hard to convert into words.

Right now, my dog Sadie is barking out back.  I just know she has seen a squirrel in a tree.  Our trees are probably 50 ft high or more.  It takes two people stretching to reach around the base of most trees.   Here we have a puppy that is shorter than one foot, running around the base of trees barking 50 ft. into the air as squirrels fly between branches.  It keeps her heart rate up.  If you can look the absurdity of Sadie's predicament,  there could be humor in that.  She doesn't think it is funny.  The squirrels could care less.  Too much barking can annoy.

So yesterday I spent 24 straight hours doing nothing of value.  I slept late; I took a nap in the afternoon, I watched TV.  My wife told me that I was healing  (fractured rib - see previous bluggys).  I suppose that was valuable, hard work.   Last night I slept in my chair till 3 a.m.; then, I felt uncomfy and tried the real bed.  It was better.  That means I am healing.  I have slept in that chair since last Saturday night, the day of my great ice slide.  So those 5 hours in the real bed were a sign of progress.   (Sadie is still barking.)

Nothing of value did I   --   unless you count...

 I did hold Sadie on my lap as she snuggled up against my chin - we loved and snuggled.  

I did go throw the ball for Oscar in the afternoon.  That didn't last long - too wet outside.  It would be nice if things dried out for a short spell.  

I did scritch Bruno's ears - they are big and floppy and need scritching.

Oh, Oh, Oh, I did drive up and got the mail...we have to drive a mile to the mailbox.  An individual, far better than I, would hike up to get the mail every day.  One mile up and one mile down - they would have to be much better than I.  

So I will sit here and heal this afternoon.  I don't know if I will need a nap.  Perhaps, this is the day to finish the taxes.  That day must come.  I'm off to a good start today staying in par with yesterday.  It is time for lunch.

Toodle Doo

M 

 

This is the week that shouldbee

This is a 3 part blog.  See the two previous blogs below to get the flow of the thing.

Review:  got car after hassle with Covid Ford of Hutto (Covert).

Ice / Snow / Ice / Snow / power outages / water outages / record low temperatures.  

Backed car out of garage / slipped on ice / went to town

====================================

Sometime after 4 o'clock, we were home.  My arm/shoulder was aching.  My left side started to hurt.  It was the left side, towards the middle, towards the back - not to the actual back though.  It started to hurt.  I took a Tylenol.  The pain increased.  I took an Aleve.  By bedtime, the pain was getting severe.  I hurt.  The old joke:  it only hurt when I laughed.

Don't sneeze or cough when your side hurts.  I went to bed at 11.  For me, this is remarkable.  I am never in bed before midnight.  I laid in bed on my back.  I couldn't move.  My thoughts were of ambulance to the hospital.  The pain grew.  Sympathy, I need sympathy.  About midnight I attempted to roll a bit to my left.  I felt something move inside me.  This cannot be good.

Thump. Thump.  I tapped my wife gently and whispered softly - I NEED HELP!!   She most graciously got out of bed and helped me sit up.  Once up, I moved to my chair in the living room.  She brought a blanket.  I was still in my clothes of the day. There was no way I could change into my nightie.  I slept in my chair all night.  It was not good; but, it was better than the bed.

Sunday dawned and I shuffled around all day - move the wrong way and pain hits.  It was decided that I would go to the doctor on Monday if the pain was still there.  It was.

Called my primary care doctor.  He was booked solid for a week.  The nurse suggested I go to the "Family Clinic" across the street from the hospital; they take walk-ins.  I called.  The nurse told me to go to the Emergency Ward of the hospital.  The Family Clinic has no X-ray machine.  Sigh.  I didn't call them.  We drove to town - to the emergency room - met a nice young man with an ear ring who checked our temperature - sat in waiting room (or rather Waited in Waiting Room) - was called into the first room.

