Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Hiatus

I haven't got anymore appointments for a week and a half now. My car needs a bunch of work. So I am going on hiatus. I must get some minimal work done on my car including changing the transmission fluid and filter, which has never been done and it's got 150,000 miles on it.

See I lost all of stuff in that last move, including ramps and the decent jack. It costs too much to have the stuff done in a shop. I don't remember how to do half those things but I have to figure it out. There is nothing I hate more than trying to lay on my back on the cement and work on a car, especially without the right tools and when I'm guessing at what I am doing. It needs front struts too, and I did change struts on other cars I had, using a borrowed spring compressor once and a home made one (C clamps) once. But I don't like doing those things.

I need to flush the coolant system and recharge the air conditioner gas. I keep crossing my fingers the timing chain won't break. The belts need changed again, but I can't do that because I can't even get my hands down in where the belts are. It's nuts the way cars are now. Every little thing you have to take them to the shop and who can really afford that? When I took it in two years ago, to have the rear shocks changed, belts changed and a few other things done, it was $500. I got told then my starter was going out. So far, it still starts, but it doesn't sometimes. That's kind of worrisome. It's one of those things I try not to think about, or I pretend it isn't so.

The fuel filter on this car is inside the gas tank, the mechanic I asked, told me. Can you believe that? So is the fuel pump. Fuel pump goes out, fuel filter clogs, and you have hundreds of dollars to pay to fix something that should be quick and minor.

I guess I can't complain too much. 150k miles and the only real problem I had was the one coil pack going out. And it still gets 31 mpg. Used to get more, before the ethanol crapola. More ethanol in the gas tank means you need more gallons to go the same miles. It's quite the little scam going down.

Anyhow, I'll be on hiatus starting tomorrow. I have to do something about the car stuff needing fixed. Like the electric drivers side window. It's shorted out. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. And that isn't great when it won't work and it's in the down position and the weather is freezing or I want to leave the car to go into a store.

I hate trying to fix a car. I really don't know much about it. I fake it, look for instructions on the net, and hope for the best.

I'm also wondering if I should scale back on the cat thing. Why? Because I'm sensitive to people calling anyone who helps cats crazy. I'm not sure why this hits a nerve. I'm not sure why people helping cats are called nuts when people who help dogs aren't. I'm not sure why people who help cats would be called nuts more so than someone obsessed with say some football team, or watching race cars go around and around a track for hours or who sit playing video games for hours on end or even who go help feed poor people in far away nations.

Certainly why would people who help cats be called nuts if compared to those who occupy a bar stool every night or sit mindlessly staring at their TV's or surfing the web.

If one wants to help cats, why the hell not? Why is selfishness such a cherished trait anyhow? It's not like this world has been kind to me, not like animals have been. So I guess I answered my own question. Screw humans and what they think. I can do what I want as long as I'm able to. People and their judgements can go play with themselves in the bathroom. Who the fuck cares?

I get all sorts of armchair advice. Most of it is mean. If a person isn't out there doing it or anything, then shut up. I don't think I'll try as hard to be nice. People are mean to me. I'm going to get mean right back.

9 comments:

  1. Hey Jody = I met a guy over the cat food aisle in our Giant food store last week before the first snow storm - he was stocking up for his cats and told me he used to feed outdoor strays but his neighbors got so angry at him and threatened him. I told him the same thing happened to me and Paul three or four years ago when we had Skitty, Scrawny, and Nasty outside eating each night. They hated it! They hate cats is what it is.....Luckily where I feed Fatface they like cats. They often fill his bowl with some dry food if I can't get there early enough. They keep a spare bag around for that. For some reason this whole neighborhood - the cat people anyway - which happen to include quite a few men - love Fatface. He's such an appealing cat. But you are called craxy by those who hate cats - most people as such are racist anywho. You can't win so all you can do is ignore them and realixe how sick they are.

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  2. You are right, of course, Jeanne. It's tough to take day in day out, however, being slammed.

    I want to move somewhere friendlier, towards people and towards cats. It might be a very good indicator, if an area is ful of cat lovers or respecters. Maybe that is how I should look for somewhere else to live. I have been trying to find a place in Corvallis again, but that is one expensive rental market. I keep trying.

    Hey, how many inches of snow do you have now?

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  3. way too many ...i sent you a new cell picture in the email...will take more later...
    thats a good idea, checking out if an area is cat friendly first. You might ask an organizsation that works with feral cat colonies (if one such one exists) where a cat colony area is and you'll know its cat friendly.. ...just some more good old armchair advice

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  4. Nice and friendly armchair advice, at least, from snowbound Jeanne, who admits Baltimore's dumping of their excess snow into the harbor is causing sea levels to rise worldwide. I knew it all along.

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  5. Oh, I so understand about judgmental people referring to those who want to help cats as "crazy." I've tried to point out that they are just as "crazy" about dogs, or videogames, or anything, but then again, the ones who really don't get it are really not good friends. But it's definitely difficult dealing with people who dismiss you as being crazy. Especially when they have the ability to impact your life and the lives of the cats they so dislike.

    It definitely helps to try to surround yourself with people that either understand why you do so much for the cats - or they understand that everyone has their own passion. But it seems those people are hard to come by...

    P.S. I didn't know that about the ethanol. Haha. Thanks! = )

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  6. hey i never admitted anything..i plead the fifth...or i'll drink it...and pleade the forth, and the third, and the eleventh....

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  7. You did too admit it! I heard you say it to yourself. I may have been sleeping when I heard you admit it.

    Your quarters are on the way.

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  8. You are right FRodannah. I think I might just enounter a lot of the wrong people. I know there are wonderful nice people out there, who are kind to animals and don't think it is nuts at all to help cats. I wish I could find those people and have some fun now and then. I like to have fun! Have you found understanding friends where you live? I feel like I'm living on the north pole sometimes, in a cabin, completely isolated, except, I have cats.

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  9. Hey I feel lilke I'm living on the north pole right now....surrounded by snow mountains and ice.....
    I've found interesting cat lovers by the cat food section in the grocery store....also in places that sell pet supplies - in the cat section of course.
    and yes, you was sleeping and dreaming...but they are dumping the snow in the inner harbor - they just expect it to float out to florida i guess....

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