Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #33 – Still Working on My Faucet, Seeing Rodney, and Buying a New Car!

 

Sunday, July 30^th., 2023…… We were up and going early. We had the dogs walked and fed. And while Cathye watched Jama eat (you have to stay on her because she is so picky), I left to go get us breakfast. Cathye picked up Lona this morning and they headed off to church. I went over to Sis’s house to help with a printer problem. She rarely prints anything, but does need one from time to time. We tried two printers and they will function but won’t print. I think the culprit is bad ink cartridges. I left and she went to Walmart to get some. She called later to say that was it and everything was working now! Cathye and Lona stayed for the potluck after and she brought me back a plate for lunch. The only thing on my to do list today was to check on the water leak from the faucet pipe. Yep, still there!  I used my new drill-attached water pump to clear the water. As I suspected, it is from the connections I made. I guess when I put the iron pipe into the pvc elbow, I didn’t tighten it up enough.    

Monday, July 31^st., 2023…… We slept in and then got the girls walked and fed and then made our way to the gym.  We were in and out in quick time. We headed over to Kevin’s for breakfast and then stopped by the store for a few things. I also needed to go back and get more fittings for the faucet. When I took it apart, we discovered that the threads were stripped. No wonder it leaked! I got what I needed and we tried it again. Same issue. I need to reassess the fittings I use next time. Cathye watered and cleaned up  

Tuesday, August 1^st., 2023…… Today was another day of repair. I tried one more time with the fittings I have. It didn’t work! I think tomorrow I will need to start over!  On the other side, we heard back from the irrigation guy with an estimate I have been waiting for several weeks for now. It wasn’t too far off from what we expected to pay so we will probably go with the guy. But I have one more question for him to make sure I get all of the items we talked about and we were both on track with what his estimate stated.  This work is for all of the sprinkler controllers and the valves as well as the lines running around the flowerbeds. I’m sure he’s not going to be available for several weeks so I am on my own with the faucet issue. Later, we took a drive up to Aurora (about 70 miles). Cathye has never been inside the architectural salvage business they have there. It’s fascinating just to walk around in there, and we did -

but we were also looking for some wood for a bar for the patio deck. We both had something in mind but we wanted to see what they have that might work. They had a lot of nice lumber but nothing that we wanted. But we saw enough examples of bar tops and counters to get ideas. I think we have come up with a plan. We’ll go looking elsewhere. The drive up and back took several hours but we got back in time to feed the girls before heading off to National Night Out. I understand this is going on all over the country but we’d never been. It was at the same place (Heritage Park) in town that the concert was held last week. But this time, they set up several popups all around. We found out that they were all set up as a community building campaign that promotes neighborhood camaraderie. They had booths with giveaways, mostly for kids. We stayed a bit and then decided to just leave and head over to the Tallman food trucks for dinner and drinks. That was a great choice – until we got there and saw that it was really packed in. Turns out Tuesdays are trivia nights and from what we saw, they are popular! We both chose Mexican food and got drinks from the bar and sat down. We were about half done when a girl came up and asked if we would be staying for the trivia. If not, they would like our table!  Nope, not staying. So, we shared our table and ate and got out of there!            

Wednesday, August 2^nd., 2023……  We slept in this morning. Nothing really on the agenda for today. I am determined to make that faucet work! I went back to Wilco and got yet more parts. These fittings are all plastic pvc pipe and glued together so if you have a leak, you have to cut everything off and start over! I put the new pieces together and we made the last connection under ground.  When I turned the water back on, I heard a loud, “shut it off” from Cathye!  I discovered that didn’t work either. I was back to square one. Or I guess it was square 4 or 5 now! One last trip to the store and after careful connections,  I think we’re good to go. But I will leave the water off for today and check it tomorrow, 

