Minor sunshine

So the truck sold easily enough; I got quite a bit of interest in it and was able to sell it for my asking price, which was about half what I might have expected to get out of it here in town if it didn't have any mechanical problems at all. Getting it fixed at the shop up there would have eaten up about the same amount, so basically I came out where I would have anyway, only without having to deal with both the hassle of the repair work and the uncertainty of whether or not the repairs would have worked. That is a ray of sunshine.

My friend Maxx graciously volunteered to go up and repair it himself, which, if it had worked, would have netted a better overall return. A head kit is only a couple hundred bucks, and I could have got away with slipping him a few hundred for his time. But the uncertainty about the outcome would have remained, not to mention the fact that he is supposed to be painting right now for an upcoming show, rather than tearing apart truck engines out of town, so I would have felt pretty bad about that scenario anyway. And pushing the repair attempt back after his show would have just left a clunker sitting around in my folk's driveway for a month or two. People would start thinking there were shed boys living there. So I am just as happy to have it all done with now, and can move on.

The Zipcar experiment has been working out okay so far. We've only used it a couple times, both for Mandy's classes in Renton, and successfully piggybacked our car-required errands on the trips. It's a bit of a hike to get to the car and come back after dropping it off, but the weather has been nice. I imagine we'll adapt as winter sets in. Or we may end up buying another clunker. I would prefer not to. We'll come out ahead financially at this rate. Avoiding gas, insurance, and upkeep expenses will allow quite a bit of Zipcaring around at less expense.

What with all the sunshine lately, we've had ample opportunity to clean up the boat. While I was gone yesterday, Mandy did something to the companionway to spiff it up, and today I gave the deck and cockpit a good scrubbing and they are fairly gleaming now. This may last long enough for us to not be embarrassed when we take her out next weekend. Tomorrow's agenda includes head repair (ongoing!) and basic engine maintenance. If it's not raining or blowing I may hoist Mandy up the mast to re-string a halyard and secure our steaming light, which has been a bit wobbly. I'm looking forward to getting out for a sail, even a short one.