Escaping

When Grandpa, Dr. Born Organized Clean (my opposite, i have to fight to stay clean and organized even to the degree i do), heard that Bigger Girl was going to need a car because #1 Son was moving and taking that one, he came down with a command decision.  He dipped into the trust fund he set up for the kids, talked to a neighbor who said he could get a deal on a good used something or other, and in his usual, hyperorganized fashion, had everything well in hand.

So yesterday, she and i set out to pick up the 2006 Ford Escape that only has 55,560 miles on it and was so obviously well maintained it is amazing.

Everything went smoothly on Grandpa's side; of course, the same could not be said for us.  Sweetie had agreed to leave us his car to head over to the next town, since it gets so much better gas mileage.  Of course he forgot, and we couldn't leave without a trip out to his workplace to trade vehicles.

The transaction itself went smoothly enough once they realized the vehicle would be in my name, to keep the insurance costs down.  Yes, i had previously made special trips to get proof of insurance, make sure the trust check got deposited, etc.  They sold it to us with a very good 3 year nose to tail warranty, which i'm sure we will not regret.  We can take it to any Ford dealer anywhere to get stuff done.

Grandpa is a magician, they had even just changed the oil and put on new tires!  And they gave it to us for wholesale (yes, i looked it up, they really did).  Never before in my life have i bought a used car that i didn't have to change the oil right away and buy new tires within two months.

Is there anything at all wrong with the car? i can hear the skeptic ask, as it is, after all, used.  Well, the sunglasses holder in the roof, the kind where you push on it and it pops open, doesn't just pop open.  It falls, as part of what attaches it up there is broken.  Big whoop, it goes right back up there again, and Bigger Girl doesn't wear glasses.

Everything else works.

After we got done, she and i were both hungry, so we decided to go to a place i knew and get a quick bite before caravanning back home.  The next time i agree to do that, someone shoot me first.  The town has changed, not enough that i don't know where i am going, but enough that it is even more frustrating to drive there than here at home.  At home, there are traffic lights every two feet which make you crazy but you can get out of major shopping centers and make u-turns occasionally.  There they have it set up where you have to go blocks out of your way to get back around to the other side of the boulevard, and no lights where they seem needed, and no way to turn around half the time.  Ours is bad enough, theirs is worse,

Or maybe i was just very hungry and got grumpy, i'll have to think about it.

Either way, the upshot is that now everyone in the house has had a turn taking the new wheels for a spin, and she will be able to get to classes and work without having to share with me or her father.

Next up, #2 Son.  He gets his learning permit as soon as i can dedicate 5 hours to getting him over there and tested.  Then it's 6 months of practice, and i will be back to sharing, which i don't mind.

Step by step, they are growing up.


Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Poland

Artists in the Park -- Cate Park, Wolfeboro, NH, US (rain or shine, the 33rd annual juried exhibit and sale, along with demonstrations and family entertainment)

Asuncion Foundation Day -- Paraguay

Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary -- Catholic Christian Holy Day of Obligation
     Related Observances
          Coeur d'Alene Indian Pilgrimage -- Coeur d'Alene's Old Mission State Park, Cataldo, ID, US
          Dormition of the Theotokos -- Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Christian
          Ferragosto -- Italy (During the Roman Empire, a festival to Diana and a fertility and ripening celebration)
          Mother's Day -- Antwerp; Costa Rica
          National Acadians Day -- Acadians
          Virgin of Candelaria, patron of the Canary Islands -- Tenrife, Spain
          Irmandade da Nossa Senhora da Boa Morte Fiesta -- Bahia, Brazil (Festival of the Order of Our Lady of the Good Death)
          Festival of the Outremeuse -- Liege, Belgium
          Public Holiday or Publicly Observed -- Andorra; Austria; Belgium; Benin; Bosnia; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cameroon; Cape Verde; Central African Republic; Chile; Colombia; Côte d'Ivoire; Croatia; Cyprus; East Timor; France; French Guiana; French Polynesia; Gabon; Gambia; Germany; Greece; Guadelupe; Guatemala; Guinea; Holy See; Hungary; Italy; Lebanon; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia; Madagascar; Malta; Martinique; Mauritius; Mayotte; Monaco; New Caledonia; Paraguay; Poland; Portugal; Reunion; Romania; Rwanda; Saint Barthelemy; Saint Martin; Saint Pierre et Miquelon; San Marino; Senegal; Seychelles; Slovenia; Spain; Switzerland; Togo; Vanuatu; Wallis and Fortuna    

