The workhorse…

Let me introduce you to Black Beauty, my workhorse.  It has been at my service since late 2003.  I have treated it right, ie., oil changes, new tires, washing it once in a while, vacuumed it;  so in return, it has taken me to a lot of places and adventures.    I am very grateful when I put the key in the ignition and turn it on, and it responds with an angelic sound of its own.  Blessed be the heavens when the flow goes uninterrupted.  I always check the surroundings to make sure there are no flats. Only once a humongous nail got into one of the tires and very calmly I called Ron and told him I was driving it to Mr. Fix-it to see what could be done.  I was told once that in cases such as this one, if the tire is not totally flat, you can drive for a while, if you don’t try to take the nail out, which was the first thing I tried the first time that happened to me.

Made it to Mr. Fix-it, he put a plug, and I have been driving all plugged since then, around three years already to be exact.  The tires are over five years old, so it is about time to give them a rest.  Need to take the baby to Miss Fix-it.  She has been taking care of my Black Beauty since late 2006.  She has been good, but of course nothing is for free.  We had to trade services for goods.  And the goods have been plenty.  The trick to cars is if you give them good maintenance, they are going to respond in kind.  This has been the case with Black Beauty.  There has been some coughing and close calls, but nothing major.

I remember when we bought it.  I did not want to park anywhere close to another car.  You know how people are.  Bang doors, scratch cars just because… and etc., etc.  We have had Black Beauty for about two months already and one Saturday during one of my driveabouts, I parked it in front of this shop in Zellwood, Fl.  I finished buying some books for our store, and then after placing them in the car, proceeded to leave, but another car had parked too close to mine and kind of put me on a tight spot, so I thought I could come out with no problem.  I forgot that there was a small white fence on my right side, and suddenly the inevitable happened.  I heard this noise and my heart sank.  I came out and there it was, a big dent.  I did it myself.  Shaking and crying I called Ron and said “I have good news and I have bad news, the good news is that I did it myself and the bad news is that now we have a car with a big dent in front (right side).”  I couldn’t stop crying and after he calmed me down (he was taking care of customers at the shop), I left to go home.  All the bad karma I had surrounded myself with the fear of no wanting to have a tiny scratch on the car, came back and materialized itself in a big way.

After getting home, I thought, well, there is a good part to all of this.  I am not hurt, the dent can be fixed, and to make myself feel better, I can have half an apple pie with vanilla ice cream tonight.  That will do.  Ron will be happy too because he loves apple pie a la mode.  How convincing can we be when we want to.

Where am I going with all of this?  I am trying to trance and brain wash myself for my field trip to the dealer.  Currency is leaving my pocketbook, but in turn, my Black Beauty will be breathing better and I will feel more confident while going about my driveabouts.

So Black Beauty and I are going on an adventure today.  We are going to visit with Miss Tammy and hopefully she won’t have any surprises for me with some additional aches and pains BB may have.  Let’s be positive here and let me go to my closet and take out my blue halo. 

On the road again…

Your Happy Contessa

P.S.  Another quote from India.   “Nothing should stop you from contemplating the possibilities.”  Shankar,  an older wise sage.