‘found another Nikon Coolpix on Ebay for $20 including shipping, so I’m back to taking pictures. Not that it really matters since I haven’t ridden in a few weeks… It’s just been a difficult year schedule and weather wise.
Since it has cooled off a bit, I tried to squeeze a year’s worth of yard work into two hours last night – trimming bushes, cleaning out flower beds, edgeing, etc… I got the front done, but I’m thinking I might try to bum some wood chips to put down for the winter. I still need to cut down some “new” bushes that have cropped up along the side of our house. I think the only reason they have lasted this long is that they are rather attractive for weeds.
Speaking of weeds, I guess I have to take the plunge and put down some crabgrass stuff next spring. The lawn is horrendous looking. That also means I need to dig the spreader out of the shed and fix it. Thank goodness I only do this every five years or so.
After shopping around for a bit, I found a replacement for the Pig. It’s an older Ford F250 with a bench seat in the back. It’s got quite a few miles but it’s been babied and is very clean. Because it’s a 3/4 ton, it rides like a …truck. No four wheel drive and it’s a five speed manual, but the price was right. So far I’m getting about 15-17 mpg – not exactly a hybrid, but boy is there ever some power. It’s not the type of purchase to get excited about, but the more I drive it, the more satisfied I am that we made the right choice. I usually don’t like to dicker, but since it was the end of the month and the truck had been sitting on the lot for a bit, they came down several hundred dollars. I also noticed that the 3/4 tons are going for less than the 1/2 ton trucks right now. Good news if you haul firewood.
Red and I decided that going with this option – a truck that four of us can fit in, will get us through the winter without needing to buy a third car until Ave starts driving next year. At that point, we can either pass down the Saturn to him and get the Squirt something newer; or he can contribute to something nicer if he wants.
In typical York County fashion, the Pig is sitting in the side yard until I can remove the rather elaborate towing/braking system from it to sell separately. Then I might just give the truck away to someone willing to put the time and money into it.
I already customized the new truck a little with a Big Agnes emblem and a Backcountry goat. I might also have to get a Surly sticker for the window. It has a towing bar also, so the bike rack fits right on.
Finally, we got three new kids…not really. I was emptying the flash card from the old camera and found this shot from our trip to the Baltimore Zoo. It captures their personalities pretty good: the two older ones goofing off and the youngest thinking of something perceptive to say. Ave is now 6’2 1/2″ and Ian just passed 6′. Pretty scary for a 15 and 12 year old. Squirt, in addition to school, now has part time jobs waiting tables at a local restaurant and another filming field hockey games. Life is moving fast.
‘hope to get in a short ride tomorrow morning before Ave and I hit the road for an away baseball game.
Pedalling Along 