2011 100 Post Marathon #2

I wanted to start this last night, but I’ve been busy trying to work on the big issue – we are without a car.

Here’s a synopsis: We bought a VW Beetle in February. Finally, two cars. Yeah, that didn’t last long. Around the beginning of summer the Prism died – blown engine. It was a 13 year old car that we had added quite a few miles to. No problem, we thought, we still have the bug. Until last Wednesday. Cindy was on the way to work when the dashboard lights dimmed, went out, and then the car died. She had just managed to get it into a church parking lot. She got it jumped, but only managed to get three miles before she had to pull into the local Sam’s Club where it died again.

Our mechanic had it towed in, and when he looked at it found that the electrical system was shot. It has a major short, and a fuse that should have blown didn’t. The short is still there, somewhere, and the computer is blown. The situation is beyond our mechanics expertise, so a repair would have to go to a VW dealership. Estimated cost – at least $3500. At least. That’s more than the car is worth.

Cindy’s missed three nights of work, and she works for tips. I’ve missed two days, but I used some vacation. We used up our liquid capital on the VW and a home down payment. Now we are working on getting some of our less liquid assets available. Not going well, or quickly.

That’s all about that. About the 100 post marathon. The goal is to make 100 posts between now and Monday morning. This will count as the second. They will be about anything and everything. They won’t be all about our situation. The only mention of that will be a graphic of where we stand, and a paypal donation button at the bottom of each post.

I know many of you are concerned, rightly so, about Irene as it travels up the east coast. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in it’s path. I’ve lived here in the east my entire life, 25 years in SC where I got to see Hugo up close, and the past 9 in Florida, where hurricanes are always a possibility.

There will be a slight delay between this post and #3 as I work the phones and email some more and get the lawn under control. Thanks for reading and helping if you can.

If you can…

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