The car was missing if I pushed more than most gently on the throttle, so I took it in for repair ... they said likely new spark plugs or wires, put them on and it worked better ... ... but ... ... there was low pressure in one cylinder and they thought that it needed to have the valves ground ... ... educated guess probably $600. - 700. When I took it in the following week they lent me a van while they were working on mine - gas gauge didn't work, probably about 1/4 tank ... so I put in $10.00 worth. Friend had said he'd like some straw for his garden and I figured that I could get several bales into the van, and only one or two into my little car ... and the back hatch has to be opeend by baler twine. Loaded a bunch of tarps into the van to collect the straw bits, it's old and breaks easily. I've been watching the female canine of a friend who's having surgery for a growth on his neck, and a boisterous canine and a half dozen bales of straw in the same van aren't a recipe for a good game. The tarps covered most of the necessary area, so I was able to get it reasonably well cleaned out without too great effort. When I went to check on the car ... it seems that a valve was a bit bent, so more work necessary. When they were finished, bill was about $1,200. So I can't let the car die for quite a while, yet! I don't think that I've seen the lady since - she'll get a kick out of the dilemma, I expect! Her uncle who died at 91 had been a major executive in a large Canadian supermarket chain ... ... she recently installed real granite counter tops and top of island which includes counter for eating and bar stools, in her kitchen: shiny ... and shiny bits that appear deep into the structure. Was it on the video that I was characterized as, " ... a sweet old dude"? She says that I remind her of her grandfather. Time to bring this literary masterpiece to a close, I think. ole joyfuelled ... was that gas?

Sounds like much of the same here in the lower 48. Even here is ND where the oil boom is bringing in so much money BUT everything is way too high for the average person. Just ask some of the Canadians that come south to shop and try to find a place to stay.

Newest update ... ... I did finally get around to sewing one of the new elastic free-flowing girdles the other day, when I anticipated a need. I sewed (at one end) a sextuple thickness of hem from an old sheet to the yard-long piece of elastic from the dollar store. Since I'd found that I'd never used the hook and loop (read "Velcro" substitute) on the original, so wouldn't have an option regarding length if I sewed the other end ... ... I tied it down with safety pins, till I got a handle on its tautness ... and my resultant comfort, as secondary issue when considering the main task needed. Works - so far. And another breath-taking piece of information learned on Sunday afternoon, when visiting my friend's house (who's familiar with this situation). Telling me that he had earth-shaking news, he rose from his seat and demonstrated the latest thing in men's lower-level underwear ... ... a drawstring! Who wouldda thunk! Now ... why didn't I think of that ... and patented it: I'd be set for life! Don't anyone tell the underwear maker, please, that, the elastic being the shortest-lived part of the underwear project ... ... that ones with drawstrings'll last much longer ... ... resulting in fewer sales!! Or they'll deep-six the whole idea! ole joyfuelled (with a bit o' help from a coookie or two, on occasion)

Hi Iva Mae, I`ve been planning to dwell on that package, and some other matters, with a bit of embellishment, probably, but not stretching things too much, over on the jokey thread about the jockeys with the tired elastics (that got some folks a bit huffy) a week or so ago. Or ... should we suggest that those folks got their shirt-tails (undershorts) sort of tied into knots? (I`m in a newly opened library that has French (slash) English keyboards, some of the keys have double use, and I managed to get the (E with an accute accent) rather than the question mark, and the (e with an accute accent) rather than the forward slash ... and the computer tech here couldn`t find the key to shift the usage back, so she set one up for me for the question mark ... but not the slash! (The exclamation mark works ... but the apostrophe is on a dual key, as well). Life ... do ... have its problems, right� ? ole joyful