Pages

Thursday, January 15, 2009

I'm So Tire-d

Well, my sister has nothing on me. She may have just gotten a new vehicle, but can she brag that she just put new tires on a 15-year-old vehicle? I thought not. But I can!

This morning I went to the garage, started the Explorer, opened the garage door, and stepped out onto the driveway to start shoveling while waiting for the girls to come out and hop into the vehicle for me to take them to school. From the end of the driveway, I glanced into the garage and was struck by how much our garage floor suddenly seemed to be slanting toward the south wall. I had never noticed that before and wondered why the Explorer looked as though it were tilting to the south. Upon closer inspection, it was quite clear: the rear passenger-side tire was com-plete-ly flat.

I have needed new tires for that vehicle for years, and ever since we moved here, I've been bemoaning that fact but doing nothing about it. Well, today seemed like a good day to act. The girls and I loaded into the van with Susan, who dropped us off at school and work respectively. This afternoon I walked home from work, fired up the air compressor, aired up the errant tire, and drove to the shop to have the tires replaced (and the oil changed). The word "express" is in the title of the shop that I patronized, but apparently that business has a sense of humor and uses "express" in its name ironically--I waited 2.5 hours to have the vehicle returned to me. Granted, it's a first-come-first-serve kind of a place, and I don't know how many vehicles were in front of me, but my patience was tested, to put it mildly.

But the reduced slippage now on even sheet-ice-covered streets is definitely noticeable, so although the sizable expense wasn't glamorous, it was worth it. So take that, sister! (P.S. I'm jealous of your spiffy new roadster, but I'd never let you know that.)

P.S. See the poll in the sidebar to the right to register your vote.

3 comments:

  1. I'm glad you finally got new tires -- I feel much better about your safety, knowing that you again have traction!

    ReplyDelete
  2. My van also has new tires....maybe you want to buy that from me and have two of the same vehicles? Wouldn't that be funny?

    ReplyDelete
  3. LOL!! Now that WOULD be funny!... That is, if you bought Sandy's van and had "twins.":-)
    I've been avoiding new tires on my 15-year-old vehicle as well and think that I may soon need to break down and buy some. Unless I can figure out a way to be a copycat and buy a spiffy new auto as our sister did. Hmmm...
    Glad you can "get a grip" now. Hee! Love you all.
    Cathy

    ReplyDelete