Happy Weekend Everyone

[chalet05]

The Slingshot is manual although automatics are now available. I learned with Steven's MG right after we met.

When I went to trade in my first camper, LeRoy was with me. Salesman came out and said my 'husband' had gone in to use the restroom - like I didn't know. I told him the model I was looking for, but it was just coming out and he had no idea what I was talking about. LeRoy came out, the guy introduced himself and shook hands - hadn't done that with me. As we talked, he talked to LeRoy! I gave several relevant replies. I think he finally got the message, but I really wasn't sure.

When we left, LeRoy said he had the guy's card. I told him how the guy had treated me and the card was tossed. I bought from another salesman - twice.

Judy, I could spend a week at that cottage and just enjoy!

[snowball]

I'll have to look at the cottage tomorrow... was trying to figure out why (it's now 11 normally I'm ready to turn off the computer and go to my room) but ....I just finished reading what everyone wrote... so will post play one game and go to my room...
went to the store and got my refund on my carrots....almost 15 dollars and got other stuff of course had to laugh as I was cleaning my cart a guy came up and said hi Sheila I say hi and who are you he told me said it had been awhile and said it had been... went to get my refund and then headed into the produce friend was stopped visiting with someone by one of the first veggie bins.... went on my way got what I remembered out of that area on to meat then got the real salt and pepper then headed to milk found eggs for .25 cents not going to pass up eggs at that price think I got milk then remembered the corn to go in the corn chowder and I'm not sure why I wanted fresh corn so back to produce friend hadn't moved but to get the cream I didn't think about when I got milk think we may make strawberry short cake need cream for that then a couple more stops and check out friend had move to the next set of bins I laughed out loud... back home rested up after all that roaming around then started the chowder shouldn't have rested as we didn't eat till about 6 but it was good lacked a bit on tators I might cook up another potato when I reheat it and add to it... had plenty of potatoes just thought it was big enough it would work tasted good which is good because we had lots left over I just can't make a small pot of soup...
your kitty is really cute Lyn I've been seeing pictures of dogs and am really wishing I could get one but as long as I need to be with mom part of the year if not all the time I won't be getting one...
you all have a great day
sheilla

[Cudedog]

Back in the dark ages I learned to drive in a pick up truck with of course a Manuel transmission. In my sixtiesI went to but a Dodge Daytona. The salesman said he would have to take me on a test drive so he could explain the operation of a Manuel transmission because he thought it might be more than I could handle. I took off in the car and it was a few minutes before he could lift his head off the headrest. I smiled all the way home in my new car. As my grandchildren mentioned to me, ladies put on your mean face when dealing with men. Lol

My second car, when I was still a teenager, was a manual transmission. My Dad taught me to drive it - he wasn't a patient man, but he was kind as I was learning (I had originally learned to drive on an automatic). As I went through life, now and again I would have a manual transmission vehicle. As a matter of fact, my current Nissan Versa is a manual transmission - I tried the automatic version of the Versa, and the manual - and decided I liked the manual better!

Anyway, about 20 years ago I had just split from the ex and I was commuting about 80 miles a day to my "town job" in a gas-guzzling Chevy Astro van (which I actually loved).

Anyway, money was tighter than tight, no way could I afford a new vehicle. . . but gasoline was eating me alive, and I didn't want to buy someone's used junker. Finally I sat down one day to run some numbers - I was interested in the Chevy Aveo - a sub-sub compact that allegedly got 38+ mpg (the van got around 15).

What I discovered was that (calculators are such fun!) the payment, insurance, and my commute gasoline would be actually LESS than the gas alone for the van. I couldn't quite believe it, re-ran the numbers several times - always got the same result (I didn't even have the money for a down, but I knew I could use the van as a trade-in).

You can believe that the next day I was at the dealership "taking a look" at the Aveo. It was a no-brainer! As luck would have it, the dealership only had one on the lot, it had been sitting there a while, and the price was drastically lower than what my research showed that the price should be.

