Speed bumps and high wind are not our friends

Today (February 25, 2008) was the day N's been waiting for.
He took possession of his orphan SmartCar- to be named at a later date.



Let me explain.
Nick reserved his SmartCar in the summer of 07. We had seen this tiny vehicle when we traveled in Norway and Sweden and he fell in LOVE. He ordered the specific car he will get right after the first of the year and there is about a 6 month waiting period. His bumblebee (yellow and black) should be delivered in June 08.

Then he heard about "orphans"--SmartCars that were reserved and ordered, but the person ordering changed his mind for whatever reason. N heard about one man who had ordered a smart car and his wife discovered she was pregnant w/ twins and this is a two seater car, so he had to let it go. Anyway, N put his name on the orphan list and told the dealer he would take whatever came available. There are 3 configurations and 6 main colors, so he told them he wasn't picky.

Today was the day---we drove to Round Rock to pick up our blue cabriolet (convertible) . The dealer representative (Jordan) walked us thru the entire car--showing us where the battery is, where to fill the fluids, how to lower and raise the top and how to drive the "automatic/standard" transmission. We found a gas station cuz N wanted to top off the tank to check the mileage (it is supposed to be in the 40's and 50's) One of the things we had been warned about was people stopping you to ask about what the car is and how you like it. They even gave us some little yellow cards to give people who want more information about it. Two different individuals at the service station, pulled around and got out and wanted to talk about it. We drove to a mall in Georgetown looking for lunch and the "security guard" person in the little golf cart stopped by to ask if it was a Toyota. He asked about price. Then two folks in a large luxury car stopped by--they had Mercedes-Benz shirts on and they knew all about the car. (It is made by Mercedes) They wanted to know how we liked it. Since we'd had it less than 2 hours, we didn't have too much to report. N just grins when he talks about it.


I am guessing the wind today on the road home was between 35-45 mph. I drove my van behind N in the new car. I was feeling the wind, so I was sure N was having to do lots of compensating to keep it in one lane. Kinda made me feel homesick for the El Paso wind (for about 10 seconds).

When we got to Goldthwaite, Nick decided I needed to drive it. It is super fun to drive, but NOT IN HIGH WIND. People driving by gawk, which is normal cuz it looks so different.

We drove thru Bwd a bit and got some looks. N gave me a little tutorial on how to use the "paddles" to shift up and down in the standard mode. We took the top down--yes, even in the high wind--and drove that way for awhile. It is cute and fun and an attention grabber. If you see us driving around, wave and smile, we enjoy that.

SARA

Friends say that the picture looks red, but trust me she's very sunburst ORANGE.

It's been a week since N and I drove to Arlington to pick up my new van. We left home at 6 am to be sure to get to the dealership early enough to get our business done, take N and B out for lunch and head home so as to arrive before dark. We arrived at N's house about 9:15, had banana bread for breakfast and went to pick up the car.

There she was in all her bright shiny orangeness with my name on the window sticker. Built especially for Earlene.

We met with all the proper people, the saleslady, the saleslady's boss, the financial man, some other people who walked by and admired my new van. I received the owners manual--a tome about 5 inches thick to keep in one of the two glove boxes. That doesn't count the book to help me figure out the navigation system. I may not know how to completely and properly use my vehicle for months. Several of the areas may not be "played with" when the car is running. So I've sat in the drive way or garage and read places in the manuals and "played". It is intimidating to admit that I've been driving this van for a week and still have no clue how to adjust any of the back seat controls--sound/temperature, etc. I sometimes, still open the back door (they call it a gate) when I mean to open a side door. But I'm sure I'll get used to it all in time and hopefully I'll get all the bells and whistles figured out.

When we got home from Arlington w/ my new van (Sara--more about that later) -- N was checking out the trailer hitch on the blue van which will now be his fishing vehicle. He was looking for parts of the hitch which are stored in the back cargo area. I began looking for Sara's hitch. We paid an extra $600 for the "towing package" to be added at the factory. Sara had no hitch. My thought was that altho' we specified it in our order, the factory didn't get the word. I looked on the window sticker, "towing package" was there. I looked at the invoice thing that I had received earlier---"towing package" was there I e-mailed the dealership asking them to check w/ the factory to be sure the rest of the "towing package" was installed, since the hitch wasn't.. I found out later when N called to see if they had received my e-mail, THAT HITCHES DO NOT COME WITH THE TOWING PACKAGE. Can someome explain to me how I can tow something without a cotton-picking hitch?
We were told that hitches must be added later because there are so many styles and weights. Why not tell the customer this as they are ordering a "towing package"? "Oh, by the way, the hitch is an extra charge". Ridiculous!!!

