To be honest, I’ve never been totally on board with the idea of “self-driven” cars. I mean, first of all there’s a tiny little trust issue. They appear to be asking me to trust a computer more than my own senses. So there’s that. Then there’s the fact that people make these machines and computers and people, frankly, make mistakes. The best quality control in the world doesn’t catch everything. But…on the other hand, I have come to appreciate my car’s keyless ignition and that backup camera, so I was going to give this new technology a fair shake.
Until this summer. It all started with our lawn mower. Spring came and since we mow about 10 acres or so, we need both our big riding mowers plus a trimmer to get it all done. One of our mowers was reluctant to start, which caused us to have a delay in our normal mowing routine (not to mention the cost of the repair).
Right after we got the mower back, we planned to power wash our fence and subsequently stain it. The power washer – which worked fine last fall – was caput. My husband took it to the repair shop and showed them the tiny crack, explaining , “there’s a crack in the manifold here.” Three weeks later, the man from the shop called to tell us the news: “there’s a crack in your manifold.” (This did little to dissuade me that people make errors). He also told us the cost of the repair. Several weeks and many dollars later, we have a working power washer. Again, our timeline for projects was delayed.
Then I was being a good mom and took our son’s car in for an oil change. While there, they discovered a nail in his left rear tire. I paid additional money for the patch and felt pretty good about my supportive nature. Until ten days later, when the same tire was flatter than a flitter in his parking garage in downtown Dayton. He got new tires and was on his merry way the following day, but seriously, shouldn’t that patch have lasted a teeny bit longer?
The very next day after that, we decided to go out for dinner. Fortunately for us, the place we chose to eat was across the street from a car repair shop. Because as we approached the restaurant, a warning light came on in my husband’s truck’s dashboard. The warning light indicated the antifreeze was low.
So we purchased some antifreeze and put it in, only to see it pour out of the engine under the truck body. We left the truck at the repair shop, walked to dinner, and our son (with his new tires) picked us up and brought us home.
The following day, the truck had a new water pump. And we were out about two paychecks. No more eating out for us for a while!
I’ve been trying hard not to feel worried about the machinery in our lives and how they are messing with us. Or I was until tonight when we went to go to bed and smelled something a bit hot. Turns out our air conditioner isn’t working. We turned it off and wrote a note to call the heating/plumbing guys tomorrow.
Yeesh. Yeah, self-driving cars. Not sounding good to me right now.
This is exactly what has happened to many of us – seems a little bit more intense than EVER for some reason this past couple years – maybe the machines got the covid??? or something like it – anyway – car and home machinery breaking down at a fast pace and seemingly we can do nothing but hope for a good repair person to fix it and not cost us a limb or two! Hopefully,, the repair will last PAT the new year start – we can only hope – prayers are offered in belief of God answering in the affirmative, PLEASE! We trust in the almighty hand of a loving God to send us unawares an angel to work on our behalf! Just sayin”!
John, you give me many a laugh, and lots of hope! We have had so many things break down this year. Thankfully, my husband can repair most of them. They BUILD things to break down so you will buy a SERVICE AGREEMENT! I’ve heard they make more money off of service than the product. We foolishly bought one of those on a washing machine. It broke down shortly after the service agreement ran out! But they gave a short grace period. We were blessed that the service man told us, “You just ground these holes a little bigger and you will be fine. It won’t plug up again.” My husband did that and it has worked fine ever since. Why didn’t the manufacturer do that!
I was talking to a vendor lady at Shelby County fair yesterday and she mentioned that her husband was a plumber. So I said, “We could use a good plumber. Is your husband a good one?” “Oh, yes he is!” She quickly handed me his business card. I mean, word of mouth is the best advertisement you can get for a repairman. Before I had finished talking with her, she said, “My husband is 10 years older than I, we have two young daughters and I have the third one baking.” or you know the saying … in the oven. I’m here working and my husband is home drinking.” Needless to say, that business card went in the trash!
Yes, John! We serve an ever-present God who has LOVING kindness! We definitely can trust Him! And we are blessed to have angels unawares! I’m thankful you are not afraid to say so. You just keep on saying. “Just sayin'”!
Let me make clear this one thing. I am not a teetotaler by any means. I occasionally enjoy a good glass of wine. Jesus can turn water into the very best wine! And a cold beer on a hot day is great, but this woman indicated that her husband would be inebriated by the time she got home. To hear that when his pregnant wife is out working was kind of upsetting to me.
Have a wonderful day, John!
right on Bets – here is hoping you and your hubby have a much better relationship than that poor lady – always love to se and hear about folks who have done well in life and especially in relationships – I was fortunate to have a blessed wife- lost her last year to covid, but have a great family she allowed me to be a part of in raising them – got several Pastors in our clan – one son, on son in grafted and two grandkids/spouses all doing the Lords work – what a legacy she brought into this world and I get to continue to watch them serve!!
Have a great week until the next snippett!!
So happy to hear that you had a blessed wife — hand picked by God just for you!!!
Keyless ignition!!! Oh, my goodness! We were at the grocery store Saturday, came out with our groceries, and our key fob would NOT open our doors! And we have lost or misplaced our other set of keys. After texting our son-in-law about the problem, he asked if we wanted him to come and get us. Finally realized we had one keyhole you could use manually to unlock one door. Duh. Of course, the son-in-law had a good chuckle over that. But…. when we unlocked the door, the horn started blowing. The trunk still opens, the car still runs, but the horn blows every time the door opens. We got new batteries for the fob.
Didn’t help one bit.
Today my husband decided to call a well know Ford dealer near us about getting a new key fob. They would give us a new one, program it, and with service call it cost nearly $500! He told them, “I might as well buy a new car!”
My husband is always looking for the best deal. Anyway, searching the internet, he found a so-called business that would give him a new key fob for only $150… programmed and ready to go! For some reason this business would not go into Maps on my phone, but we had the address. We went to this building, which was huge and deserted! No cars there! He called the guy and said this building looks deserted! He answered with, “I’m on my way. I’ll be there in 10 minutes.” Needless to say, we floored it and got out of there!
Susie, I wish we had our old (new at the time), 1957 Ford Galaxy back. I could wind the windows up and down, (good exercise), just push the horn and it would blow, use the key to open the trunk, lock and unlock the doors. I cannot imagine what could go wrong with a keyless ignition! Man Made Machines! 🙄
I agree, Bets – we need to go back to things that worked without the hassle – too much electronic gizmos make life a torture inside of a help hope you get your car back to square one – the new electronic cars cost 70 grand and a battery needing replaced?? down the road out of warranty 50 grand??? who can afford that, besides a “servant” of the public, in government! SIGN ME UP!
You hit the nail smack dab on the head!!! 👍