Northern weather

[healey36]

A flock of Robins flew in this morning and ate all of the crab-apples off the tree out front. I can't help but think they are at least a month early. Hopefully that's an omen for an early spring.

Healey

[robert.]

They always screw up and fly home early. This year they really bit the big one and never flew south. You can track them online. Search for where are the Robins

[John Webster]

When I was in second grade or so my two younger sisters and I came down with the measles. Part of the medical treatment for measles in those days was to be kept in a darkened room for two weeks.

In the evenings dad would come in and read to us from the collected works of Kipling. All of the "Just So" stories and Puck of Pook's Hill and some of the poetry.

The magazines delivered to the house at the time included National Geographic, Scientific American, American Heritage, Boys Life and Analog (science fiction).

Trivia: G. Harry Stein, one of the founders of model rocketry used to write non-fiction articles for Analog. He also raced Formula Vees and wrote a column for one of the slot car magazines in the early 60s.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

In the evenings dad would come in and read to us from the collected works of Kipling. All of the "Just So" stories and Puck of Pook's Hill and some of the poetry.

Great stuff; I have a set of Kipling that I should re-visit.

[gregj410]

Yup, that's our 2008 VW Beetle, nearly exclusively driven by my schoolteacher daughter. Just had the front-end put back together after she ran over a deer.

What's up? You a Beetle fan?

Healey

Not sure how but we have 3 of them I bought my wife a yellow 2012. Then my daughter bought a green 2006. Then my wife stumbled upon a blue ragtop that was to good to pass on. I had to change the headlights in my daughters car this week end......ughh! Finally figured it out after watching YouTube vids. I like the beetles but hate working on them or any car for that matter.

Other than a number of nagging electrical issues the Beetle has been fairly bullet-proof and is fun to drive. We had a tire-pressure sensor go bad which was a bear to get sorted, and there's a short in the instrument cluster somewhere which only makes itself known on especially damp days (like a monsoon). One pisser is the headlamps are starting to cloud pretty badly which I'm sure will cost her (me) dearly to replace. This was the first VW for us since driving an '87 Jetta into the ground. When I was a kid The Old Man fed us a steady diet of Beetles, the last being a Super Beetle from the early-Seventies, maybe. Good fun, all of them.

When I was a kid, Mom had a butt ugly beige square back that would go through anything. I have this vague memory of seeing this panel that looked asbestos covered covering the engine in the back where we road Maybe thats what happenend I never looked at Vw from that point forward until my wife took to the new beetles. She test drove one and the rest is history. We got the basic model, with no frills. Overall Ive been pretty well pleased with them with the exception of paying for what seems like expensive service work. My daughters car had some electrical issues which ended up being traced back to a bad battery 600$ later but other than that so far so good.

[healey36]

Dammit, Greg, you jinxed me. Jumped in it the other morning and the airbag-fault light came on...ugh!

Healey

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Snowing like a son of hickory here in Bethesda today,

[rogruth]

Rufus,
"Son of hickory" = SOB?

[MurphOnMillerAve]

...Overall Ive been pretty well pleased with them with the exception of paying for what seems like expensive service work. ....

Expensive service work? Try paying for the demanded oil change for a Benz (!) However, we never had anything go wrong with ours (several since 1999, interrupted only by a couple Beemers,) an "E" and an "ML", so I pay what I must and feel secure, esp. when I launch myself out across the country for the adventure of a new client's layout. I figure, at my age, I can't - and will not accept - having nonsense from a car. Also, having their "Embrace" system aboard is very comforting and has been very, very useful many times, in helping me find and make my way. Murph

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Rufus,
"Son of hickory" = SOB?

In my neck of woods, son of the Devil.....and now the snow has stopped. Disappointed!

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Expensive service work? Try paying for the demanded oil change for a Benz (!) However, we never had anything go wrong with ours (several since 1999, interrupted only by a couple Beemers,) an "E" and an "ML", ..........

It can take one's breath away. I had a 450 SE for ~15 years.......until the ring gear lost some teeth. The estimate on that repair ended that relationship...

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Expensive service work? Try paying for the demanded oil change for a Benz (!) However, we never had anything go wrong with ours (several since 1999, interrupted only by a couple Beemers,) an "E" and an "ML", ..........

It can take one's breath away. I had a 450 SE for ~15 years.......until the ring gear lost some teeth. The estimate on that repair ended that relationship...

Oohhhhh, so you've been up there in that echelon, eh, in the rarefied Land of Land-Yachts. Wow. Must be nice. And you did get a lot of years out of that machine.

But really, folks, how much do we - should we - expect from our vehicles = how many years is fair to expect? I have no idea.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Expensive service work? Try paying for the demanded oil change for a Benz (!) However, we never had anything go wrong with ours (several since 1999, interrupted only by a couple Beemers,) an "E" and an "ML", ..........

It can take one's breath away. I had a 450 SE for ~15 years.......until the ring gear lost some teeth. The estimate on that repair ended that relationship...

Oohhhhh, so you've been up there in that echelon, eh, in the rarefied Land of Land-Yachts. Wow. Must be nice. And you did get a lot of years out of that machine.

Been there, done that, did not get the T-shirt, Mine was a grey market car that a friend sent to me that had less than 30k kilometers on it so it was ~18 years old when we parted ways.

But really, folks, how much do we - should we - expect from our vehicles = how many years is fair to expect? I have no idea.

Got 10 from my Saab after 14 from the SE and I would hope to get at least 10 from the Outback. Hate even having to contemplate looking for the next car - cars are a burden.......

[Rufus T. Firefly]

And, it's snowing again - Hoorah!

[MurphOnMillerAve]

...cars are a burden.......

Now, there's an intriguing remark. I wouldn't even consider being without one - only time I did not have a car, since I was sixteen, was when I lived on Manhattan (for a year+, back in the late-60's) and you know why that would have been the case.