I told my story.  A nurse cam in and put a yellow band on my wrist:  "Fall Risk."  I explained that I was not a fall risk unless they had patches of ice in the hallway.  It didn't matter.  I was put in room 9.  X-ray and doctor visits.  I had a choice:  sit on the bed or on a chair.  I took the chair.  Beds and I are not friends yet.  Much to do.  Results.  I have a fracture of the 9th rib on the left side.

Go home and heal. they gave me 12 pills.  Tramadol.  Opioid, my first.  they said it would take from 2 weeks to 3 months - depending.  sigh.    In the future I am going to list the possible side effects of Tramadol.  Isn't interesting that Tramadol doesn't kick in my spell chek?  I don't know how to spell opiod.  I save my drugs for night time sleeping in the chair.

Yesterday, I slept in my chair for 12 straight hours.  I made myself get up today.  

Why?

BECAUSE, WE GET OUR STUPID COVID 2ND SHOT TODAY AT 2 P.M.

Now TV is saying we'll need more shots in the fall to counter the covid variations.  Of course this means that people who know more than I will proclaim that masks must be worn through 2025.  When the time comes, they will try to bury me in a mask.  When will it end?

I'm stopping here.  Next week must be better than the past 3 weeks.  All we need now is a meteor shower.  Over and out.

WHINE IS OVER.

M

This is the week that izz

 This is part 2 of a 3 part blog.  See the blog below to get the temperature.  Then, don't forget the one above for the cool down.

So the newer car is in the garage.  The snow storm hits.  This in itself is usually not a problem.  If you get snow in Texas, 24 hours later it is a memory.  Not this time.

Thanks to the inept electrical people we lost power for 4 hours.  Back on for 2.  Off for 8 hours.  This continued from Sunday through Wednesday.  Our house temperature began to work its way down.  Now, I have to brag on the builders of this house, Tilson Homes.  Our temperature never sank below 60.  The air pump and aux. heat kept going and going - think Energizer Bunny.  The temperature stayed below freezing for a hundred hours or so.  Nothing defrosted.  If you live in Texas, this is not news.

It was bad.  Our water pressure started dropping.  Eventually, we had no water pressure at all.  Luckily I had water stored in the garage because I carry it in the motor home.  We were okay.  I went to the propane tank and checked the level.  We were at 35 %.  Our delivery guy likes to refill when it gets down to 20%.  We were okay there.  All Texans know, this went on for several days.   By Friday, thawing had begun.

My #2 grand daughter turned 18 on Friday.  We had a card ready to mail on Monday (President's day).  Mail didn't run, and we didn't either.  The mailbox is a mile away up several small hills.  We went no place.

Saturday dawned.  Wait.   When I first conceived this blog, I had so much to say about the snow and ice.  It was planned to extend for page after page.  I guess time heals all wounds.  I am not as passionate about that problem this week.  The water problem was major.  How can I discuss that strongly enough.  It was a terrible time.  It was truly a bad week.

Saturday.  I opened the garage and backed out the car.  I walked around the car  looking at the slanting driveway.  Yes, our driveway is a hill.  Things looked fine except a small patch of snow/ice about halfway up.  Satisfied that I could make it up the hill, I started inside to round up the dogs.  That is when I hit a very small patch of ice with my left foot.  Down I went.   I hit hard on my left side - the left arm and shoulder seemingly taking the brunt of the fall.   It is amazing how gravity can pull you down before you can make an effort to respond.  It was step, down, thump.

Sure my shoulder hurt a bit, but I was okay.  I turned my head slightly and was nose to nose with the small black piece of ice.  I swear it smiled and chuckled.   I struggled to my feet and made it into the garage.  I was okay.  Didn't hit my head.  Back inside, I rounded up the dogs and we headed for town.  The wife had a haircut appt at 11:30. Our drive to town and later was not a problem.  It was okay.

We now move above to part 3.

m

That was the week that wuz

 This should become a 3 part blog.  I plan on two more entries which should be found above this one - if I do it correctly.  If not, part 2 & 3 will be somewhere below.  Your guess at this moment is as good as mine.

That was the week that wuz.

