our brand new addition!

 We decided:  go big or go home.  No, we actually didn't ever say that.  We went round and round, from used a few years, back to new, because the new ones aren't much more these days, and with a better interest rate.  This one was heavily discounted from Nissan, and just when we were ready to bite the bullet on the smaller one (with only two doors and the jump seats in the back), I tried a different dealership about an hour from here, and the price was a few thousand less!  It has all the things we didn't know we needed, ha like the nice trim and cool tires!  It is equipped with all the towing stuff, ready to haul up to 7,100 pounds.  Our camper is less than half that, so we're good!  (Grace said we need to get bigger camper, Paul didn't even laugh...:)). (Grace, I thought it was hilarious!)

I don't know if he's more pleased with the new truck, or the fact that we can stop all the looking and figuring and discussing, although, shh, I had lots of fun.  I was especially glad that I discovered this dealership, and that we got a very decent deal.  

I was very unsentimental about saying goodbye to the old rust bucket.  She was a good truck, for a good price with low miles, bought during Covid (when a deer came bolting out of the woods and totaled the old one out of the blue!) when new trucks weren't coming off the assembly line because of a chip shortage, and used ones were being snatched up immediately.  With still only 80-something thousand miles, she would have had life in her, if not for the rust.  You can bet your bippy we are going to get this new one rustproofed!  

The dealership was very nice to deal with.  The manager came out and said that our agreed upon price still stands, and the deal was good, they slashed several thousand off the sticker price, and didn't try to nickel and dime us for all the bells nor for all the whistles.  They needed an hour or so to get it ready, finalize the insurance stuff, ect., so they suggested we go out to lunch...how nice of them, right?  Seriously.  We never go out to lunch!   Paul found a cafe/bakery, and off we went.  They bake their own bread for sandwiches, and the turkey club sandwich Paul got was so good!  I had a few bites of it, but shh, I enjoyed an iced Americano and a big molasses cookie.  You don't get to celebrate a new truck very often, and we had a super nice time.  

There were some visitors to my house this fine morning, as Kathryn had her vehicle serviced at the mechanic down the road, which is where my car also was.  (My car was still making a noise after last week's fix of a wheel bearing and the exhaust system....now it was the OTHER side wheel bearing!  oh dear.  )

Miss Rhys having M&Ms and milk in a tea cup...

Jamison....I didn't get a pic of Achilles or baby Ellis.

Strawberries from the Mennonites...they are SO good!  I stopped there yesterday after the pool to get flowers...I repotted yellow begonias and some petunias, and some ivy vines, some into two hanging baskets I have from last year.  The deck is looking so summery!

Today has been a volatile day, weather wise.  It's been very windy!  When we left to go buy the truck, there was a tree down on one of the back roads.  Paul called the town and left a message.  We backed up and went another way, there was a big branch in the road, but we got around that one.  It was raining cats and dogs, but then it cleared up and was lovely out.

After our lunch, we went to a little cemetery and drove around, yeah, we're weird.  It's just so peaceful there.  I took this picture...

A little boy named Leon Beagle passed away at seven years old, so very sad.  In the midst of a busy crazy city, the cemetery is so quiet.

We went back to the dealership, signed the rest of the papers, resisted the great deals on extended warranties, and got into our brand new truck for the drive home.  We picked my car up at the mechanic's, and I got to drive the new truck home from there.  Mm-hmm, it passes.  

We took Little Miss Sunshine to the vet yesterday afternoon for her excessive itchy skin.  She gets allergies, then a skin infection, so is on some antibiotics.  She is very lumpy and bumpy, but the vet is very hands off about those fatty tumors, they cause more harm than good, removing them, in most cases.  Sunny has gained ten pounds, not sure if it's the loaf of bread she ate last week, or all those tumors...but we have cut her food down a bit more.  You know, you get old, you lay around more, your metabolism changes, you put on some weight, and you say NO FAIR, I've said NO to ice cream like five times and I gained five pounds when I had it once...oh, yeah, we're talking about Sunny.

 We came home and it was time for dinner and none of us had any ideas....so I took out some chicken breast I had frozen in vinegar, salt, and pepper...into the iron frying pan with some olive oil, put the lid on until it started to come apart a little, chopped it up with the spatula and some kitchen scissors, added sesame oil to the pan, then some frozen ginger and grated ginger, soy sauce, a big scoop of orange marmalade, some brown sugar, some sesame seeds...Cam stir fried the veggies and made Basmati rice.  It was SO good!

It's such a beautiful evening, with the wind blowing the trees and the dark skies, so cozy in here...the curtains blowing the fresh air, so nice.  You all have a good evening!