Best Friend's Day -- sponsored by Thema Martin

Bon/Obon Festival -- Japan (biggest day of the festival in most parts of Japan)

Chauvin Day -- observed on Napoleon's birthday because his is unknown, the day is named for Nicholas Chauvin, whose blind devotion to Napoleon was immortalized in his name's use for absurdly intense attachments to any cause

Constitution Day -- Equatorial Guinea

Eleusinian Mysteries -- Ancient Greek Calendar (through the 18th, dates approximate)

Festival of Vesta -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of the hearth)

Fete Nationale -- Republic of the Congo (National Day/Independence Day)

Fool's Dance -- Japan (part of the Awa Dance Festival)

Independence Day -- India

Liberation Day -- both Koreas
     Gwangbokjeol -- South Korea
     Jogukhaebangui nal -- North Korea

Maras Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (celebration of the goddess Mara, cognate of Mary)

National Day -- Lichtenstein (a/k/a Liberation Day [1945])

National Failures Day -- some websites say the 16th, and may i suggest a book called "Fail Better", a small quotations book about how failure is just the beginning.

National Lemon Meringue Pie Day

National Mourning Day -- Bangladesh

National Relaxation Day -- sponsored by Sean Moeller of Clio, Michigan; if you call in sick to stay home and relax, blame him

Panama La Vieja Day -- Panama (Founding of Panama City)

Shoro Nagashi Nagasaki -- Nagasaki, Japan (floating lanterns are released into the harbor in honor of the ancestors)

Sproshinki -- Slavic Pagan Calendar (end of the hay harvest festival)

St. Tarcisius' Day (Patron of altar servers, first communicants)

Tuva Republic Day -- Tos-Bulak fields south of Kyzuk, Tuva, Russia (celebration of the Tuva Republic, a Naadam festival of Mongolian wrestling, horse racing, and archery; held by the Tuva people, the closest genetic relatives to the North and South American Native Peoples)

Wafaa El-Nil -- Egypt and Coptic Church ("Fidelity of the Nile", celebration of the annual of Flooding of the Nile)


Anniversaries Today:

Transcontinental US railway is completed at Promontory Point, UT, US, 1870
Panama Canal opens, 1914
Woodstock, 1969


Birthdays Today:

Joe Jonas, 1989
Ben Affleck, 1972
Melinda Gates, 1964
Jimmy Webb, 1946
Linda Ellerbee, 1944
Mike Connors, 1925
Rose Marie, 1925
Huntz Hall, 1919
Oscar Romero, 1917
Julia Child, 1912
Elizabeth Bolden, American Supercentenarian, 1890 (d. 2006)
Ethel Barrymore, 1879
E. Nesbit, 1858
Sir Walter Scott, 1771
Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769


Today in History:

Battle of Roncevaux Pass, the Basques defeat Charles the Great (Charlemagne) and Roland is killed, 778
Macbeth defeats his cousin and rival King Duncan I, who is killed in the battle, and becomes king of Scotland, 1040
Battle of Lumphanan, in which King Macbeth is killed by the forces of Mael Coluim MacDonnchada, 1057
The cave city of Vardzia is consecrated by Queen Tamar of Georgia, 1185
The foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral, built to house the relics of
the Three Wise Men, is laid, 1248*
The "Mainz Psalter" is completed, the earliest dated book, 1457
Founding of Panama City, 1519
Jesuit priest St. Francis Xaverius land in Kagoshima, Japan, 1549
Joseph Haydn departs England, never to return, 1795
Country of Liberia is founded by freed American former slaves, 1824
Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world, opens in Copenhagen, Denmark, 1842
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawai'i, is dedicated; it is the oldest continuously used Roman Catholic Cathedral in the US, 1843
San Sebastian Church in Manila, the first all-steel church in Asia, is officially inaugurated and blessed, 1891
A male servant of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright sets fire to the living quarters of the architect's Wisconsin home, 1914
The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship Ancon, 1914
Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed in a plane crash, 1935
The birth of stadium rock:  The Beatles play Shae Stadium, 1965
President Richard Nixon completes the break from the gold standard, 1971
The "Wow! signal":  The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space, 1977
An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru killing 514 and injuring 1,090, 2007


*Yes, we just noted the other day the date of completion in 1880!