Another Chapter Ends...........

Yesterday BH and I drove 40 miles to drop off his "fishing" car.  A 1984 Olds Custom Cruiser station wagon; purchased 7 years ago for the purpose of....fishing.  Something to throw the 12' row boat on top of the roof, load all the gear in the back and off he would go.  This was his 3rd fishing vehicle over the past 20 years.  Sadly, it's his last.

It also did double duty for hauling logs out of the woods.  Stacked to the inside roof, back end just a few inches from the ground, BH would come home with a few weeks worth of wood to be cut and split, keeping us toasty warm during the unrelenting winter.  So proud of himself!  He's my Hero!

And then there was our son and grandson.  When their car was laid up for one reason or another, or totally out of commission needing to be replaced, the 1984 wagon was loaned to them....sometimes for months....many times.

All it ever needed in the years we had it was a couple of tires and a battery.  But then things started going wrong.  Wipers no longer worked; radio, nada; brakes were questionable; A/C non-existent; 3 of the 4 windows no longer powered down.  The interior was torn and tattered, dents on the body were showing signs of extreme rust, moulding was missing from many areas.

A few months ago, we had a serious discussion about selling the 14' motor boat and trailer.  His fishing days have taken a nose-dive this past season, and I sensed that something was amiss.  He hadn't hitched the motor boat up at all this past summer, and he finally admitted that it was getting to be a chore to put the row boat on top of the car, take it off, put it up and take it off again.  I still don't know what the deal was with not wanting to hitch up the bigger boat.  But some things are better left unknown!

Last week I heard him on the phone with son discussing the boat.  When he got off the phone, he told me son's friend would give him $100 for the car.  A few days later, BH tells me son's employer would give $150 for it.  He intends to strip it down and sell for scrap metal.  The deal was set.

So BH spent Wednesday and Thursday cleaning the old girl out, wiping down the interior (I had to turn away, lest he hear me chuckling when he told me this) and preparing it for the final ride.

We dropped it off; he removed the license plates, and said his final "thank you" for years of service and a last goodbye.

We talked of all the things she had done for us on the way home; how what we paid for her, spread out over the 7 years, had given us our money's worth many times over.

When we got home, I immediately called the insurance agent and had her delete it  from our policy.  The agent and I had a good laugh when I told her the car had finally given up the ghost.  "Finally" was the word that gave us both belly laughs.

Now we'll see what next Spring has in store.  It just may be that the motor boat/trailer are the next to go -- to be sold.  And BH will be with me every day......all day.  No getting away; no reprieve.

It will be the end of another chapter and the beginning of a new one......the 2 of us.....24/7.....all year.  I wonder if I could interest him in joining some sort of Senior Citizen's group that goes on day trips.