Of car troubles, living with cats and sick days
Yesterday evening, ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rackham sent me a Glympse so I could keep track of where he was on the commute home. At one point, I realized he hadn't moved for awhile and I was just starting to wonder if he'd stopped somewhere or if the traffic really was that bad when I got a call from his cellphone. Turns out, his clutch quit working when he stopped for a light.
He was really lucky (and I can't help but think he had a bit of good karma coming his way for all the times we've stopped to help push other people off the road), because someone pulled up almost immediately to ask if he needed help then parked and ran over to give him a push. Apparently, a second random person came running over from somewhere, helped push the car into a nearby parking lot and ran off before Rackham could even get the out of the car to thank him!
I drove over and picked him up, we snagged a Papa Murphy's Pizza on the way home (BTW, the Thai Chicken DeLite is *incredible*! And I'm so happy it occurred to us that we could get pizzas made there with only half cheese and I could add goat's milk mozzarella to my half) and then called AAA. They sent out a flatbed tow truck (since we weren't sure we'd be able to get the car out of gear with the malfunctioning clutch) and we got it safely dropped off at the dealership over in Seattle. Our AAA membership for this year has already paid for itself... although I wish we hadn't needed to use it.
It's not going to be cheap to fix. Not only are they going to have to work on the transmission, but they're going to also fix another issue that's been hanging on for quite awhile (it's something that has to be removed to get to the transmission anyway, so technically, we're saving money getting it done now since we don't have to pay extra for the labor just for that). Rackham's car is a 2003 MINI Cooper and, to be honest, if it hadn't kept its value so well, I suspect we'd be talking about trying to trade it in. So, for the next few days, I'm driving him to work so we can both keep up our Geocaching streak and he's taking the bus home.
In addition to dealing with the car problems, I was starting to feel a bit cruddy... so I went to bed a bit early, hoping to head off the cold I could feel coming on. And it might have worked if I'd been able to get a full night's sleep. It's nights like this that make me wonder why, exactly, we have cats.
Around 2:30, I woke up to a persistent *scritch*scritch*thump*thump*rattle*rattle* noise. It was Numfar, trying to get into the guest room for some reason... scratching at the door, then pulling at it from the bottom (because that sometimes works) and finally trying the doorknob, because she's freaky smart about some things and is fully aware that the doorknob twists to open the door. I got up to make sure she wasn't trapped in that room for some reason, only to discover that we'd apparently left the light on in there and she could see it under the door. I turned off the light and went back to bed, but she tends to get a bit obsessive about these things. Probably about 10 minutes later or so, Rackham got up and retrieved her, brought her back and stuck her under the blankets. It seemed to work to distract her.
Flashforward three hours, when I came suddenly awake to the sound of a cat retching (you know that "ackackack" noise they make right before they bring up their dinner? Yeah. Right in my ear). Before I could even think of what was going on, I'd grabbed Zoë from next to my head and pitched her onto the floor... but not before she'd managed to throw up a little on my hair. I mean, really?? I'm just so glad I woke up as it was happening, instead of sleeping away, blissfully unaware while she further emptied her stomach of catfood on my head. Ick. Did a quick hairwash in the kitchen sink and, once again, tried to get some more sleep.
However, on the other side of cat ownership, I should mention there was a moment a few nights ago when I woke up to some very loud purring nearby. I opened my eyes expecting to find Numfar perched on my pillow (she's the world champion purrer... seriously, it's like her default state) and instead saw Zoë being hugged by a sleeping Rackham as if she was a teddy bear and she was obviously really loving it. I thought, briefly, about trying to get a photo... but I decided I didn't want to wake up enough to grab my cellphone to snap a shot. Still, it really was awfully cute.
When I woke up this morning, I felt horrible. Stuffy head, stuffy ears, scratchy throat. Great. I grabbed a quick breakfast and drove Rackham to work... stopping to find a Geocache along the way. This was one I'd tried for twice before with no luck... Rackham made the find fairly quickly. Turned out I was looking in the right area and had the right idea, it was just up higher than I was expecting (about head-height on me... he spotted it because he could look down on it). Got home and went right back to bed. I've been mainlining Zicam (okay, taking the recommended dosages, but you know what I mean) and making myself sleep as much as possible. Still stuffy, still feeling a bit icky, but thinking things may be getting better. Blech. Hopefully tonight I can get a full night's sleep.
