(1/18/2021) Monday More thoughts about the new truck. I seriously considered other than Ford.. Don't like. .Made more difficult because I wanted to love this new truck "Til death do us part." The only way to break the log jam was to start settling, reluctantly admit I can always trade again, and maybe find what I want, when the warranty runs out. I found a new 2020 F-150 4x2 online. Went to look at it, figuring I could rule them all out once and for all, because of size. Only drove it around the parking lot. I was surprised. It's not nearly as big or high as the 4x4 monster the salesman showed me the other day. Only 17" wheels. No console. Fewer bells and whistles. I was hoping I would hate it. In fact I liked it. It is white. I could even settle for white for a few years. If one had to car shop often, one might have a tendency to develop a somewhat negative attitude. The price on this 2020 F-150 is almost exactly the same as a 2021, if you don't include a $4000 discount when you finance with Ford, which I will not be doing. Salesman wouldn't budge on that. Unless I hear from him, I'll probably order a 2021 with similar options, possibly from the other dealer. Otherwise a custom order 2021 Ranger, at about the same price. It's nearly over, unless someone throws in another monkey wrench. For example, I read there is a shortage of semiconductors because of Covid-19, and Ford halted production at at least one plant. This reminds me of an old friend who would break into singing Rhinestone Cowboy when one of us got into a situation like this, where you finally cave on all the things you wanted, just to get it over with. "There's been a load of compromising, on the road to my horizon..."
(1/22/2021) Friday This is what 100 calories looks like (not all together, but any one group) An extra 100 calories every day for one year will result in a weight gain of 10.4 pounds. This is what I knowingly did this year, on average. Don't like the result. Decided halfway through the day today to start a diet. 2 hotdogs 260 2 slices honey wheat bread 140 12 gingersnaps 300 5 (paper thin) slices Oscar Meyer low fat turkey: 50 Total for the day: 750 calories Grocery shopping lately is unpleasant. I might give Nutrisystem a try. It would be fun, I think. If the food is horrible, so much the better. You get to choose 28x4 meals/snacks. It will take me days to decide all that, then up to 10 days to get the stuff, so I got some healthy food tonight. This forum isn't a good place to start a weight loss challenge. Everyone should do whatever works best for them. We'll see how it goes. . .
I will be 72 in a few months this body has high mileage I would hate to leave this world without a hotdog in my hand.
Ha ha! I love hotdogs. And so easy. But the rest of them went into the freezer tonight for a long break.
Before the border closure I would cross into Bellingham to by Oscar Meyer we don't have them here of course I would get hassled by the border people ( the purpose of your visit is to buy hotdogs)
I've been reading off & on about the vehicle market, since I bought my 3rd new vehicle ever in 2019 (bought a Mazda CX-5 after 30 years of truck ownership.) It seems that there is not a glut of new vehicles because--as you said--production halted due to COVID supply chain disruptions. But everyone kept anticipating the bottom falling out of the used vehicle prices. Lots of rental companies liquidated their fleets due to a lack of business, and there is not enough room to store that glut of inventory. I don't know if prices ever really plummeted. Have you looked at the used market? I do know that for my entire life, used pickup trucks have always commanded a premium.
No, I haven't. Used cars scare me. I suppose if it was from a dealer it would be OK. I should consider it. I'm almost to the point of taking my old truck to the shop to see if they can tell me what's wrong with it. I suppose there is a tiny chance it's something unrelated to the transmission (4 speed automatic), maybe some electronic part that needs adjusted, or replaced, or whatever. I don't even know enough about it to talk about it intelligently. The transmission will go along just fine, almost perfect in fact, for days, and then all the sudden it will do the shudder thing, or take two attempts to shift.
I've picked back through your comments and can't find the one that describes the problem (but I do have a possum story for you.) It's always tough to decide whether or not to fix a vehicle or to replace it. I have a 2005 GMC Canyon that keeps having electrical issues, but now that I bought my Mazda, my truck is my backup vehicle. And I need it to haul my trash out (ain't no curbside pickup here in the country.) I had the problem with my truck fixed back in 2015 and it was fine for a few years, then the problem came back. It's always worth getting an estimate. I DID see your quandary over which trim to buy within a given model. Yeh, there's no mixing & matching. When I bought my Mazda I was looking at low mileage used cars, but when I looked at the payments at the used car prices & financing rates (versus dealers' 0% financing), I figured I could have a new car for only $50 more a month. But that was a couple of years ago...used prices may have declined.
I spent most of my live in a town outside of DC...classic "suburbia." Possums--like many other critters--flourish alongside humans, especially in these older established neighborhoods. I would often go out on weekends and come home late at night to find one just sitting at my side door, shooting me the "Do you know what time it is?" look. Like many such locales, we had weekly municipal trash service. I kept my bags of trash outside by my house, and--like the rest of my neighborhood--would take them to the curb the night before Trash Pickup Day. This one night I was hauling the bags down my driveway and noticed that one of them was extremely heavy. "I don't recall cleaning out my freezer" thinks I, as that would be the only reasonable explanation for the weight. Just then, out of a hole in the corner of the bag, a possum jumps out and runs away. 11 o'clock at night in the middle of my neighborhood, and I shrieked like a schoolgirl!!! I mean I screamed!!!! I'm still surprised that no one called 911. Nasty little buggers.