Time flies when you are having fun! Sutton and Elizabeth completed their Michigan tour a few days ago and left for several destinations out West. They are continuing their journey after spending the last twelve weeks in Michigan and 290 (oops) 29 nights with Ruth and me. But who counted?
To be honest, while Ruth and I welcomed the idea of having the kids in Michigan for an extended time, we weren’t sure that we would welcome their dog, Jonesy, with the same enthusiasm. Don’t get me wrong, Ruth and I are not dog haters. Over the years we had several before, and after, the kids were born. Buffy was our favorite and all others failed in comparison. We also had a cat, Toby, for over twenty-five years. (And I’m allergic to cats.) When Toby passed on, we made a conscious decision to be pet free for the remainder of our days. Pets, like children, require time and attention. We decided that we weren’t prepared to make the additional commitment.
We’ve known Jonesy since the kids adopted him several years ago. We like him, but we knew going in that he has a mind of his own. While he is obedient and easy to care for most of the time, he’s a hunter at heart. We have several large windows that face the lake and now that he’s gone we’ll get out our scrapers and scrape the dried drool off of them. Windex is no match for dried dog drool. He licked his chops at the sight of the wildlife in the yard. The squirrels, chipmunks, ducks, geese, swans and assorted song birds were a visual smorgasbord.
For eleven of the twelve weeks that the kids were in Michigan, their new 2018 XYZ truck was in a garage being repaired. When they were in Colorado during their travels east, they got caught in a hail storm. The truck, AKA “Frank” (hippies have a name for everything), sustained several thousand dollars worth of body damage during the storm. They had planned to have “Frank’s” body repaired during their time in Michigan, but a couple of days prior to their arrival, “Frank” developed some engine problems. When he started each morning, he sounded like a blender was chopping up whole walnuts deep in his bowels. This is not normal behavior for any truck, let alone one as beloved as “Frank”. Since the problem only happened during “cold starts”, they thought it might be a form of morning sickness.
They took the truck in for repairs but before the local dealership took on the job they needed to seek authorization from company headquarters. The truck had been purchased in Arizona and the warranty repairs were going to take place in Michigan. Apparently the parent (no pun intended) company must authorize repairs that cut across state lines. Who knew?
In any case, permission was not immediate. The kids were initially provided with a nice sedan. They drove that car for a week before “permission was granted” to move forward with the necessary repairs. After week one in Michigan they were headed on a two week road trip. The car company gave them a transit van for this portion of their journey. The repairs were slow to develop. The initial diagnosis proved to be incorrect and the problem persisted throughout their time in Michigan. They were without “Frank” for a total of eleven of their twelve Michigan weeks. They were provided a series of five different vehicles to drive in his place.
Without getting too technical “Frank’s” thingamajig was thought to be the initial problem. After replacing it, the problem persisted so they replaced his whatchamacallit. That, too, missed the mark so they ended up replacing the entire kit kat and kaboodle. Twelve weeks after their arrival in Michigan, Sutton, Elizabeth and Jonesy headed west with a “rebuilt” kit kat and kaboodle. They left last Wednesday and Thursday morning when they started “Frank” in Iowa, he sounded like a blender chopping whole walnuts deep in his bowels. (FYI The body damage is still not repaired.)
The saga continues and I’ll let you know how things work out.