Crossposted from my Livejournal
rackham sent me a Glympse so I could keep track of where he was on the commute home. At one point, I realized he hadn't moved for awhile and I was just starting to wonder if he'd stopped somewhere or if the traffic really was that bad when I got a call from his cellphone. Turns out, his clutch quit working when he stopped for a light.He was really lucky (and I can't help but think he had a bit of good karma coming his way for all the times we've stopped to help push other people off the road), because someone pulled up almost immediately to ask if he needed help then parked and ran over to give him a push. Apparently, a second random person came running over from somewhere, helped push the car into a nearby parking lot and ran off before Rackham could even get the out of the car to thank him!
I drove over and picked him up, we snagged a Papa Murphy's Pizza on the way home (BTW, the Thai Chicken DeLite is *incredible*! And I'm so happy it occurred to us that we could get pizzas made there with only half cheese and I could add goat's milk mozzarella to my half) and then called AAA. They sent out a flatbed tow truck (since we weren't sure we'd be able to get the car out of gear with the malfunctioning clutch) and we got it safely dropped off at the dealership over in Seattle. Our AAA membership for this year has already paid for itself... although I wish we hadn't needed to use it.
It's not going to be cheap to fix. Not only are they going to have to work on the transmission, but they're going to also fix another issue that's been hanging on for quite awhile (it's something that has to be removed to get to the transmission anyway, so technically, we're saving money getting it done now since we don't have to pay extra for the labor just for that). Rackham's car is a 2003 MINI Cooper and, to be honest, if it hadn't kept its value so well, I suspect we'd be talking about trying to trade it in. So, for the next few days, I'm driving him to work so we can both keep up our Geocaching streak and he's taking the bus home.
In addition to dealing with the car problems, I was starting to feel a bit cruddy... so I went to bed a bit early, hoping to head off the cold I could feel coming on. And it might have worked if I'd been able to get a full night's sleep. It's nights like this that make me wonder why, exactly, we have cats.
Around 2:30, I woke up to a persistent *scritch*scritch*thump*thump*rattle*rattle* noise. It was Numfar, trying to get into the guest room for some reason... scratching at the door, then pulling at it from the bottom (because that sometimes works) and finally trying the doorknob, because she's freaky smart about some things and is fully aware that the doorknob twists to open the door. I got up to make sure she wasn't trapped in that room for some reason, only to discover that we'd apparently left the light on in there and she could see it under the door. I turned off the light and went back to bed, but she tends to get a bit obsessive about these things. Probably about 10 minutes later or so, Rackham got up and retrieved her, brought her back and stuck her under the blankets. It seemed to work to distract her.
Flashforward three hours, when I came suddenly awake to the sound of a cat retching (you know that "ackackack" noise they make right before they bring up their dinner? Yeah. Right in my ear). Before I could even think of what was going on, I'd grabbed Zoë from next to my head and pitched her onto the floor... but not before she'd managed to throw up a little on my hair. I mean, really?? I'm just so glad I woke up as it was happening, instead of sleeping away, blissfully unaware while she further emptied her stomach of catfood on my head. Ick. Did a quick hairwash in the kitchen sink and, once again, tried to get some more sleep.
However, on the other side of cat ownership, I should mention there was a moment a few nights ago when I woke up to some very loud purring nearby. I opened my eyes expecting to find Numfar perched on my pillow (she's the world champion purrer... seriously, it's like her default state) and instead saw Zoë being hugged by a sleeping Rackham as if she was a teddy bear and she was obviously really loving it. I thought, briefly, about trying to get a photo... but I decided I didn't want to wake up enough to grab my cellphone to snap a shot. Still, it really was awfully cute.
When I woke up this morning, I felt horrible. Stuffy head, stuffy ears, scratchy throat. Great. I grabbed a quick breakfast and drove Rackham to work... stopping to find a Geocache along the way. This was one I'd tried for twice before with no luck... Rackham made the find fairly quickly. Turned out I was looking in the right area and had the right idea, it was just up higher than I was expecting (about head-height on me... he spotted it because he could look down on it). Got home and went right back to bed. I've been mainlining Zicam (okay, taking the recommended dosages, but you know what I mean) and making myself sleep as much as possible. Still stuffy, still feeling a bit icky, but thinking things may be getting better. Blech. Hopefully tonight I can get a full night's sleep.
Crossposted from my Livejournal