T-Hoe had an episode of CHIME-CHIME-CHIME-ing on Wednesday afternoon. Not convenient for me while I was rushing to pick up The Pony to sign papers at the title company for a "new" property we're flipping. In all my rushing, I had left the rear passenger door not completely closed. An easy fix. However... while looking through all the warnings, and checking other possible problems on T-Hoe's dashboard, I discovered that he only has 17 percent oil life remaining!
That can't be good! As with my own life, I'd prefer to see a larger percentage! The last time T-Hoe's oil life ran low, Farmer H went out to check the oil, and added a quart. So not only the oil's LIFE was low, but also its volume. The thing with engine oil is, the longer you use it, the dirtier and less "oily" it gets, which makes your engine run not-as-smoothly.
It's not like Farmer H changes the oil himself like he used to. Even though in his $17,000 Freight Container Garage, he has an expensive lift that he bought for doing just that. Never been used! Nope. Too much junk in there for that, from the 18 original storage units Farmer H bought right after he built it.
Anyhoo... Farmer H takes our vehicles to the Devil's Playground Automotive Center for oil changes. Where he usually gets into an argument with assorted personnel over his service. It's not like he has to crawl under T-Hoe and drain out the old oil and dispose of it, then put in new oil. He pays people to do it for him.
I told Farmer H on Wednesday night about T-Hoe's aging oil. We had time. A thunderstorm knocked out TV for 45 minutes while we were trying to watch Survivor. On Thursday morning, Farmer H was lingering on the long couch during my daily 6:00 a.m. phone call with The Pony.
"Yeah. I'm kind of worried that T-Hoe's oil lost a percentage of life while we were in town yesterday. It's probably going to lose a percent a day. And now Dad probably won't do anything until at least Monday!"
When I got off the phone, to let The Pony start a load of laundry, Farmer H agreed that he wouldn't be doing anything too soon. It's one thing to make such a factual statement. It's quite another to scoff at my worries!
"Heh, heh. Nothing's going to happen to your car, HM. It will be fine."
"I don't want to get stranded somewhere, waiting for you to show up and rescue me."
"I did last time, didn't I? With your battery?"
"Yeah. But you were right there anyway, by accident. Good thing! I could have died!"
"Ha ha! You wouldn't DIE, HM."
"It was SO HOT!"
"You could have just gone back in Save A Lot, in the air conditioning."
"And do what? It's not like they have chairs! I couldn't stand in there that long to wait, if you were over at your shop!"
"It'll be fine. I'll get to it."
As usual, a big help to people he doesn't know, but putting me off until after his weekend re-selling junk!
4 comments:
He needs a good sized kick in the pants! How much trouble is it to do this small thing BEFORE your whole engine seizes up?? Replacing that would be a much larger expense taking a longer time AND you'd be without a car in the meantime. Does he make sure his own cars have enough clean oil? If you feel a sudden gust of wind, that's me giving him a virtual smack upside the head!
River,
Yes. I need a sudden gust of wind! Farmer H takes care of SilverRedO better than A-Cad, even though A-Cad is our newest vehicle.
I am ever thankful that I am not in charge of vehicle maintenance. Seems like every day I read about another friend losing their mate. Maybe I should be nicer to HeWho?
Kathy,
Here it is, the end of another week, and still no attention to T-Hoe's dying oil! I do not wish Farmer H to depart from existence. I try to be nice, and only point out the error of his ways. He is not picking up what I'm laying down!
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