If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.

Friday, March 27, 2015

March is Winding Down

Well, here it is March 27th, just 4 days away from the beginning of the A to Z challenge.

I have 11 more posts to write and I will have all of my days covered.  Soon they will be loaded in auto post and I will be free to peruse the blogosphere reading everyone else's challenges and going about my daily ambassador duties.

I will be taking  a few days off at the end of April but by those dates the challenge will be almost over anyways.

It is still cold here.  Snow flurries swirled about my head this morning when I was out with the dogs. The wood stove is still cranking away.

The deer are venturing pretty close to the house these days.  Spring green-up needs to hurry so they can get some good stuff to eat.





The vegetables are doing well.  last night I picked out the best ones and discarded the rest.  The little grow house will only hold so many.


Today I am taking my truck in for some recall work.  Nothing major.
While I'm there I am going to see what kind of deal they can give me on a new one.

I know it's not old, it is a 2011, but right now it still holds a lot of value.  Plus there are a few minor quirks that are starting to bother me.

There are a couple tiny rust spots, which on my white truck, stick out like a sore thumb.
I am not a big fan of the engine it has.  It is a flex fuel engine with fuel saver technology.  Which basically means I can use ethanol for fuel (never have) and the fuel saver technology means that while driving it uses 8 cylinders but once I get up to speed it drops down to 4 cylinders.   Yes, it saves gas but I don't really care for the performance while towing or hauling wood and other things.

Not getting white this time!



I have a faithful service record of prompt oil changes.  I do them myself every 5000 miles using premium synthetic oil of the correct viscosity.  I baby my truck a little.  However after the last oil change the engine has developed a bit of a tick or knock.  It goes away once warmed up, but I still don't like it or what it may spell for the future.

A few other things to think about.

It will need new tires before winter.  $1200
It will need new brake pads and rotors  $ 250
The glass is broken on my truck cap.  It will be a few hundred to fix that.

So, before I sink that money into it, I might as well trade it in on a new one and have the dealership put a brand new cap on it and I can sell the old one.

I should end up with the same payment, maybe a few bucks more, but nothing substantial and I'll have a brand new truck.

We shall see.  I am amazed at the price of trucks.  The one I picked out online was around $44,000
That's just under half of what I paid for the house!

As a reminder, I will be updating the look of my page to fit the A to Z challenge so it may look weird for a few days.

I couldn't resist posting my favorite cartoon of all time.



Ciao for now,
-Bushman

3 comments:

  1. LOL with the cartoon! Good luck negotiating a new deal :) When a vehicle starts to need a lot of work, then it is wise to consider trading it in, especially if there were things that weren't your favorite with it. Son used to do car detailing (saddest day of my life when he moved out, LOL, because he used to keep our cars up). He said the hardest color to keep clean/look clean (which I thought would have been white) was black. Just something to consider in choosing new colors. How cool to have the deer come by so close!

    betty

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  2. I laughed at that cartoon too…

    As to the truck, it's a bummer when it start sucking at the wallet.

    My car (two years old) is a silver blue, called Shark Blue. But, seeings how I've not had a close encounter with a shark to check it out I'm taking the word of my dealer! hahaha Mostly I've had darker cars rather than lighter ones. Though this one I have now is definitely lighter.

    Tires are so expensive. That's why I bought a smaller hatchback. Granted you need a truck for all the stuff you haul around so it's maybe not an option to go smaller. Anyway… you'll make the right decision when it comes to replacing your current ride. Good luck!

    I look forward to seeing the "new look" though this look rocks! Ever changing, we are!

    Have a great Saturday and Sunday.

    Cheers, Jenny
    2015 A to Z Challenge Ambassador
    @PearsonReport

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  3. My posts are already done and on delay. Then again, haikus are pretty easy to write.
    Like you, I plan on perusing the blogosphere for April. That will be more fun than writing.

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