If there were ever a month that was going to cause emotional distress, this has been it.  It hasn't seem to let off since - well, way back in November.   I'm still waiting for that 3rd stimulus check so I can stimulate someone else.

At the start of February, I decided to trade my 2014 Red/Black wonderful Ford Flex for a 2019, any color Ford Flex Limited.  The older car was fine, but it has 91000 miles under its engine belt.  I wasn't so much worried that it would quit running.  I worried about little cosmetic things and the fact that at 100,000 miles its value would plummet...soar downward...slip into oblivion...slide in a spiral past double 00.   

I went online every night for over a week looking for a 2019 Flex.  They were there.  Most Ford dealers carried at least one  - used.  They didn't make a 2020.  As I read each entry, it was obvious.  All of these had been rentals.  All had over 30,000 miles - many well-over.  Color choices would be white or black.  And, many were AWD.  I needed a FWD car in order to pull behind the motorhome.   It is not surprising how many used car dealers would not straight answers about the cars.  "C'mon in and drive it."  Who is going to drive 100 miles to test drive a used car when the salesman is ignoring your questions.

Finally, I settled on 2 cars in Brownwood.  One white and One black.  both over 30,000.   I asked the salesman (a good ole boy) a money question.  He evaded the answer and invited me to drop in over the weekend.  On a whim, I looked at dealers around Austin again.   There was a 2019, white, with under 10,000 miles at Covert Ford in Hutto.  I was online.  A person online tried to talk to me.  I responded about the car and asked a simple question.  Is the middle seat a bench seat or captain's chairs?  He'd get back to me.

Over 24 hours later, no response.  It was about 6 pm, and I was talking to daughter Christine who lives in that area.  She hung up the phone and called Covert as they were closing.  A salesman took the call and called me.  I didn't want this 10K car to get away.  Here was the deal.  I drive to Hutto and do the paperwork.  I leave my 2014 with them.  They give me a loaner to drive home.  I go back down on Tuesday to pick up new car.  The car was in transport.  All of this is explained in another blog below.

Long story short  (too late)  Ice storm hits about the 8th.  Car isn't ready anyway.  Storm continues through Thursday.  I get word car is ready.  We drive down through the patches of ice and pick it up on Friday.  Drive home - park car in garage - and snow storm hits.

this brings us to part 2 above.

happy going.  

Rush

I lost a good friend today.  Rush Limbaugh died from lung cancer.  He was a good friend that talked to me almost everyday since sometime in the very late 80s.  Sure, I never met him - never called his talk show - but I felt he was a friend.   I will miss what he has to say.  Someone will replace him.  That will be a very hard task.

I can still remember the first time I heard Rush on the radio.  We were living in Gainesville out at Moss Lake.  It was hot summer, and I was down working on our dock.  The dock in itself would be a long stone.  We had just moved out to that lake.  The spouse was in the kitchen, and I was down at the dock.  I always carried a portable radio with me.  We had another radio in the kitchen setting on the window sill. These were not boom boxes.

I had turned the radio to 820 and was listening.  This guy came on about 11 and started his talking - along with extra things.  I had never heard anything like it.  I listened.  He said what I was thinking.  That didn't happen.  At noon (lunch time - never miss lunch time), I ran  up the hill and asked my wife if she was listening to this guy.  I couldn't even figure out his name.  It didn't compute.

From that day on, when I could, the radio was tuned to Rush.   I have to admit that recently I have been unable to listen to the entire 3 hours.  The news was just too depressing for me.  I could listen for a while, then go read a book.   I will miss Rush as a part of my life.

===========

I lost another good friend several years ago.  Every night as I prepared myself for classes the next day, I watched Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show.  I was there when he started the first night; and, I remained when he said farewell.  I turned off the TV late at night after he left.  I never watched Jay Leno - and, that was dumb.   I enjoy Jay's car show when I can find it.  I was hooked on Johnny Carson.  I decided to not let another person consume so much of my time.

