A tale of a cat

I've just moved to the next level of pandemic self-isolation, the car is in the garage.

It has been making funny (not ha-ha) noises all spring, gradually getting worse until last week it was a full-blown exhaust system set free. I had friends tell me that some young men would pay good money to have a car that sounded like that, but I found the noise most troublesome at the deepest levels of my physiology. I don't know which was worse, driving with the windows open or closed, but opted for open in case there were dangerous fumes associated with the roaring and sputtering noise.

About the only thing I use the car for these days is to drive Hapi to the Reservoir when I think she's not up for the walk to get there, and occasionally to drive down town to pick up something or other than I can't fit into my backpack. My mechanic, B's son, gave the car a good looking-over and determined that this was a job for a licenced mechanic in a bona fide garage, and recommended one that is out of town. Last week I called to make the appointment, was told I could bring it in Monday afternoon but since I thought I was going to be busy that afternoon the appointment was made for Tuesday morning. A day or two later my plans for Monday fell through and I called back to see if I could get the Monday appointment since Tuesday morning was a tad less convenient. The guy said sure.

What I didn't know was that he had made an appointment for someone else but right before I called that someone else had cancelled so the Monday afternoon time slot had reopened. However Mr Garage Guy forgot to write my name into the time slot so when I arrived there yesterday he was puzzled, aren't you supposed to be here tomorrow? But no matter, he still had the open time slot he just wasn't prepared to fix anything then. He'd take a look and see what parts he'd have to order. With the car up on the hoist he showed me the source of the problem, the catalytic converter hanging by a rusty thread, so to speak. Then he noted my bald tires. I knew about that, I was just hoping that I could make it through the summer with the small amount of driving I now do. He did not agree.

The upshot of it all was that he would keep the car over night and see what he could do about rounding up a replacement "cat". He also told me of a dealer in used tires who he thought sold reasonably fit tires if I wasn't in the market for brand new ones. I'm not. This car only has to last as long as Hapi does, after that it's toast as far as I am concerned. Under normal circumstances he would go online and order the cheapest cat he could find, but these days delivery of online goods is so delayed that I might have to wait a couple of weeks or more. That would entirely depend on Hapi remaining healthy enough to walk to the Reservoir in hot weather and her health is so up and down that I can't predict that. Getting a ride with someone else is not in the cards with physical distancing and all that. So he's going to try to find one locally.

Mr Garage Guy drove me home. First time I've been in someone else's car in months. He had a super big truck, it had an extra step just to get into it, and we drove with the windows open. We chatted about all sorts of stuff including haircuts, roadwork (it's started) and family members living in the States. He'll call me today to let me know what the situation is with the cat.

There's a shop in the next town over that sells peanut butter that I really like. I hope I get the car back before I run out. I usually get my drinking water from a spring on the other side of the Ridge but I have already run out of that and am drinking town water (flouridated, not tasty). And eggs. I won't be able to go to the farm to buy fresh eggs, I'll have to make do with store-bought. Oh the trials and tribulations of a pandemic!