So....

Thursday morning Brad drove Deuce over to the Jeep dealership just a few blocks away, but just before he got there - the serpentine belt shredded.

Fitting background

The Shop Foreman took a look at it and said it would likely be a few days before they could get it in to put a new belt on it. Aaargh, good thing we didn't give Carey his car back yet.

Brad had a hair appointment at 1pm so we drove over to the north end of town. While he was in there the mechanic called to say that the crank had been shredded too. Engine will need to be replaced or rebuilt. Wow, this just keeps getting better and better.

When we considered that we'd now have to spend several thousands on the engine, still had the lift kit issue and the daytime running lights, not counting whatever else they found wrong during the 2 safety inspections it needed to pass... Well, there was an F word in there somewhere but lets just say we decided to get a new Jeep!

We went to Auto Clearing because it was close to Brad's hairdresser. We made a deal on a 2017 Jeep hard top (we wanted soft, but could buy that later) in which they would put the tow bar assembly on the front for towing, talked to the financing guy and he was going to process it right away and likely hear back Friday morning. We decided not to say anything to anyone about getting a new Jeep because who the hell knows with banks...

Friday morning, we had been approved and needed to go over there to sign paperwork and leave a deposit for the work to be done. Huh? Brad was VERY concerned about this deposit BS but off we go.

He asked the finance guy why there was a deposit, guy said they would be doing a lot of work to the Jeep and we could then decide not to buy it. Brad said we would buy it first and then they could do the work... well, that caused quite the kerfuffle... they said the work was not part of the deal!... the salesman was brought in on his day off. Oops, Don the salesman says, I F'ed up... THIS was not our problem... the deal is the deal, where they going to stand by the deal or not.

Not.

We walked out.

Now, had we provided the deposit they would have done the work and then said oops, that wasn't part of the deal..... and we would have been screwed. Fortunately, my husband wasn't born yesterday - me, I probably would have paid the deposit and been screwed.

Anyway, with a sour taste in our mouths we drove across town to Dodge City. I went in to find a salesman, and point blank told them we were not interested in any bullshit, was there a salesman who could sell us a car without any?... Gary Polishak.

We drove a few Jeeps... one was yellow, lifted, 4 door, winch, all the bells... I loved it as you might imagine if you've been reading this blog for awhile. But during the drive, it was terrible, real bad shimmy at 100 and just felt like the shocks were gone the rest of the drive. Not to mention it looked to be around 1/2 the size of our RV... waaaay too big.

So... we made a deal on another.

Introducing, our new 2018 Jeep Wrangler JK Sport

We don't think we'll name this one. Other than Jeep.

This deal closed at 5pm last night with no fuss, we made it to SGI before close and got a new plate for her. Today I will put all our bells and whistles into it and find places to put everything... my most favourite thing to do, actually. But first, my oldest good son is coming over and we're going to take him out to Broadway Cafe for breakfast. Brad's treat.

Deuce is running, if a little wild

My bestest ever brother got the Jeep sorted yesterday... the gasket came in late morning and he went to pick it up and got right at it. We certainly appreciate all the effort my brother has put into helping us out with this Jeep, it hasn't been an easy couple of weeks.

It still has a knock so Brad wants to take it to the Jeep dealership and have them take a look. The boys think the knock is in the lower engine area, my brother was doing the top of the engine. Honestly, it sounds the same as it did in Aguanga to me... but boys and their toys...

Not that I was actually in the engine compartment, but I did start it while they listened... it's not a Cadillac it's a Jeep... but we'll take it to Jeep just to make sure.

While my little brother (he's 6'4 and I'm 5'4) was doing the Jeep, I went to Bell.

Turns out that because we are on a special 'loyalty plan' the guy at the local Bell store (Brian) wasn't able to do what I needed done so he called his help desk, who then had to call their help desk, who then called the super duper help desk techy guys and after about 2 hours they called me with my new number.

Because we had 2 phone numbers from our old locale and I only wanted one of them switched right now, and because of the loyalty program... this caused all kinds of kerfuffle. I offered to sit on hold while the Bell guy dealt with a couple of customers - thats how long it was taking.... eventually he suggested that we didn't need to sit and wait, they could just call me when it was finished.

Off I went to Staples where I picked up a cheap wifi printer, Yay! Bell called while I was at Staples to give me my new number, there were 4 different number attempts but because of the kerfuffle everytime they went to grab the chosen number it was already snapped up.

Just as I was leaving Staples, Brad called to ask me to hurry home because his Mother had locked him out about 10 minutes after I left. Poor guy had been stuck outside for a couple of hours, so he raked the lawn again and set the sprinkler to it.

After supper my brother called to say the Jeep was done and we drove out to pick her up. Took her straight to Golf's Car Wash and made her all pretty once again. While Brad washed Deuce, I washed my son's car and vacuumed all the dog hair out of it.

Deuce

Son Carey's car

Remnants of Robbie

We can likely take it back to him today but given that we already did that once, I think I'll wait until we've been to Jeep at least.

The Federal safety inspection only allows 45 days to get it done... we're quickly running out of time and we have to have Daytime Running Lights put into her yet... not to mention the whole lift kit issue that we still have to deal with. I figure I'll take it to CT and ask them outright if we have to go through all that to take the lift out and then put it back in after. Likely we will. Bureaucracy (bureau crazy) at its finest.