I asked the "salesman" (LOL - who looked like he wasn't quite yet out of his teens) for a test drive. He gave me the once-over, and announced that I probably wouldn't be interested because the Aveo in question was a manual transmission. I decided to have a bit of fun with this kid, so (keeping a straight face) I paused for a minute as though thinking about his words, then asked "What is a manual transmission?"

He didn't say much, gave this wizened old lady another once-over, and said that manual transmissions are very hard to drive so I probably should choose a different vehicle.

I paused again, appearing to think this over some more, then I said, very excitedly: "Well. . . how hard can it be? Let's try it!"

I wish I had a photo of the expression on his face.

I thought about grinding the gears a bit on the test drive, but decided that I had probably had enough fun for one day, so didn't do it.

I bought the car on the spot. I found out later that the price was so low because the dealership had been unable to sell it - because it was a manual transmission.

It was a wonderful car. I found out later that it wasn't really a Chevy at all, but rather a Korean Daewoo imported under the Chevy name. I drove the wheels off of that car, when I stopped driving it it had nearly 160,000 miles on it, and never ever gave me a single problem.

And if I drove it really conservatively, I was able to coax 40 mpg out of her!

Best car I ever owned.

Anne

[BarbaraRose]

Good late night gals!

Worked all day. Wasn't that busy but was still tired when I got home and I fell asleep for awhile.

The winds picked up this afternoon, and were really sounding loud awhile ago but now seem to have calmed down.

Martha, I thought you got your AC fixed?

Judy, that cottage is so modern inside. I was surprised. Looks very nice and comfy and the views are awesome!

I also learned to drive a "stick" when I was young. I had one manual transmission car, a Ford Pinto. When I went out to Sturgis with my boyfriend and his buddies, they all drove their bikes and I drove a really old manual pickup truck with another bike on the back. I could barely reach the pedals and it was really hard to shift! Was a long drive out there with that thing! They would all ride way up ahead of me and pull over at the next bar to wait for me to catch up!

Back when I bought my boat, they put a new engine in it for me at the dealership. The first time out in it, the boat shook really bad and a friend told me the motor mounts weren't tightened down. He tightened them by hand for me but then I called the dealership and told them what the problem was. They came out, pulled out the boat and "fixed" it. When I got it back they told me it had just needed some oil, (the oil leaked out because of the loose motor mounts). Well, the same thing happened. I called them back and told them to tighten down the motor mounts like I had asked the first time! I was very firm about it. So they picked it up again and when I got it back, they said, "the motor mounts were loose so we tightened them for you". Well, duh!! Didn't I just tell them that twice??!!!

Before I bought that boat, I had asked a friend of my brothers, who parked his little 16 ft, old, beat up boat at my dad's dock, if I could use it sometimes, since he had told my brothers and my dad that they could use it anytime. He told me he didn't think I could "handle" the boat and to have my dad go with me (I was 25 at the time). I was furious! That is when I went and bought my brand new 20 ft inboard/outboard boat. He was shocked when he saw it and didn't believe it was mine at first. Ha! Back then, I was one of just a few women who owned my own boat on that lake. Most people thought it was my "daddy's boat".

Have a good night! Sleep tight and don't let the....well you know.

[Bethers]

I'm laughing because I learned to drive stick on an old mg that had no 2nd gear. If you tried to go into 2nd, it would die. My friend who owned it taught me how to go from 1st to 3rd, bypassing 2nd. Let me tell you that since I drove that car more than any other manual I had a hell of a time going into 2nd, ever lol. When I broke my left ankle and knee I was so glad my car was an automatic. The clutch wouldn't have been doable for awhile.

I'm exhausted. I really like the person I've been training, but until the meeting with the owners this week, I really don't have a clue what's going to happen with the idiots. Or if I'll accept their solution. Time will tell. At least I'll trying to read posts and blogs, but I'm having trouble keeping up. Forgive my not commenting!

[BarbaraRose]

Beth, glad you like the new person.