The Goat Pen

we rented a house outside Traverse City for the weekend.

The original plan was my son and his GF would meet us there and my daughters friend would housesit our dogs for us.

I was talking to a guy about the motor on my lawn mower giving me problems and he offered me a brand new motor for a great price, so I agreed to pick it up on my way up.

So since all that has been planned, the son broke up with the GF, and my housesitters grandfather died yesterday.

I am now driving 8 hours in an SUV with my wife, my son, 3 dogs and picking up a 31HP Kawasaki engine.

I could put the dogs up in a kennel, but they aren't updated on their shots so it would cost me close to $400 to kennel them for a weekend.

ugh

I'm building a crate for the motor, a partition for the dogs and putting our luggage in totes on top of our luggage rack. Hopefully that will work.

Why not just let the boy stay home with the dogs? He's going to be depressed about the breakup, he needs time alone to heal...

Leave the boy at home so he can get his fuck on with some Tinder and Bumble strange...

You put it better than I did...

I'm becoming my old man by cutting the bullshit beating around the bush and getting straight to the point.

He wants to go because its a lake house and he wants to fish

plus I'm not gonna tell my son he should stay home and not go on vacation with us. I don't have too many of those opportunities left

Damn Mr. Hallmark Card...

What about his opportunities?

"I'm building a crate for the motor, a partition for the dogs and putting our luggage in totes on top of our luggage rack. Hopefully that will work."

Don't forget to make room for Aunt Edna on the roof...

yea, that is what it feels like lately around here

Selfish

the vacation was a nice diversion.

The car burned a coil on the way home, I had to limp it to an autozone and work on it in the parking lot with the fambly and dogs in tow. Made it home around 9pm last night.

That's the second time that car has burned a coil (after replacing all of them the first time just 6 months ago) on a long trip.

For whatever length of of time I own this thing, its never going to leave Cincinnati again. Now is not the time to buy a car, so I'll just keep some spare coils in the back

My son had the same thing last week in his Honda

this is an Acura so same thing

I didn't buy OEM, I bought Duralast or whatever they sell, so who knows the life span of those things

It is a 2002 Honda Accord. Bought it 3 years ago for him. Only had 89K miles at that time so I don't know when the last time it was replaced. I have a mechanic I trust do the work. I don't trust myself. The mechanic is 15 miles away and I drove it there at a somewhat decent speed wondering how far can you drive sputtering like that.

at least 60 miles from my experience

Y'all need to start driving Buick or Chevy sedans. The kids have always given me a hard time for driving an old man car, but damn, they never have any issues...

I do prefer GM cars, but I will say that the Mercury Grand Marquis I had a few years ago drove like a champ. I gave it up when it turned 300K miles but I didn't want to. I doubt I spent more than a couple thousand on it the whole time I had it (10 years of so). I think the alternator when out once and then there was some other shit that was like $500, but that was it...

I'm sure e has a few in his front yard he'd sell ya.

hedge wrote: ↑Tue Oct 12, 2021 1:36 pm I do prefer GM cars, but I will say that the Mercury Grand Marquis I had a few years ago drove like a champ. I gave it up when it turned 300K miles but I didn't want to. I doubt I spent more than a couple thousand on it the whole time I had it (10 years of so). I think the alternator when out once and then there was some other shit that was like $500, but that was it...

I wish GM made true, full size sedans, but they stopped. There's no market for them when compared to SUV's. American manufacturers ceded the car business to the Japs and Krauts when trucks and SUV's hit big, and Ford and Chevy never got any of the car business back. Chrysler has found a niche with the Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300, but that's it.