Thursday, August 3^rd., 2023…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICK!  Today was Costco day! We walked and fed the dogs and then headed off to the gym for our workouts. After that, we headed to Albany. First stop was Elmer's for breakfast. While we were there, we called Rick to wish him a happy birthday. Janie was with him and shared that they have booked a cruise. They are heading to the Panama Canal in January. Rick said he is feeling up to it and will be even better by then.  Yaay!  We have looked at cruises there but this might be one we can look into and maybe join them. More later… We left Elmer’s and went to make a quick stop at the social security office in town for Jamie’s ss card. After that we hit Costco. On the way back, we stopped in at Primasing Motors in town. Her long-time friend Donny, works there as a sales manager. He wasn’t in but with Jordan’s help, we looked at the car we were interested in. It’s a 2019 Buick Enclave. Low mileage and it was very well appointed and well taken care of. It’s not the cheapest of those I have looked at online, but we wanted to check it out. We will come back and drive it maybe in a few days.  Once back home, I immediately went out to tackle my long lost faucet friend. Yep, one tiny leak somewhere so the hole is filling up with water. I made yet another run to Wilco and got the parts and got them assembled. No leaks so far, but we will leave it exposed and see what happens tomorrow. We pretty much were done for the day – except we had tickets for a comedy night!  Cathye knows I love comedy so a week ago she got us tickets to Rodney Carrington’s show at the Hult Center in Eugene. She didn’t know too much about him but I quickly told her he is a very ‘out there’ comic and no subject matter is taboo at one of his shows. Matter of fact, it’s adults only admission. But she’s ok with that. We fed the dogs and left for the evening. We stopped at Texas Roadhouse in Eugene for dinner since we had a $50.00 gift card. Wow, what a great meal! I chose the filet medallions and Cat had the sirloin and shrimp combo. Both steaks were ‘cut with a fork’ tender!  Yummy!  But with the homemade bread and cinnamon butter we still had leftovers. No worries – they will go fast!  We got to the theater and parked and got in with no worries. We could see that the crowd was of a more liberal nature and I knew we would all enjoy Rodney! It was as expected. He is really raunchy, so don‘t go see him if you don’t like that kind of humor. We loved it and were in stitches all evening. 

We made it out of the parking garage (got stuck behind a stalled car) and got back in plenty of time to let the girls out to pee. Long day but fun. Crossing my fingers my faucet is good to go tomorrow!     

Friday, August 4^th., 2023……  After sleeping in a bit, we were up and going. After breakfast, we started in on our housecleaning. Today was hot mopping for all of the floors!  The hardest part is moving everything out of the way! While I did that, Cat did both the bathrooms and the dusting.  After we were done and had rested for a bit, I went out to check on my faucet. It’s been a day and no leaks!  Cathye and I came up with a plan. She would go up to see Donny alone about the car, to see if he would work with her on a deal.  We would be trading in the Acadia.  Meanwhile, I made a run to get some pea gravel to fill in the hole. That way, no grass should grow around the pipe and we won’t need to get close to it with the mower anymore. 

Cathye came back with the car to show me. I drove it and it is a beauty! But when she took it back and told him what she would offer including the trade-in, they balked at that and countered.  It was an ok deal, but I said we would need to keep looking so we have something to compare with. I had already found one in Hillsboro (just west of Portland) that is a good deal. We’ll need to check in with that dealership and make arrangements to go up and take a look.  Oh yeah, we also checked into the Panama Canal cruise. Turns out all of the balcony rooms are booked. Rick and Janie got a porthole room with the option to upgrade if something comes available. Not sure if we would even get that offer and – after our Alaska trip - we will not cruise without a balcony room again, so we will pass on this one and go another time.         

Saturday, August 5^th., 2023……  I was up early and went on to the Hillsboro car dealer’s website and sent a message that we would like to arrange to come up and look at their Enclave. We set it up for 11:00am so would have time to get things done here before driving up there. No worries (it was a long drive and the road to Hillsboro was under construction), but we pulled in right on time. They had the car out and waiting for us. Cathye immediately walked around it noting all of the scratches in the paint. This one is a 2021 but has black interior that Cat was not immediately in love with.  I drove it and there was one issue – we couldn’t get enough air in the tires to get the warning light on the dash to go out. Probably a bad sensor. Once we got their offer/deal for us, we knew that we would pass. The price was right but the car just didn’t measure up to the other one. She called Donny and she said we would buy that one if they could do just a little better deal. He and the owner negotiated a little with her and we told him, “sold”. We would stop by on the way back and sign the papers. Driving home, we started talking and I suggested that maybe Robin would be interested in our car. We would rather see her get it than get lowballed by a dealership. So, she called Robin and made her an offer. But she would need to act fast!  She was definitely interested and would need to get back to us. She called a few minutes later. Turns out she accepted! She would need some time but for now we could take the trade off the table with Primasing. Cat called Donny and told him and he rewrote the offer. We stopped in and gave him our info for the paperwork and went home to clean out the Acadia. Because just before we got there, Robin said she would be over with payment later today! So, we went back and made the deal with Donny 

and drove the car home.  

Later, Robin came by and paid us and took her new baby home. We’re happy for her – her old van was running but she needed a new vehicle and we know she will love her new car! Win/win for both of us! 

The new Buick is really something. It’s got all the bells and whistles – even the rear bucket seats are heated! We chose the Enclave because it’s still a three-row seating car. So we will still have room for Rylee when we go places. I am still learning about all of the features and will get into the owner’s manual tomorrow while Cat takes it to church.  Later, we watched tv and then hit the spa, talking about the very long but rewarding day!