The Tonight show lost me when they started spending the final segment bringing in rock bands.  Demographics, I believe is the word.   I no longer fit in their targeted audience.   The show had been cut to an hour (incl commercials), the guests were unfamiliar to me, and, then, the rock band full of noise and unknown faces.  I moved on.

As I sit and think about this, I am sure that I will remember another good friend that I have lost.  A good friend that I never met or talked to.   Perhaps Regis Philbin .... Kelly was funny when she fed off Regis.  He left.  I con't watch that show anymore.  Junky.

I suppose I felt the same way when I sold my blue 1964 Pontiac - or my 1973 red Mercury - or, yes, this past week when my 2014 Ford Flex moved on to another life.  Little things.

==============

Report as I close:  My daughter seems to have only a very mild case of Covid.  That is good.  If it transfers to her husband, I pray it goes okay there too.

mtz

Brrrrr Baby it's cold outside

 I am confident that I will not finish this typing before I lose electricity.  I do have a large battery thing attached which will keep me up and running for a while after all power is lost.

The storm is upon us.  For those readers who may live in Bangladesh, Texas has been under assault since this past Saturday.  If truth be know, it was assaulted all of last week too.  I was to pick up my 2019 Flex in Hutto on Tuesday of last week.  I called them (Covert Ford of Hutto and other towns) on Monday.  They didn't have the car yet.  Yes, they sold me a car which I have never seen or touched and they didn't have it yet.  Their story:  The previous owners traded it in.  Their new car was  having some work done to it.  The work had not been finished.  The previous owners (PO) STILL had the car at home waiting.

Of course, we are dealing with used car salesmen here.  Their first story was that the car was in transport and the transporter had sold his transporter - now Covert Ford was looking for a way to move the car to Hutto.  I figured out later that the car was to be transported from the west side of Austin to the east side (Hutto).  I could have hired a teen-age monkey to accomplished that feat.  As you may realize, their story was flawed.

The new story was so much better.  sigh.   I wanted this particular car because #1 it was a 2019 Ford Flex Limited -- Ford didn't make a 2020.  #2  The 2019 is almost identical to my 2014 except for certain updates Ford has made over the past 5 years - plus this is a Limited and mine was an SEL model.  #3 as I looked online for a 2019, I couldn't find any that had less than 30,000 miles and were all coming from the Rental market. Their Flex had less than 10,000 miles.  #4 I pull my Flex behind the motorhome.  I had to have a FWD Flex.  This was a FWD.

ASIDE:  As I searched, I would ask the dealerships if their used Flex was a Front Wheel Drive or an All Wheel drive.  Then, I asked if a AWD could be flat towed on all four wheels down.   I could not get ONE, NOT ONE, salesman who had an AWD to answer the question.  It is written in the owner's manual as plain as can be.  The salesman would not walk out to their car and look - much less send me a copy of the page to verify.   A salesman with Platinum Ford on the far east side of Dallas, sent me a print out of some magazine article.  He had the nerve to razz me about it.  Jerk.   I now have the book; it says in plain language, The AWD cannot be towed on all four tires.  It must be placed on a trailer.   Jerk.  

A CURSE:  may one of his children or grandchildren have to deal with a car salesman and get .... messed with.  Karma.

==============================================================

Ice storm was Wednesday.  Pretty severe.  Thursday - not much better.   Friday:  we drove south in our Ford loaner (Escape)  and traded for our white Flex.   At under 10K miles, I still paid too much.  But, this should last us at least another 5 years.  When you are 80 yrs old, another 5 years is pretty good.  Sometime in the future, my children will proclaim that I am too senile to drive any more.   See: the show Driving Miss Daisy.   I love the clarinet solo...and, they are driving a Hudson - my bucket list favorite car to own and carress.

