Rental Upgrade

I had rented a Jaguar F-Pace vehicle at the airport. It seemed like a normal SUV. Not a luxury vehicle. To make matter worse, it had some weird gas saving feature. The engine would abruptly cut off every time I came to a stop. This must have been a design failure.


I tried twice to return to the rental car place. But they had no other luxury cars to trade. Finally I asked when they would get some new cars in. The attendant recommended that I come back as soon as they open on the weekend.


When I returned, they once again had a bunch of luxury cars to rent. The attendant recommended a Cadillac XTS sedan. It is not as luxurious as a BMW 760 or a Mercedes S550. But it would do. Guess what? The engine does not cut off when it stops.


Perhaps I shall return in a week to see if I can upgrade to a Mercedes Benz. For now, I am satisfied.

Luxury Rental Double Cross

I am traveling with Momoko to see her mom. Am going to spend over a month at Momoko's dad's house. Decided to get a rental car to drive around in. Last time I got upgraded to a luxury vehicle. It was a BMW 740i. That was sweet. So I reserved a luxury car this time around.


When I got to the rental car place, they had 4 choices of luxury cars. There was a Cadillac sedan, and three SUVs. No Mercedes or BMW 740i. I settled for a Jaguar F-Pace. But it was just not worth the luxury car price.


I spoke with the attendant. She said they get new cars in all the time. I could come back tomorrow to exchange the vehicle for a one that I liked. I will call first to ensure they have something worthwhile.

Fence Panels to the Rescue

A prior storm blew down a portion of my yard fence. The fence was old and rotted. It was already wobbly. I chopped up the fence that fell. My brother and I hauled it to the dump.

I had planned to reuse the fence that got taken down when we put in the new driveway to replace the fence that fell. Today I went out to make measurements on those fence pieces to plan where to dig post holes.

Unfortunately I found that half of the repurposed fence was falling apart. No reason to install a broke down fence. So I got help from my brother again. We went to the home improvement store with his truck.

I purchased three fence panels. They were 6 feet high and 8 feet long. Also bought 6 posts. Now I just need to dig the holes and set the posts. While I am at it, I will take the dirt from the holes and level out the dip in the yard that used to be a pond or hot tub.

Household Clutter

I had to put away some old newspapers in our big shed today. There I saw a strange propane tank on the work table. It seemed to be empty of gas. While I was gathering my newspapers, I saw a broke down footstool in our library.

There was also a cardboard box of assorted good in our library. These items reminded me that some washcloths were on the floor in the laundry room for a while. This fail was getting out of hand. I had to call a family meeting even though my brother and Momoko were still at work. Could not wait until after hours, as Little Kat works this afternoon.

I questioned the kids to find out what all these items were. Some were trash. Others needed to be given away. And still others needed further tracking to determine the owner. Things are getting out of control. Time to nip this in the bud.

Best Prices for Lawn and Garden

I needed some supplies for my yard work. Luckily I got a coupon in the mail from Lowe's. Spend $50 and get $10 off. Not bad.

The device that rolls up the hose in the front yard broke. Tough now to do any watering. Lowe's had a bunch of choices. I wanted one with a tall handle. They ran for $40 to $50. But I found one for $30 that was skinny. It said it would handle 175 feet of hose. Sold.

Next I needed some more weed and feed to prepare for summer. The smaller bags ran $20 to $30. One of the bags that normally was $20 got marked down to $15. Works for me. Sold.

Then I headed to the bug spray aisle. The pricing was confusing. Sometimes the price was just missing from the items. I got two jugs which seems to be priced $8 each. At checkout, the price came up to $11+ each.

I complained and they found that $8 was for the refill. I had the bottles with the sprayer. So I went back and got rid of those. Found a small sprayer bottle with a better sprayer for $4. Then I purchased one of the refill jugs for $8.

It took a bit longer. But shopping around and sticking to my guns helped me get the very best deal. Very happy now. Got some yard work to do.

Getting Sick

Kit Kat was the first to get sick this time around. I think she might have taken a little time off work. She seems to be doing much better now. Then Little Kat got sick. He went to the doctor. He also is taking a few days off work.

Now it seems the illness is coming to me. I slept in yesterday morning. I tried to do some stuff during the day. But I was knock out. By night, I was severely feverish. I was delirious. I stayed in bed and tried to keep drinking fluids. Most of the time I felt freezing. I was better when I was under the covers.

I am going to continue to drink a lot of fluids. Luckily I have a few days off my work project. I have got to get better.

Little Kat Suspended

I saw that Little Kat got a letter in the mail from his community college. That was strange. I go to the same school. I did not receive any letter. Tonight Little Kat told me what is was about. He got suspended from school.

The reason for suspension was that he was previously on probation due to poor grades. This past semester he only passed one of the two classes he signed up for. That is insufficient for someone on probation. So he is now suspended for one semester.

Little Kat will be able to go back to school after missing on semester (the fall semester). He plans to change up how he takes classes. He will take one class online instead of the in-person classes he has taken so far. He will also take another class at a different campus that is closer to our house.

Little Kat also said he would try to enroll in a different community college for the fall semester this year. That way he is not totally without any progress towards his degree. We shall see how that goes. The important factor is whether these alternate plans for taking classes will affect his grades next year. If not, it might be time for trade school for him