Use Less Stuff: August 2015

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Climbing

Nora's almost-three-years-old interview

What's your favorite food?
Pouches, peanut butter-jelly

What makes you really happy?
Trains

What makes you sad?
Something rude

Are you scared of anything?
No

What do you want to be when you grow up?
A woman

Do you like your name?
Sonora. Yes I do

Now that you're almost 3 are there any big kid things that you look forward to doing?
Eat sandwiches, not sleep

What does Dad do while he's at work?
Fart

What's the hardest thing to do?
Sleeping

What makes you mad?
Dinosaur

What's the best thing in the world?
Around the World [Daft Punk song]

What do you like most about your brother Ivan?
His back and his shoulders

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Sunday, August 9, 2015

The car, broke....

On the way to Xmas in July we suddenly smelled oil and had smoke coming from under the hood. We had just passed through a small town but we were two hours from CT and one hour from the fort. Breaking down on the side of the road is a good way to find out how friendly the locals are. In this case, we were very impressed. A couple cars stopped and two cyclists were particularly helpful. There was a Toyota dealer in town who towed us in and gave us a rental for the rest of the weekend. They didn't have power at the time to put the car on the lift and have a look. So our trip to the fort was extended by one night in order to get back to the garage Monday morning. They had it all cleaned up and ready to go when we arrived. Turns out the drain plug on the gearbox came off and the gear oil leaked out in the under carriage, likely related to recent service not properly torquing the bolt. So a weekend call out, tow to the shop, two day car rental, and a couple hours in the shop on Monday cost us ~$125 total. No long term damage that we can tell. The price was amazing but the people were also very helpful and Xmas in July was saved for the Simmons. Plus the views were top notch.