The Old and the New

There were several highlights of the week, and taking these goofy kids bowling Friday afternoon was definitely one of them. Some might think I’m crazy for taking that many kids by myself, but I wasn’t worried – much.

By Allan Olson

So it finally happened. After months of discussion and research, and a commitment was made, and this family has a new vehicle. It was not an easy decision – it means more payments – but the last one also had payments, and big repair bills, too. And it still needs more work. But the trade-in value for it was nil, so we kept it. With any luck, a deer will end its run and I can apply those funds to my current payments to get my wife a nice vehicle sooner. I’m pretty confident that this new vehicle won’t have repair bills, and if it does it’s covered (at least everything except what’s in the very fine print).

I struggle with making purchases that impact my budget for the next several years. Sometimes I struggle with shorter-term purchases, too, but I digress. We did this one, and what little time I’ve been in it so far I’ve enjoyed. I’m sure when I pull up to the pumps to fill it up for the first time I will like it even more. It will accommodate the family for going to town, or for a quick trip out of town – like an overnight visit, that doesn’t require winter gear. Aside from that, one of our two Yukons will take over the role of going to the woods, to the lake for fishing, hunting and the deep woods geocaching adventures. 

The miles will rack up on it quick, but I have hopes that it will get me at least 12-15 years down the road. The best part is the warranty will cover it up to 200,000 miles. The vehicle, a Kia Sorento, showed up at my house before I even got home on Friday evening.

As I had promised, on Friday afternoon I took Abigail, Marcus and Alivia and one friend each out for a fun afternoon of bowling. We dined on pizza and then later ice cream – which brought more fits of giggles, in particular from the four girls. That evening my wife took Nikolai and two cousins to the Escape Room, which they managed to escape from in the nick of time.

The next purchase of the weekend was even more unexpected – a new stove. My wife got up Saturday morning to make scones for our nephew, which was a priority reason why he decided to come to our house with his mom and sister. About an hour after getting things ready, she woke me and said the oven wasn’t heating up. 

The last time this happened (circa seven years ago, when it was still pretty new), my brother sent me a temperature probe and a heating element in case either of those were the problem, but it turned out to be the control board that time so those spare parts went to the garage. I talked to my brother on the phone Saturday morning and then headed out to get those forgotten parts. I had Marcus bring me his handy little tool kit from Christmas, and it had just what I needed to get the job accomplished. I changed the temperature probe and the heating element pretty much by myself, with the exception of disconnecting one of the elements, because it needed a little more finesse and it wasn’t happening for me. I got everything put back together and turned it on… and 20 minutes later, I could still touch the heating element with my hands. It was barely warm. 

We headed out to go appliance shopping. It took a couple stores, but we found one my wife was happy with and decided to make the purchase. Ouch, again! The best decision made in town that day was made by my oldest nephew, who suggested getting a hand cart to help get the stove up the stairs – that was a great idea, and it certainly made the job a lot easier.

Back at home, I had to remove the 4-prong cord the new stove came with and replace it with our old 3-prong cord. Then I decided that since I had everything moved, I should fix the dishwasher while I was at it. Since I couldn’t find the right size tools to get the drain unhooked on the dishwasher, I borrowed a couple from the neighbor. I uninstalled and re-installed a new water supply line for the machine, and again, with the exception of a little finessing it needed, I did the work myself. That was the most “mechanical” I’ve been in a long time, and it was exhausting. 

Shortly after everything was up and working, I was informed of a motor vehicle collision in town, so off I went to shoot some photos. I parked some distance from the accident scene to make sure I wouldn’t be in the way, walked in and took some photos, took a video, and visited with a few people waiting to head west. By the time I left the scene it was over two hours after the incident occurred, and traffic was backed up a long way in both directions.

That evening I tried napping, but it didn’t work. Marcus then asked me to make something with him in the kitchen. I told him to pick something out, and he selected pumpkin bars. I did nothing but supervise; he listened to music and did all the work. Later, his mom made the cream cheese frosting, but since it was too hot to frost we went to bed and enjoyed the first piece for brunch at about noon on Sunday.

After I finally got out of bed on Sunday, I spent time working but not getting too strenuous about anything that required physical labor. I had gone to bed at about 1 a.m. (DST) and didn’t get up for the day until about 11:30 a.m. I’m pretty sure that’s the longest I’ve stayed in bed in at least 20 years.

This week is going to be busy and possibly busier yet, depending on the CL-B Panthers basketball team. First there’s a trip to Thief River Falls on Monday night, and then hopefully again Friday, and then hopefully that’s followed by a State Tournament trip for the first time in eight years.

Please remember to watch out for the buses that will be carrying our most precious cargo. Also, snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.