But at least the tranny is okay! Thats something, right?!

PS There were a few comments I didn't reply to over the last few days. I apologize, I did read them just couldn't get to replying.

Back to our regularly scheduled program...

So I haven't posted for like a week and a half... hey, I've been busy... family can be high maintenance, what can I say... it's always a mad house when we first arrive.

Max and Maggie watching out the window, so cute.

My good son Carey (youngest good son), fixed the blinker on the car he's letting us use.

BBQ at my youngest son's, L-R: Kelsey, Royce, Carey and Lee's (oldest good son) arm.

6 years ago my oldest son Lee joined the Army and I said I would send him a care package with homemade cookies.... I never did... he's never stopped bringing it up, so the other day - I made him cookies... they were good for an hour and then hard as nails.

Today I went to my Mother-in-Law's to redo her dryer vent... it was on the list... the old vent was white plastic and literally dangling by a string.. Don't know who did that, but I replaced the whole thing with some proper aluminum vent hose and a few elbows. The old one had no elbows just a lot of bends, not the best idea for a dryer vent... Anyway, that's done.

So after much ado, Brad and I have decided to take the loss on the FJ... you may recall that as well as having to fix the Jeep, we also had our FJ back 'home' put into the shop since Brad had to go back there anyway. We were hoping he would be able to drive it back, and bring some stuff with him. Unfortunately, yesterday we found out the work it needs (new transmission = $10K CAD) far breaches the value of the vehicle itself, so... that's that. He and Robbie are flying home on Thursday.

After a week and a half, it will be so awesome to have him and Robbie back. Being together for 13  years now and having spent the last 7 months in an 8' x 30' box together, it has been weird not having them around. Even after the last 7 months, I miss them.

So Brad had to go back 'home' because he got a subpoena for a court trial. Once he got there and learned that another witness was not there because he was 'out of province', I wanted to hit someone! That's another story who's day has not yet come... 

I hope that one day I can tell the story of our life the last 8 years... I've tried to get him to write a book, without any success to date. Perhaps if he won't write it - I will. It's incredibly hard to believe but well worth the telling. Just not yet.

My brother returns tomorrow from his first ever week of nights... our family doesn't do night shifts well, so he will need to get himself back on schedule, not sure when he will get at the Jeep but genetically we are prone to 'just get at it' so I'll be interested to see if he's adopted... LOL  (spitting image of our father, so that's just a joke)

I will be moving in to my Mother-in-Laws tomorrow, no idea for how long... Brad and I haven't even attempted to discuss that yet there has been so much else going on. I cancelled our rental of that site in Alberta because we just didn't know at the time what was going to be happening. It looked like a minimum of 6 weeks to replace the FJ's transmission and we just couldn't continue to pay for a site we weren't able to use. Huge apologies to the folks we rented it from, I feel terrible about it but at the time it was all we could do. 

We are going to have to do some serious buckling down when he gets back and figure out just what we're going to do between now and November... and residency will be a huge part of that.... gonna be a long summer.

Jeep fix - Day 2

So the boys got to work first thing yesterday. It took all day but they managed to get the cylinder head off.

Brother David with Brad in background

Brad on left, oldest son Lee on right

The Cylinder Head

Cleaning up the piston thingy

We got a call from the wreckers who had said they had a cylinder head for us, seems once they removed it (this particular wreckers does that part for you), the bloody thing was cracked. So urgency kicked in and we (I) set about trying to find another one... new ones are around $1500CAD so that was out of the question. Finally got a return call at the end of the day that someone could get one, if they order it today (Friday) it would be here by Monday..... order it we did! 

Once the boys were finished for the day my Sister-in-Law had a really awesome Chicken Pot Pie ready that she had spent all day cooking. I don't usually like Chicken Pot Pie but... damn it this one was really good.

Karynne - Sister-in-Law

So now we are on hold for the weekend. Good news is that my youngest son, Carey has an extra vehicle we can use until the Jeep is sorted. Such a good son! Today, Brad and I are going over to visit the Grandkids and take them some presents we picked up in sunny California... 

My brother has to go out of town to work this week - for a week, not sure what day so I have no idea when we will get back at the Jeep.

Jeep fix begins - Day 1

We got the Jeep to my brother's and the RV parked at Campland RV Resort where they allowed us to park beside their shop for $30 even though they haven't opened for the season yet... Thank you soooo much to them.

My brother arrived back from working out of town, just as we were offloading the RV and right after supper, which was soooo good, he got at it... removed the rad and did a bit of tinkering with the Jeep. 

Today the big work begins... Brad was up in the night with his nasal congestion again, not the best thing when you have a CPAP machine... so he isn't up yet and Dave (brother) is getting antsy, so I'm going to run into town with him to get the parts and stuff we (he) need. 

Originally, I had planned to do this job but it appears that Dave has taken full control of it and God knows, I'm okay with that... and Brad is not mechanical at all.... so.... Dave is our hero for this kerfuffle.

Dave and Brad

Robbie watching the men do the work.

Well, time and my brother wait for no one... so I better get beautified.... my auto parts people await...