Our trusty old car

Here is a bit of a draft that I wrote last year and never published. 

"Our Saturn has been a wonderful car - reliable, economical, and comfortable. With over 280,000 miles on it, we've never done more than replace the fan and water pump (in addition to preventive maintenance like tires, brakes, and timing chain). This weekend all that changed. Daniel spent the entire morning trying to discover why the check engine light is on. There were three somewhat ambiguous error codes. He replaced the thermostat and checked the air pump this morning, so we'll see if any of those codes come up tomorrow. He thinks there is some kind of problem with the transmission or drive train, which could mean that the end of our Saturn is imminently near. I hope not. Daniel has been very happy with this car. Daniel's sister taught me how to drive it before Daniel and I were an item (it's a standard). He had recently purchased it while in college and was spending the summer in Alaska at the time, so his grandparents allowed him to park it at their house, where C. found the keys and we took it out =-). I thought Daniel must be the cleanest, most organized person ever, based on the interior of his car. It was spotless. While Daniel did keep his car amazingly clean compared to my manure heap of a jeep (I worked at a barn at the time), the ultra clean vibe was in fact, because he had just purchased it."

Since last year, we have replaced the clutch and transmission and the radiator. That amounted to about $1250. Turns out the clutch and transmission were perfectly fine, and the problem was some really cheap $12 part. Oh well. I figure all that work was not wasted because now our car is better than new (although we need new tires rather desperately), and he got to spend time with his dad and now has transmission-replacing-experience.

I'll have to get Daniel to clarify and expound upon the finer details of these projects, and possibly correct some incorrect facts, but this is the way I perceive things to be.

I have a couple dozen drafts of posts, and in the spirit of organization, those need to go.