a little vehicle trouble

Jeff's truck died on Sunday morning.  I towed it to the auto body shop {which was rather adventurous}.  Then our minivan got a flat tire.  On Monday, our minivan had a dead battery {my Dad had to come over and give us a jump-start} and Jeff biked to the house {his current project}.

On Monday night, we were discussing whether to put a new engine in it for $4600 or whether to just get a new truck ... which would actually be a new OLD truck {for cheaper than $4600} ...

"Well ..." I began ... "After the house is done and the townhome is fixed up {Lord willing, his spring project} ... what do you see in the near future?  Do you think you'll be building or rehabbing some more ... or taking a break from that for a while and doing something else?"

Jeff didn't answer for several moments.  I think he was about to ask me if he should look in our crystal ball ;) so I beat him to it and said ...

"When you look in the crystal ball ... what do you see???  Do you think you are going to need a work truck after these couple projects are done?   What do you envision six months from now?"

"Farming.  I think I want to buy a farm," he answered.  "I've been doing some research ..."

Who knew?!?!? 

*** This is where I was hoping to end this story and it is such a good place to end.  If I had written this story Monday night, I could have ended here.  But, alas, there is now more to this story of vehicle woes.  Sorry ... ***

So ... yesterday, Tuesday afternoon, Jeff and I and the littlest two went to the "hood" {where all males under thirty are seemingly incapable of properly pulling up their pants} and purchased a $900 POC van from a strange fellow.  I was thinking he might be a scammer ... dishonest ... can't say why exactly.  Probably because he had someone call and inquire about the van during Jeff's two-minute test drive.  Really???  Anyway ... I was telling Jeff I thought he should have looked at a couple other vehicles first ... before deciding on this truck in a mere five minutes.

"Well ... I had to buy something.  Even if we decide to get the truck fixed, I need something now.  I need to haul stuff today.  I can't be immobile for a week while the truck gets fixed.  So ... even though nine hundred dollars is a lot of money ... it isn't a lot in terms of vehicles.  And ... since this van was so cheap ... if I find something better and decide I don't want to use the van anymore, I can just park it."

"So ... what you're saying is ... you want to have one of those yards with six or eight junkers parked all over the grass???" 

He laughed and I didn't.

Then, last night, he said he had a funny feeling about the van after driving it a little yesterday and that he hoped it would start in the morning.

This morning, the van started up and he came and banged on the window ... "It started!"  "Praise the Lord," I called : )  A few minutes later, I happened to glance out the front windows again and he was stalled :/ He'd barely gotten out of our driveway and was completely blocking the street.  Thankfully, a neighbor with an SUV had already maneuvered into an opposite neighbor's driveway and was trying {bumper to bumper} to nudge it back onto our driveway ... this was good news for me ... otherwise Jeff might have had me out there pushing it with my bare hands {which I did on Sunday at the auto body shop when we were trying to get the truck in an actual parking spot} ...

Then, amazingly, the van came to life again and Jeff revved off.  Hopefully he will make it home today!  Otherwise, he'll be calling me for help as I'm his new towing service ...

Oh, I almost forgot, I am already scheduled to tow our dead truck again tonight ... from the body shop to our house.  I wonder how long it will sit in our yard ... maybe 'til we have a farm to park it at ;)