Keep on truckin'

Vehicles at Havenhill have become a comedy of errors. Minnie Pearl, our big white '72 Jeep pick-up, always has an issue or two. She's old, but makes a great farm truck - never mind there's no heat, no radio, no seat belts, and up until recently no gas gauge. After four years, Tom finally had time to replace the gas tank (that had a hole in it) and the gauge so we could actually know how much gas we had (or more accurately didn't have). And, after months of having what we thought were alternator problems, Tom concluded we needed a new battery. I was feeling like she was a luxury ride - giddy as I filled the tank and watched the gas gauge go up to full and she starts up with one big roar. No more jumping it just to haul stuff to the burn pile - it's the small things in life.

Saturday we had a little date day - haul recycling to town, lunch, a few errands, and a load of hay and grain (romantic isn't it). As we drove home in the pouring rain, Minnie started to sputter and died on the side of the road. The gas gauge read half full, so it surely wasn't that. We hiked up the road to a neighbors to borrow a few tools for what Tom thought was a clogged fuel filter. Farmers always like a chance to help a neighbor and a broke down vehicle is even better. Denny insisted on towing the truck into the shop so he and Tom could work on it out of the rain ( we were cold, wet pups). I took advantage of Karen's offer to sit for a chat and warm up. My fingers and toes finally thawed, I checked on the boys just as they had concluded we were out of gas. Half full on the new gas gauge actually means empty! Denny got a good laugh and now we know empty is well before "E". I'm fine with that as long as I know what I'm dealing with... wonder if there's any chance of getting heat (and defrost) before winter arrives again?

Final note - my car is back from the body shop and, after driving the CJ7 for 2 weeks, it's too easy to drive.