==============================================================+

We arrived home Friday night about 6 or so.  Still light outside to some degree.  The new car went into the garage and has rested.   We did drive to town Sat. morn and bought milk and bread - it was the first time the wife got to drive the car -  visited CiCi's pizza - filled the car with fuel.   Our HEB was completely void of any milk products.  We heard a rumor the HEB truck was iced under somewhere near San Antonio.   There were 8 loaves of bread left.  ME, Lucky Dog.  Bought a loaf.  Left HEB, drove over to Brookshires and bought milk.  Done.  Ready for the winter storm.

===============================================================

No no nonono, not ready.  Who can be ready for the "rolling blackouts?"  We had about 8 inches of soft fluffy snow.  It was pretty.  I had bought a big (40 lb) bag of sunflower seeds for the birds.  Didja know that birds never say "thank you."   Maybe they do, and I just can't understand.   I have been throwing out bird seed in the back and the front yards.  I piled some on my small front porch.   At one time yesterday, I had over 50 small birds on my front porch.  I tried to count them.  Learn from me -- don't try to count birds in a flock.  Won't work.  When I finish here, I will distribute more seeds before dark.

We have this beautiful black bird, bigger than a sparrow, smaller than crows, about the size of a bright red cardinal - they have a small stripe of white on their shoulders.  The birds are all beautiful.  The cardinals are grand.  One smaller bird has a pale yellow breast.  I like birds.   When I walk out on the porch, some of the smaller birds don't leave.  They look at me and continue to seek food.  I've had my hand within an inch of them - food in my grip.  Nice.

==================================================================

So the snow came.  The snow stayed.   Yesterday afternoon, at 2 p.m., the electricity went off.  Clunk! It was off for till 4 - almost to the second.  Rolling Blackout in the day light.  Last night we started watching a recorded TV show at 6:30 -- Father Brown.  At almost exactly 7, Clunk!  

I thought, "This is okay.  It will be back on soon.  I need to share America's Pain and Suffering.  I am so noble." 

I was wrong.  I read by flashlight till 11 and went to bed shivering.  Short Aside:  my mom used to tell me that her eyes were bad because she would read under her covers late at night when she was a girl instead of going to sleep.  I doubt she had a flashlight in 1920.  So she read by candlelight?  Under the cover?   Maybe she had a flashlight.  Maybe.  On the other hand, kids do stupid things.

Sometime in the middle of the night (2 a.m.) all the lights came back on.  Saved.  The heater relit.  About an hour later - you guessed it - CLUNK!  Our electricity was off from 3 a.m. till 2 p.m. Tuesday.  It is now 3:30.   I'm waiting.  When will it blow?   I feel a CLUNK coming on.  Can you feel it?

====================================

Couple of side stories:

#1 My daughter Laura has just tested positive for Covid.  She doesn't feel too bad.  Maybe she will be lucky.  She teaches music in a small elementary school - Blooming Grove, TX.  Everyday, mask in hand, she greets every Blooming Grove student for her music class.  I say it was only just time.  and now she - her husband Tom - and the 3 dogs - quarantined .  As they say:  their are young teens, older teens, and Quaran-teens.  All can be a pain.

#2  Sitting here, I have been drinking a large mug of hot tea.  Jealous?

#3  My puppy Sadie (she is 5 years old) loves to bolt out the back door, cross the back porch, sail through the air down the hill - and rout the birds who are merely trying to eat their sunflower seeds.  Sadie doesn't care.  Chase birds.  Chase Squirrels.  It's all in a day's work.

 #4  My #2 grand daughter (grandot) Shelby, has a birthday on Friday.  We sit here with her birthday card in hand.  Stamped and addressed - ready to go.  It is a mile to the mailbox.  May not drudge up there.  Yes, when I was in elementary school living in Kansas and Nebraska, I walked to school in the snow.  I remember walking on top of snow drifts higher than my elephant eye.  Still, I don't plan to mail Shelby's card anytime soon.

