Not So SMART Anymore....

It was a fairly pedestrian week after my last reports here.  One reason is I'm going to turn into a pedestrian if I don't figure out something to do with my stupid car.

There, I said it.  It was three years ago today, according to Facebook memories, that I picked up my cute red '16 gas Smart car. I loved him and hugged him and named him JARVIS, because his red suit looked a lot like Iron Man's.  The first year was problem free, but then two things started peeling bloom off the rose. One, it became pretty clear that things need doing on the car more often than I've been used to for one I'm still paying for, and none of those things are cheap. After the first year, my rear tires were already shot (front and rear are different-sized so they can't be rotated), and it took weeks for them to round up  snow-tire replacements for just the back of the car.  Five months later, I had those new tires switched out with all-seasons, and then when I asked them to put the snows back on last December, they charged me $150 just to do it. (This year, our non-dealer shop put them on for a third of that.)

More troubling was the local dealer's decision to stop selling the brand when Mercedes announced it was dropping the gas models and going all-in on their low-priced (but very limited range) electric Smarts.  They had no ideas for us when Eleanor's electric went off-lease earlier this year, and we wound up just turning it in and getting the Hyundai hybrid.  And they've shown no interest in anything other than our money when it comes to servicing mine; its warranty ended over the summer, and almost immediately the check-engine light went on. That's when we discovered what a racket they're running; no other shop can diagnose the codes, they charged over $150 just to tell us what it was, and "what it was" is an air pump in the emission system that was going to run over a grand to replace.  While I heard magical stories of aftermarket versions of the $600 part on eBay for under 100 bucks, those turned out to be for the pre-2016 models; and when I took it in to my non-dealer shop, they told me that even if I found the correct part, the dealer would likely still have to get its paws in my face to "program" it before the state emissions test.

The car's inspection is up at the end of the month, so we're looking at possible replacements outside the brand.  I don't need as big a car as Eleanor's got, but a similar style of plug-in hybrid would be perfect, between how good it is on gas and the soon-to-be-expiring federal tax rebates.  One right-size option is the Chevy Volt, but I've learned that GM is phasing that car out.  I'll do some checking this week on whether there are any clearances on it; at least the Chevy brand won't likely be going away, even if that particular model is.  If I have to suck up the $1,000 to keep JARVIS another year, I'm going to be reserving it for local driving and some limited Rochester trips, so that the next idiot light doesn't prove that I was an idiot for not getting rid of it.

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Zoey's had an as-good-as-possible week, with lots of extra attention. Eleanor's looking into CBD oils as one option for making her more comfortable.  She also spoke with some folks who have been down this road (one pet-hospicing for some time): our best guess from that is we've got months, not years but not weeks or days.  Most likely, from where it is, it will get to her brainbox, and that's when we'll know it's time. "She'll just stare at a wall looking at absolutely nothing," the friend said. "But cats already do that!" was the reply.

Making it harder, but easier to share empathy, is that our friends two doors down, who moved here from Maine about a year ago, just lost their pug.  Arthur had been Lisa's constant companion- a gift from coworkers 13 years ago and the only thing she wanted out of her divorce.  We met them on account of our mutual walkies, and they've been even more devastated than we've been. I've promised to bring Pepper over to share some cuddles with them one of these days.

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I'm now through all the meds from last Monday's excursion. Cough's still here but down to a few-time-a-day nuisance. The Z-pack will still be circulating for four more days, and if it hasn't completely gone by the end of those, I will ask for a second round, since some people have said that's what it took to kill it off for them.  This comes just as I'm changing health insurers for the first time in several years. I was perfectly happy with my mid-level high-deductible deal with the local Blue Cross (I've never come close to hitting the maximum), but they jiggered the plans for 2020 and my premium and deductible would've both gone down! Thanks, Obama! Unfortunately, the deductible would've gone down too far and we could no longer contribute to the Health Savings Account that makes our medical expenses pre-tax.  So the competing Redshirts are getting my business back; the deductible goes up, the premium slightly down, and hopefully I won't be beamed down to a planet to be killed by a life-sucking blot of goo.

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Speaking of untimely deaths, our friends' Bambi-killing car is not going to be totaled, so Jim will be back here sometime soon (we hope) to return his rental and pick up the repair. It'll be nice getting to see him again. 

The journey at the end of this week is still on. The only remains-to-be-seen about it is what car I'll be driving on it.