Car Shopping

Today I woke up to find the whole family sleeping. It was almost noon. They must have stayed up late last night. I had a hard day at work yesterday, so I turned in early. The reason I got up early was that my bro was coming over to look at cars. He is ready to buy a new one.

Today was the day to see Subaru. We first looked at the Outback. This is a station wagon style vehicle. It was nicer than I thought it would be. I appreciated that they had the bottom of the line vehicles in the lot to see. Next we test drove the Forrester. I love the look on the outside. They inside was a little cheaper than the Outback.

Finally we stopped by Honda to see the Ridgeline. We test drove one before. But the sunrof took up too much headroom. I liked the one we saw today. It was all black. Unfortunately the cost was in the $30k range. My bro needs to make the final decision. Then we will return to do some price bargaining.

Shot Down

With Kit Kat driving a new car that Momoko bought, the parking at our house is getting tough. We line up three cars in our driveway. The problem is that our driveway is only one lane. That means we play musical cars when we need to get cars out. That is getting old.

My plan is to get a new driveway lane paved. I found some contractors who would do the job at a reasonable price. The only catch is that I have to go get the permit for the work. Today I went to the county permit office. I had my application filled out. I also came with copies of my site plan. This is a document that shows our property boundary lines, along with where everything sits on our property.

The parks and planning division immediately rejected my plan. They told me it was not drawn to scale. I told them the plan was based on documents I received when I bought the house. They thought maybe somebody faxes the documents, skewing them (they grew in height but not in width, making all the proportions wrong). Now I need to hire a surveyor to draw up correct site plans. Can you say ka-ching $$$?

Happy Birthday Dad

I got off work on time again today. Went to visit my dad and wish him a happy birthday. I got him a picture book called Cars of the 1940s. Now I don't think dad is old enough to have had a car from the 1940s. But he does remember them. I think one of my uncles had a 1940s car. And he let dad drive it all the time.

Momoko had told me that Little Kat was coming home from his friend's house today. So I hurried home after visiting my dad. Strangely enough, I found nobody at home. There were a lot of messages on the answering machine for me though. Momoko and the kids went to her school to work on her classroom. They are staying late. That means I need to fend for myself at dinner time. I started out with a nap. Then I decided to get some Dominos carryout. They had a special where you could add cheesy bread and a 2 liter drink for five bucks. I'm in.

The Big Drive

Now that Kit Kat has her learner's permit, she needs some practice driving. I told her we would go take a drive today. The destination was her friend's house. Kit Kat's friend lives about 3 miles from us.

To start I had Kit Kat ride in my passenger seat. We took a test drive where I was behind the wheel. At each point I described what I was doing, especially with my foot on the gas and break. Then I drove us back home.

Kit Kat and I switched positions. She did not want to do such a lengthy drive. But me and Momoko decided we would push Kit Kat a bit to help her learn to drive. I tried to schedule our ride during the time of day that is not busy. However a bunch of cars showed up anyway.

Kit Kat was able to manage the car while I gave her specific directions on when to break and turn. I had to remind her to put on her turning signals. Once we got to Kit Kat's friend's street, some other car got behind us and was impatient. We took our time and the car eventually pulled in a driveway. It was difficult for Kit Kat to drive home since there is one treacherous left turn. It is hard to see traffic there. We made it home safely. When asked whether she wanted to attempt the same trek again right away, Kit Kat was sure she needed a rest from the ordeal.

Auto Manufacturers

Little Kat has been getting more and more interested in cars these days. I think some of it has to do with Mamma Kat taking him when she was looking for a new car.

Today Little Kat wanted to know the names of auto manufacturers. I went to the CarMax site, and printed out the different makers of the cars they sell. There were about 40 brands.

I had Little Kat read and say the names of about 40 of the manufacturers. The Japanese ones were hard to sound out. Strangely enough, Little Kat is taking an interest in the Smart cars. He thinks they might be affordable.

Here Comes the Snow

Late last night it started snowing outside. By morning a little snow was on the cars. It was enough to keep Mamma Kat from going out to pick up breakfast.

This evening it started snowing again. The weatherman said we may get 4 to 8 inches by tomorrow. So the whole family went out to spread rock salt on the driveway.

We spread out the remainder of the rock salt bag we had. Luckily we have another huge bag that is unopened. Little Kat is hoping for a day off from school tomorrow.