Perpetual Ruminations

Saturday

Saturday is about shot, time for me to head off to bed. This extra running sure does bite into my time for doing things, as well as into my bank account to pay for the extra gas. We went through this most of the summer, and finally had it working good for us. But it didn't last long.

First of all, we are down to one vehicle, so we are putting a lot of extra miles on. Rhonda drives me in to work in the morning then comes home until it's time to pick me up. Her shift is right after mine, so she goes to work and I come home for the afternoon, then have to run back in to pick her up after her shift is done.

This takes just over an hour, round trip. That alone bites a chunk of my time off, but I have to watch the clock so I can be there on time, and that prevents me from starting a lot of things. Then, besides the time it takes to drive in, there is the wait for her to get done and out of work. This can take up to a half an hour, and often does.

Hopefully we can get the van back on the road again pretty soon, but money is tight right now, and it's going to be kind of expensive to fix it right. I may just have to rig up some temporary running lights and Jerry rig things so we can get it back on the road. Then, I can pick up the parts here and there as we can afford them, and when I have them all I can instal them so it looks a little better.

I still haven't even looked at it to see just how sever the damage is. I know the grill and both headlight assemblies are gone. I think the radiator is intact, but the A/C is wiped out, and there could be some other damage to fans and items mounted on the front of the engine. I was going to look it over and get things started, but it turned so cold and hasn't really warmed back up.

Also, we had an old Golden Retriever who was nearing her end, so I didn't want to take any time away that I could spend with her. Then, after she passed away, we adopted another dog to help our other Golden Retriever deal with his loneliness. He had never been alone before; ever since he came to live with us at six weeks old, he has been around Klarissa.

The few times he stayed home when she came with me, he went bonkers. Even then, he was not alone, he had human companionship. But, even with someone with him, he would pace and look for his friend. Now, she is gone and we have to work, so he would be all alone for the first time in his life; we couldn't put him through that, so we adopted a young female to keep him company.

They get along alright, but he doesn't have much to do with her. He interacts a little with her, but very little. He is grieving, and still trying to get over his loss, we all are. I do think as time passes, he will become better friends with this newest member of the family.