That was glitch #1---Why is buying a vehicle so difficult?

Glitch # 2 came a week later. We bought the extended warranty because of all the electronics (bells and whistles) included in the van. We usually don't, but because of an experience w/ the blue van (Steve) we didn't want to pay to replace several computers in the life of the vehicle. Not only did we ask the business manager "Does this cover every single thing on the vehicle"? We had him repeat it more than once. He must have thought we were paranoid. So we felt very secure that EVERYTHING will be covered for 7 years or 100,000 miles. I would never have sat and read the extended warranty book, but N did two days ago on Saturday and discovered that if a certain box on our paperwork is not checked we do NOT have coverage for the electronics. And ours was not checked. He phoned the dealership, and talked to a business manager --the boss of the man who assured us that we were completely covered--- He told N that he'd check w/ the warranty company and get back to us.

We received a phone message from him this morning (Monday) saying that WE ARE COMPLETELY COVERED and the lack of a check mark in the magic box was a mistake. WHEW!

Let me tell you about the navigation system. It is just too cool. I'm sure it will be wonderful when I go on church trips and try to get around in Lubbock, or try to find places in Fort Worth or Arlington, but it is not much help in Brownwood. I tried to get it to tell me how to get to Chilis--as if I don't already know---and it was ready to send me to one 78 miles away. The same with two or three other places here---. It was ready to send me to a mall 120 miles away, rather than the one in Early. We, the system and I, need to learn to communicate better. It gives streets in Bwd different names than are on the street signs. There is a traffic function which warns of problems up ahead--so far --all I have been warned of while driving on the streets of Bwd are problems on the freeways of Ft. Worth. Again, my manual and I need more time together.

Why is she named Sara? First off, many, but not all of my vehicles have had names. Not arbitrary names always but names that "come to me". We were loading groceries from Sam's in the back- on the way home that first day and that name (SARA) just popped into my head. Much the way Steve was named.

Am I happy with my car? Yes! Am I a little intimidated and uneasy with an unfamiliar vehicle? Yes!

As we were driving home, we phoned N from the car--my phone is "synch-ed" with the sound system. (Yep, that is rather intimidating, too) I found out that B and N were at a dealership buying him a new vehicle for his 400+ mile drive per week. As far as I know his is not yet named, but it's really pretty.

It was just not meant to be

Rather than travel to visit N & B on Christmas Day, we waited til Dec 27th (Thursday) for several reasons--Pike family gathering in Granbury on Saturday, going to movies w/ N on Fri and possibly picking up my new van which we ordered at Thanksgiving.

The trip began with our accidentally backing into a pipe barrier in the car we planned to "trade in" on the new car. Our trip was about 10 minutes old when this happened to the car that had been scrubbed and emptied and kept clean for days before the trip, so we could receive optimum trade in for it.

We phoned the dealership on the way to Arlington and were assured that the new van was on the truck that was last heard from delivering in Mesquite (not far from Arlington). It should be at the dealership on Friday, we were told.

We really wanted to see two movies that haven't come (and may not come) to Bwd SWEENY TODD, an "artsy" musical and JUNO. N's favorite theatre has both of these movies playing, so we plan to see S.T. first at 11:20 and then see Juno after. All the while we are monitoring my cell phone for messages from the dealership.