#5  Tea is at the bottom of the mug.  Time to stop.   Stay warm and safe.

mtz

Whether Wetter Weather

 TV weather people live for days like this.  { I used to say weathermen and weathergirls; but, that seems to be politically incorrect in these times. }  We watch Dallas channel 5 weatherfolks on a regular basis.  I don't know why.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  Last night, Channel 5 proclaimed they were starting their weather reports 30 minutes early this morning (4:30 a.m.).  And weather casts have been shouting out 360 degrees for 24 -7 this morning.  

The roads have ice on them.  They should.  It has been raining and drizzling on and off since yesterday afternoon, and the temperature is below freezing.  Put the two together.  You have ice.   This morning I stepped out on my front walk  and tried to slide.  No ice there.  Thus, I reasoned, all roads must be fine.  That same logical reasoning has followed me throughout the morning.  

Not this time, but years back, the first thing I would do on a potentially icy day was to slam on my brakes to see if I drifted.  No drift; No ice.  Drive faster.  Made sense to a middle aged male driver.  And, I betcha, that is what is happening north of here in the DFW area.  A pileup in Ft. Worth has killed 5 already.  Watching TV weathercasts, we can see cars zipping over the overpasses.   (That was fun to say - "zipping over the overpasses.")   Some have been sanded; some not.  35 car pileup in DFW.  Yessir, that's a bundle of vehicles.

-----------------------

AN ASIDE:  I saw that another patch of I 35 W had wrecks.  They project 4 hours to clear the mess. Why does it take so long?  I realize that I have never had to clear wrecked cars off a road in the ice.  I realize that.  I have no experience.  But, 4 hours to clear.  Doesn't that seem like someone is making a commission on the amount of time necessary.  "We'll pay you an $100 an hour to stretch out this cleanup."   What if you gave them one hour, then, docked pay for every 30 minutes over that time?  It's just a thought.  And, I can say this criticism because I am confidant that none of the workers, who are standing out in this weather, read this blog.   I don't need a load of ice and scrap metal dumped on my driveway.

-----------------------

I need to drive south today.  My phone shows ice flows south of us.  I sit and wait.  Tomorrow will be dry.  It will still be lower than freezing.  Maybe all the cars from today will dry off the road.  My wife just brought me a thing she read off facebook.  People out here (East of Corsicana) are driving into town.  They report that the mile long bridge over Richland-Chambers Lake seems to have ice.   The one in front of the Darn, is covered with ice.  What a revelation.  (My momma made me say "Darn" instead of .... of .... that other word.)

Here I have sat for a year dodging the Covid bug.  All the news could report was bad Covid news.  Today they graduated to ice.  The TV weather people are ecstatic to get the opportunity to hog the airwaves for this brief bit of time.  Bad weather is their Hog Heaven. 

What I love the most is the lone, single reporter standing, shivering beside an icy road describing the scene in great repetitive detail - nobody withing 100 yards - and she is wearing a mask.  As you know, Covid will latch on to a single ice crystal, flutter about the atmosphere for hours, and slither up your nose.   

Dastardly little creatures.

more later.

latching on my ice shoes so I can make it safely to the bathroom.

Keep your head down and put a clothespin on your nose if you're going outside to stand by the highway.
mtz  (tired and 80)

today - pudding - car - misc.

 Feb 5 2021

There used to be a show on TV called "That was the week that was" or something like that.  It was a news show.  Went away.  For us, this has been one of those weeks - sure, no real pain or gain - but a week.  That's it.  A Week.

First of all, today, the 5th, is my #2 daughter's birthday, born 1967.  If you want to calculate the age, have at it.  Needless to say, I am too young to have a daughter that old.  ASIDE:  She is called #2 because she was born 2nd among our 3.   I mention this because some folks are so anxious to jump on a nothing and condemn others for a slip of the tongue or a stray comment.  Shame on them.

So she has a birthday today.  We will call tonight if the phones are still working.  Tomorrow, a trip to take her and Tom out for lunch.  We do lunch in order to be home before dark - I just hate my dogs being outside after dark.  We still have critters that roam in the twilight.  

