September 22 - Massachusetts

Good afternoon, intrepid followers, and happy Equinox! It has been a few weeks since I posted, but the past few weeks have been very busy. Apologies in advance for not many pix tonight.

Appointments and car issues took a good chunk out of last week. Appointments and dealing with paperwork & red tape took a considerable chunk out of this week - spent 1 1/2 days on the phone. Previous Post Office did not forward correct paperwork in time, etc. All is under control now.

My best friend from Webster visited me last Sunday. It was so good to finally see her & talk in person!! Unfortunately her husband was home dealing with a recalcitrant hot water heater. I hope to see them more frequently in the future :) She brought me some apples from the tree in her yard.

Apples!

Apples!

She told me they were not good for eating this year, but very good for cooking.

I think I will make 2 small pies :)

I was SO very, very happy to see her and visit for a few hours. Quite reluctant to see her go, but she had a long drive home.

My 'Stang goes into the shop Monday to have all her issues fixed. As she is older with about 123K miles, I was worried about her making another trip to Canada next year. I did not want to have to purchase another vehicle with the high probability of inheriting someone else's mechanical problems.

Pepper and I have been together for about 11 years now. I know her nuances and noises; I know what has been replaced (and not).

She is a '94 ('95 production model) - the last year Ford produced the 302 V8 5.0L Windsor engine. 240HP top end. After that their V8s are 4.6L. Here is a (stock) picture of her when she was new.

Last week she went in for a thorough check-up with a list of things I wanted them to check (yeah me & my lists!). Mostly she needs front end work, as I knew. Struts, stabilzer control linkage (not surprised; I am pretty brutal on front ends for some reason). Rear brakes.

Not unexpected as all are original to the car. Her engine is in excellent shape! Not one single thing wrong, & I asked for a compression test, etc. (In another life I was married to an excellent mechanic and do know my way around cars.) She has another 123K miles left in her!

Yay!! I was soo happy to hear that! Did the happy dance!

In between I have been busily repainting the Dutch girl statue. She was in worse shape than the boy & has required 3 coats of paint. One small portion left to go, then the sealant. I think I can do that next week. Then they can be reunited :)

I actually named these darn statues - that is how much time I have spent refurbishing them. Nick and Ghiselle. And no, I did not even have Tom Brady or his wife in mind when her name came to me. [If you do not know who Tom Brady is you are living under a rock & need to google NFL NE Patriots. New Yorkers get a pass on this; they are as fanatic about their teams as we are!]

The statues are named after very, very close High School friends. So Ghiselle - she reminded me of you; your innocence and defiance. My BFF throughout High School and beyond. Nick - wherever you are, whatever cause you are following now.... I remember everything.

I will leave you with some very rare pix of the kitties today! Normally they all have their own sleeping spots during the day. Phoebe does not get along with Panda. On this one rare day they were all snuggled together.

Three cats!

All the kittles!!

So yeah, it IS home :) This is HOME!