I got carded today when buying wine at BJ’s. Are you, I said, insane? The clerk was a sweet young thing. I told her I registered to vote before her father was born. But she said it was a new state law intended to prevent young people from buying wine and liquor and rather than take one’s chances with guessing before asking for i.d., they are carding everyone and anyone who buys an alcoholic beverage. Our tax dollars at work.

My latest news is that, after a years-long campaign to move out of isolation purgatory, Ed bought us a second car. He says it is my car, but he has been using it a lot since our Isuzu SUV has an a/c problem that makes it very uncomfortable for him to use. It is a 2009 Hyundai Sontata, gray, and looks new.

As long as I have wheels, it isn’t a big thing. When he uses the Hyundai, I drive the unair-conditioned Isuzu and it isn’t a problem for me because, very often, I wear a jacket while the a/c goes ape. I have also sometimes wrapped myself in a blanket. Ed likes it cold. The other issue was the Isuzu smells of tobacco smoke. Ed now has switched to the vapor cigarette. The advantage is no tar, just nicotine. There are lots of flavors. He chose Camels. What a diehard. And because it’s “okay”, he is now smoking more. At least there is no second-hand smoke. He says his lungs feel better. Duh.

And, yes, we’ll have the a/c fixed but the repair guy we got, who was referred by good pal, Cemetery Gary (who is dying and won’t get chemo because he is too busy), hasn’t got the part he needs and keeps putting off getting it and lies about when he can come by. He doesn’t charge a lot which is why Ed wants to use him. But he did fix the the rear panel that you raise before you can open the trunk door. It wasn’t staying up. It has been crashing down on my head when I am loading groceries. That I didn’t get a concussion is a miracle. I tried to post a photo but I keep getting a message that says “too many pixels” and, yet, when I check the photo that I have trimmed, it isn’t large. I am at sea. I’ll have to lean on my GTF, Nadine, the techie marvel.

Ed’s friend, Jean, a paralegal he works with, sold us the car at a great price. It only has 47,000 miles on it. It had belonged to her late aunt. It saddens me to think of getting something nice because someone has died. While the aunt was in the hospital, some squatters took over her mobile home, got hold of the keys, and were very rough on the car. We had a dent fixed in the rear, some pings on the windshield, some cigarette burns (small) on the upholstery. And the radio was cracked. How does one crack the radio? Well, I surmised, perhaps they were having sex in the front seat, thrashing around and whatnot, and didn’t take their boots off. We found a radio for the 2009 on line and a local dealer installed it for us. We also got two new front tires. A local body shop guy named Elvis did the dent repair. It’s perfect.

Ed. who takes note of these things, told me it is getting 40 miles to the gallon. Wow.

xx, Teal