We get tickets and go into the theatre and watch 20 minutes of beginning stuff and 10 minutes of commercials. We sit and wait and we wait and we wait. A manager comes in and says because of a mechanical problem, the movie will not be shown at this time. He hands each person 2 free passes for later use and tells us we can go see any other movie in the place (there are more than 20 screens). Juno isn't showing right now, so we find something that is showing. Alvin and the Chipmunks We figure we can sit thru about an hour of Alvin and then leave to go see Juno. At the appropriate time, we slip out of Alvin to check out Juno. We are walking toward Juno's theatre and the same manager is coming out explaining to the patrons that they can go see any other movie. Technical difficulties are here too. We go back to Alvin and see the rest of it. It was cute, not as screechy and gaggy sweet as we thought it might be. When Alvin is over we leave the theatre complex and head to Red Robin for lunch. Pretty good fast food, very busy, but efficient. We finish w/ lunch in plenty of time to get into the complex to see the next showing of Sweeny Todd. As we enter, we show the ticket taker guy our free passes the manager gave us and he won't take them---says just go on in and save those for some other time. We find the theatre for Sweeney Todd. We sit thru the same 20 minutes of beginning stuff and 10 minutes of commercials and we sit and wait and wait and wait. Then a different manager comes in to say that they have techinical difficulties and this movie won't be showing on Friday at all. He also tells us that Juno is having the same problems. He suggests that we can get our money back. Some really nervey patrons ask the manager person if they can get their money back for their half eaten popcorn and he says YES. I think they would have done anything to keep folks from being angry. It was beginning to be funny. We saw Alvin, got 6 free passes between us and N got her money back for the tickets to get in. Not a bad investment of time, But we still have not seen Sweeney Todd and Juno IT WAS JUST NOT MEANT TO BE. (today at least)

We headed for N's house--- stopped by Sam's to get snacks for the Granbury family gathering--and then headed home. We called the car dealership to check on the car. No one has heard anything from the transport truck since yesterday. As far as they know, it is still in Mesquite (My guess is that the driver of the truck is from Mesquite and he is taking the weekend off and has parked the transport somewhere in Mesquite to complete his route either Monday or Wednesday--just my guess)
On Friday night we open Christmas gifts and N wins the creativity award for gifts when she presents her dad with " Nick's Cats--the calendar that should have been" Included are 12 pictures of Nick's beloved deceased cat Calvin, our current cat Kitty Hawk and N's cat Annie. Those in Bwd who are aware of the Bulletin's Pet Idol contest will understand the uniqueness of this gift. (In a nutshell- the newspaper held a fundraiser for the local animal shelter by publishing pictures of pets and allowing 25 cent votes to be donated to the shelter. The 12 pets with the most votes would be featured in a calendar---do I need to mention that Nick paid for a large number of votes, but did not win---) So now he has his very own NICK'S CATS calendar. A very clever gift. B and Nick also received remote control helicopters for "in the house" flying. Everyone needs a toy for Christmas. We had lots of dive bombing that evening.

We got up early Saturday morning, called the dealership. They say they'll call us back w/ information---which they eventually did about noon as we were heading into Granbury. Oh well, it was just not meant to be--this weekend.

Hope everyone out there had as exciting a week between Christmas and New Year's Day as we have had.
This extra time will enable Nick to replace the tail light on his little Mercury for trade in. And we will "take our time" getting back to Arlington to pick up the new van--if and when it ever gets there. No hurry- after all when we originally ordered it the day after Thanksgiving, we were told that it might take 3 months to be delivered. And this may be the truth. And who knows SWEENY TODD and JUNO just may be showing in Bwd next week. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Mission Accomplished- sort of

THE ROAD OUT OF ALPINE

Last night we ate at the "World Famous" Reata in Alpine. It is "related" to the restaurant of the same name in Fort Worth. The Alpine one began in 95, according to the menu and the Ft Worth Reata began in 99 by the same people. The menu is truly ecclectic. N had barbecued shrimp enchiladas (sounds gross to me, altho' he seemed to enjoy it) Quail was on the menu as well as pork chops in pear sauce, and the biscuits had pecan pieces in them. Several other unusual entrees were available. Steak was advertised as $2.10 per ounce with a minimum order of 18 oz (I am hoping this is a family meal) BUT THE SALAD HAD REAL ROMAINE LETTUCE--NO WEEDS. The tortilla soup was exceptional--almost as good as I make. Now I have never been to the Ft. Worth version, but N has and he says the Alpine one compares favorably and is less expensive. Must be the atmosphere. The Alpine one is in an old house that belonged to a Mrs. Sidenstricker.

After our really good meal, we felt the need to use the hot tub at the hotel. I understand liability issues in connection w/ public use hot tubs, but this was more of a tepid tub. When we use our home hot tub, we set the temperature about 102 and it is good for us. This one was probably set about 95. When Grandpa would join us in the hot tub, we had to keep the temp down some because people w/ heart problems should not stay in hot tubs over 99 degrees. I am sure that is a concern for a "public use" tub like this.

--------Wed morning's plan was to go to the tax office to pay taxes on the land we'd like to dispose of, take pictures of the land, go get some raisin bread at a main street bakery, get snacks at Alco and hit the road.

