esrosedotblog

OUT OF THE WOODS

Our Woody (also know as 'the Woods' because of his 1984 Town and Country plastic wood sides) passed his smog test yesterday and that is on 'old oil' in his system.

That is a bit like passing the drunkometer after you have had a few drinks.

I don't think he has had new oil for a year.

Maybe we will reward him with a fresh drink for this towering victory over the extremely rigorous California emission standards.

It is a source of some anxiety every year (or maybe every other year) because if he does not pass it raises the whole 'keep him or not' question.

Admittedly this is a bit like deciding that an old friend should not go to the hospital for an easily remedied ailment but, in the Wood's case, he is living on borrowed time.

You may recall that he was actually up for sale a couple years ago and there were no takers on the first round. Well, one guy who wasn't serious, in my opinion.

We never put in another ad or took another step to sell him. I started driving him more regularly.

I don't really think that he is near the edge. He doesn't get so much milage as to cause major repairs. What needs to be fixed in an old car has already been repaired. And so on.

Anyway, he made it another year or two and I am happy for him and for us.