Interesting Week

And, yes, "May you live in interesting times," is a curse.

*sigh*

Went to the Post Office Friday morning to get the mail. As I got in the Tundra and turned the key, the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. Check engine, ABS, 4HI/4LO, Brake...all were lit up and/or flashing. Still, the truck turned over and rolled freely (no brakes or 4-wheel drive).

As I drove down to get the mail, I noticed the odometer wasn't working and neither was the speedometer or the computer that calculated the mpg and range.

Called the mechanic and took the Tundra to get looked at. The ABS Actuator (the computer brain that runs just about everything) needs to be replaced...next Thursday. This is a $2K headache I didn't really need.

I carefully made sure the gas tank was full and discovered the gas gauge DOES work. Thank goodness!

Still, I'll be parking the Tundra in the driveway until next Thursday morning.

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The latest winter storm may turn out to be a bit of a dud as far as we're concerned. As the storm approaches and the forecasters fine tune the track of the storm, it seems to be shifting to the south. We've gone from the "foot or more" area to the "3-6 inches" and now to the "1 inch" zone. I'll take it! AccuHunch will become my new Bestest Friend--for now--if this holds true.

Those in the central and southern portions of the state remain in the "oh my God" zones, however. 

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It's been wicked cold here...again. We've seen a couple of mornings this week where it got below minus 5 degrees. But, aside from a few snow squalls that briefly produced white-out conditions, we've been relatively snow free. I don't believe we've seen so many sub-zero readings since we moved here in the winter of '06. And we're not done yet. Forecasters are saying we'll get another blast of super cold air once this storm moves off to the east. I saw a minus 10 prediction for Wednesday.

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The Iditarod ("The Last Great Race!") kicks off this weekend with the ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage scheduled for Saturday and the official start out of Willow on Sunday. The route has been plagued by comparatively warm temps and low snow fall all winter. Wish we could send them some of ours!

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They finally closed on the sale of Mom's house in NJ. The money, however, will be held in escrow until the state signs off on the remediation of tiny oil leak that was discovered when the empty oil tank was removed from the front yard. That could take months to years according to the realtor. Even though there was an inspection done on site as the work from a licensed contractor scooped out the little soil that was contaminated (tests showed that nothing got into the ground water), the paper work must make its way through the halls of bureaucracy.

The closing almost got cancelled as the buyers and their attorney, kept bringing up niggling little items at the last minute. As first time buyers, they kept expecting a 60+ year-old house to be perfect. If either Terry or I were there, the sale probably would have been cancelled, but the estate's attorney has a little more patience than we do. Even so, even he is reported to have stood up at one point and said he was going to put the house back on the market.

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On a positive note, yesterday was the first day of official spring training baseball games. Between now and Opening Day there will be stories of prospects and veterans who look good/poor; injuries; hopes; and dreams. Few will write about the teams that "haven't got a chance in Hell" of making the playoffs and few fans will admit that their team is out of the running. Hope springs eternal.