Taxes got paid
Pictures were taken

AVENUE J, JUST STOPS--SHOULD GO BY MY LOTS


NOT PRETTY- SOLID ROCK-- OUR LOTS GO TO THE TOP OF THE HILL

Bread wasn't ready, so we left without it,
Snacks were gathered and we left about 9:45

Very uneventful trip--- I finished Christmas cards- ready to mail. We listened to a story on tape named THE FIRST LAW--We shopped at the Sam's in San Angelo-- a few items turned into a basketful, nothing unusual there.
We got back to Brownwood at 3:30
Unloaded the car and settled in.
It's good to be home and we'll enjoy sleeping in our own beds.
See everyone on Thursday. E

"Frou-Frou" Salad

We've spent some of today driving around Alpine looking at things. The dress shop where my Mom worked as a fill-in saleslady and bookkeeper is now a Christian School. Several service station looking buildings are banks, flower shops and art galleries. And I counted at least 6 banks. Why does a town the size of Alpine need so many banks? Must be more money here now than there used to be. Visiting the Court house (where my Grand Dad used to have offices) was a sort of walk-thru activity. Most of the offices are in the "add-on" in the back. I mentioned that the post office is no longer the post office, it is now the tax office. For those Alpinians reading, the front part of the post office looks as it did when my Granny was postmistress. It was like walking back in time. But go around the corner and where all the boxes were is now a large office area where the workers have desks. No one seems to be able to find a deed to the property I am trying to sell. County Clerk's office says to go to the tax office to find what book it is recorded in and then bring that info back and they'll get the book for me. The tax office has no on-line records for the deed which we think was filed in the early 40's. So we go back to the County Clerk's office. As it turns out I have STILL to see a deed of any sort for the property. We drive to where we think the property is --we have a sort of 1940's plat that is hard to read and the roads marked on it begin, but stop before they get near our lots. Roads that are supposed to go beside it would have to go thru a house to get there. ANYWAY with the assistance of an old friend real estate broker, we sorta figured out where the land is. Not quite as vertical as I originally thought and facing a completely different direction. Bottom line is--- no road, no access, only 2 and a piece lots---no one wants to even try to sell it. Would cost more than it is worth.
We're regrouping to survey our options. Wonder if we could give it away? But even to do that we have to clear up the title, which is another story altogether.

Last night we ate at a familiar restaurant we had visited years before. I'm thinking it has changed hands. It looks the same but the food is different. The baked potato I had- tasted like it had been cooked 3 days ago. And the salad at this predominantly steak and barbecue place was what we, in our family, call "weed salad" or "Frou-frou" salad. Not a recognizable piece of lettuce in the bowl. A little disappointing.

Today at lunch we ate a a "cute" sandwich place and wouldn't you know it, The sandwiches had frou-frou salad on them.
They tasted really good- moist and filling, but no recognizable lettuce.

I'm beginning to think Alpine is being taken over by Frou-Frou salad. I'll know tonite when we eat our last Alpine meal out.

We're staying at a nice hotel/motel with an excellent hot breakfast available. This nice lady cooks eggs and bacon or sausage whatever you want and there are "cook-it-yourself" waffles IN THE SHAPE OF TEXAS. Now how cool is that?

More later--Maybe I should go for a swim. E

Isn't 80 mph enough?

It's December 17th and N and I are in Alpine, Texas. We're here to do some Real Estate business--more about that later. It's Monday and we began our day by delivering bikes, groceries and WalMart cards to our "secret Santa family" living near Bwd lake. After delivering and returning home to pack for the trip, we were on the road by 9:30. A second stop at sister-in-law's work to leave a bag of gifts for her sons and families. As N drove, I began addressing Christmas cards--might as well do something for the 6 hours the trip will probably take.

We stopped in Ballinger at an Allsups to get N some coffee and snacks. And we discovered a NEW (to us,) Dr. Pepper. Who out there has tried Chocolate Cherry Dr Pepper? It is definitely for those who have a thing for chocolate covered cherries which we see everywhere during the Christmas season. If you aren't a fan of choc. covered cherries, don't try one, you won't like it. Did I like it? Yes, as a special treat, but it is not an everyday thing.

Who out there has been thru Rowena?

Or seen cotton growing in December?

In San Angelo a crucial turn we needed to make to get onto the road we needed was just off the edge of our map. Do I need to say more? We got a scenic tour of part of San Angelo, trying to find our way back to the road to Mertzen. We did notice the cost of gas there was considerably less expensive there @ $2.779. Not cheap by any stretch, but better than where we actually filled up later @$3.059.