Her fine hubby Tom will do something for her tonight; he always does.  I do think he has a gift for the creation of different ways to celebrate all sorts of occasions.  Go Tom Go.   That would make a great book title.

My wife finished off her gallon of ice cream left over from Christmas - yep, last night.  It has taken her until now to eliminate our one gallon of vanilla ice cream.  Woe is me.  What now?  

Sometimes I make remarks in passing about nonsense.  Obviously, once in a while, I actually get it right.  Being the diabetic I am, sweets are few and far between.  I buy little snack packs at the grocery store  (kids carry them in lunches to school)  --  the Sugar Free chocolate pudding snack paks.  Not too bad to eat on a lonely night watching TV with the dogs.  They're good.  Probably not as good as real chocolate pudding made with sugar.

In our refrig is a can of the whipping cream spray on stuff - left over from Christmas too.  In passing I told the wife to get one of those snack paks and cover the chocolate with whipping cream.  I thought it was funny.  Imagine a little plastic container of pudding covered 8 to 10 inches high with whipped cream.  (Eat the whipped cream and throw away the pudding.)  See below.

That's it.  Chocolate pudding (sugar free) topped with whipped cream.

and now.

Above is my 2014 red & black Ford Flex with 91000 miles.  We tow it behind our old motorhome.  It is our family car.  Yes, for those who are long time readers, the black car beside it is my 2003 black Mercury Marauder.  The Ford's 91000 miles has been eating on me.  I'm old.  I love this car.  But, the 91K bothers me.  Too many chances to break.   I started looking about 3 weeks ago for a newer Flex.

Online is an interesting way to look for used cars.  I found maybe 20 to 30 - 2019 Ford Flexes in Texas.   Just stop and say that again.  Flexes in Texas. They didn't make a 2020.  All my Flexes live in Texas.   Wasn't that a country song from a while back?  

Every Flex that I found was setting at about 30000 miles or more - Or lots more.  And all of them, according to that Car Fox Fax animal - all were former rentals.  There was one blue one.  There was one red one (with 45000 miles).  All the rest were white, black, or silver.  Maybe one gray one thrown in there somewhere for good measure.  I had pretty much decided to buy a white or a black one from Big Country Ford in Brownwood (a 3 hour drive +).  Then, the very night before I planned to drive to Brownwood, in a casual fooling-around-on-the-computer thing, I looked up Covert Ford in Hutto.  There it was - no picture available.  They had just gotten in a white one owner, not a rental, 2019 with less than 10000 miles on it.  A little pricey but 10K is a premium.

Online I communicated with Hutto.  I got a first response, and, then, nothing.  All evening and throughout the following day, I tried to get someone online to talk to me.  Nothing.  That evening, I was fussing on the phone to my #1 daughter in Round Rock.  After we hung up, she called Covert Ford and asked why they didn't want to talk to me.  I thought that was fun.

I got a text that night and a  call the next morning.  We talked.  A day later I drove to Hutto and bought the car.  There is no photo of a white Flex here because, I won't get delivery till Tuesday.  You see, they didn't have the car yet.  It was in transition.  I can't spell transcent.  Nope that isn't it.  Transport works.  Nobody would call me back because they couldn't find the car and couldn't figure out how to communicate with me.  

An aside note to salesmen:  it is not hard to call and explain if it is a good reason.  Don't ignore the customer.  We call that customer service.

We left the red car in Hutto.  They loaned me a little black Escape to drive.  We'll go down on Tuesday and get the white one.  I am now in debt again.  Why do I do these things?  Wait, I remember, because the red car has 91000 miles.  At 100000, many people won't even talk to you.   If you live near Hutto, it is a good car - wired and fixed to be pulled behind a motorhome.  Hopefully it will be a bargain.

Finally, I have learned that an Escape is a tiny car.  It has some bells and whistles; but, it is a tiny car.  I miss my Flex already.

Now, as I close, I want to say something about Groundhog Day.  It was sunny in Corsicana all day.

6 more weeks.  So there.

See ya,

mtz