We saw lots of wind farms between Big Lake and McCamey--I am hoping there are some in Alpine, so someone will want my mountain lots. (But no such luck)

When we pulled onto the freeway ( I-10) we noticed that speed limits are 80 mph. Wouldn't you think that would be fast enough? We saw two different cars pulled over by highway patrol on this stretch of road--not knowing why, but guessing that it was for speeding. YIKES!

Fort Stockton's Burger King and gas stop had its own charm. Food was okay- gas expensive--but the entertainment was exceptional. As we were getting back to the car after noshing, we noticed a man in a "uniform" looking under our car. Then he went over and looked under another car. Finally someone on the other side of the other vehicle made noises and out ran a rooster. The uniform guy went off across the parking lot chasing the chicken. Not sure what was going on w/ the roundup, but we left it to him.

Alpine has changed- buildings I remember from when I was a kid ---and then back to work on my masters--- may still be there, but their function has changed, they have different names, have had face lifts (or need them). We drove by my folks house that was a medium sized white adobe one story and is now a large bright blue trimmed two story. My grandmother's house has a really pretty red metal roof now and a huge car/boat/r v shed beside it--but her tiny antique metal garage where she kept her old car was still there. We looked for specific places and found some of them. The post office is no longer the post office, but offices for some agency. We'll do more looking around tomorrow, we found the court house and that is our first stop for tomorrow.

I'm out of Jail

Christmas parties at the TYC (Texas Youth Commission) otherwise known in Brownwood as "the state school" are hosted by various churches. This was our first time to host a party. We received a list of rules and instructions beforehand. For example, we must cover all our tattoos and must not dress provacatively --especially no open toed shoes. We must not bring in any cell phones, or pagers or tobacco items or car keys.

We must not touch the inmates or ask them any personal questions.As one of the church folks who went along to serve, said---very much like a Jr. High dance--them on one side of the room and us on the other. Any refreshments we brought in must be in plastic containers--no canned drinks. Many, many more rules. And I am sure there is a very good reason for each and every rule.

Getting into the facility is a major project. Walk thru a gate-get "wanded" and leave your driver's license and keys there and walk to the appropriate dorm. I had permission to take my car in to haul the goodies. This was a special undertaking. Drive thru one gate, let someone look thru the car, drive thru another gate, give the guy my cell phone, which I had planned to leave in the car, but that was not allowed. Then I followed a guy in a golf cart to the appropriate dorm. We unloaded the stuff and I had to take my car back out the way I came in. Got the cell phone back , parked and then went thru the gate thing. I sorta expected the guards to be gruff and hard nosed. But they were kind and very helpful. Chaplains were also helping the party hosts get in and out in an organized manner. I got a ride on one of the golf carts back to the dorm and when I got there the folks from our church had things all set up for serving.

We had 14 pizzas, potato chips, cookies, brownies, cake, choc candy and candy canes. We had several kinds of sodas. The girls (aged 13-18) came into the room where we were set up to serve them but only 2 at a time. They weren't allowed to touch the food--we served them. They could tell us what they wanted and we put it on their plate. We had lots and offered them seconds. They were only allowed to go back for more when all were ready for seconds. And again, only two at a time and we served. We played Christmas music, but they seemed oblivious to it. Didn't hum or move to the music or sing. That would be hard for me to do.

We were told originally that we could not leave any left overs there, but must take it all w/ us. Well, not completely true. The folks on the staff took a great deal of our left overs off our hands. We really didn't want to bring that much back w/ us, so we were thrilled they could use it. But the girls couldn't have any of it.

The girls seemed to truly appreciate the homemade cookies and goodies. Two of them thanked us after we offered a prayer for them. As we were packing up to leave, one of the staff told us that this was a "hard core" dorm--armed robbery, murder, etc.

My prayer for them is to believe that God loves them and is watching over them each and every day.

My sincerest appreciation to those who supported us by providing cookies, cakes and other goodies. And especially to those who helped out by attending the party. Thanks to James, Judy, Margaret, Don, Jameson and Samantha.


What a Christmas experience!

(Notes to myself- next year a serenade would be nice, fewer choices of goodies would streamline things some, no "punch" just sodas, manage keys better, perhaps ask for same dorm- more helpers would NOT be an asset- we were slightly crowded as it was)