A Bowl of Cherries and an '87 Chevy

First, a large bowl of pie cherries.  10 cups total.  Our very first real crop of fruit.  I am so excited.  I baked a pie with half and sugared the other half and froze them.

Now that we have another trailer and yet another truck, Hubby spread out some road base and made us a parking area on the right side of the garage.  My Toyota and Hubby's Honda Fit will both park here nicely.  They will be near the back door where we load and  unload the vehicles.  They are both a bit smaller so we can back them out easily even though it is a lot tighter here than on the other side of the garage since we have  fencing and a covered breezeway right behind me where I took the picture from.

As you can see in the photos, it was totally overcast today and it was only 83 degrees.  Wonderful!  We cleaned the goat pen and did quite a bit of work outside.  Tomorrow, it starts getting hot again but I sure was happy for the reprieve from the heat even if it only lasted one day.

Finally, here are the pics that are being clamored for of the new used truck we bought.  Okay, one guy said, "Pictures, please."  You know who you are, Bruce.   An '87 Chevy.  Dual gas tanks.  Yeah, with a 454 we are going to need the dual gas tanks:)  Oh, and the A/C actually works. 

It is a long bed and there is a heavy duty bumper to hitch up the trailers to. 

The vehicle has had one owner.  The title was 25 years old and of a different style than the newer titles.  Very cute.

A little light rust on the body but nothing to be concerned about.  I think it looks pretty good and I am not ashamed to be seen driving it:)  The color also matches my new used horse trailer.

The interior is in great shape.  The bench seat is awesome.  Loving that.

The door panels are in basically perfect condition.  

The truck features a hydroboost clutch so it isn't a son of a gun to shift.  Power steering so I don't have to hurt my arms turning the steering  wheel and it is easy to park.  The tranny has a granny gear as well as first, second and third.  

The truck is easy to drive, cruises nicely at 70MPH without having to adjust the gas pedal constantly, steers easily.  I like it.

There is a cracked windshield which the cops don't stop you for out here and the glass seems pitted.  That is really common because of the blowing sand.  I can probably replace the windshield for about $150.

Our New Used Truck

We went a got the new used truck today.  It is a dream to drive and I am very happy with it.  I will practice driving it tomorrow ... with the trailer hooked up:)

Hubby followed me to the gas station  and between the two empty tanks in the new truck, his car and the stocking up of 15 gallons of gas for around here, well, all I can tell you is it is a good thing he worked a day of  over time and it is showing up on this paycheck!

We are going to Carson City to see if we can buy some ramps for the truck.  I need ramps to get the cart into, and out of, the back of the truck.  I need to practice that,too.  We need to have all this working since Wiseguy and I have a play date next week on Wednesday.

Our play date is just over the hill in the next valley and the lady is an experienced mini horse driver.  Can't wait.

Bought a Truck!

We did purchase the Chevy truck with the 454 engine.  It has 67,000 miles on it and had one owner. It has a bench seat.  It has something called a hydroboost [I hope I am getting the name of that right] clutch which means that it isn't a hard to use clutch.  It has power steering.  Two wheel drive.  Plenty of tie downs on the bed.  It is a long bed.  It is already set up to tow.  The interior is really nice.  The dashboard is like new.  They have one of those dashboard covers on it.  The bench seat has no rips and tears.  There is just the littlest bit of surface rust on the body.

Hubby and I talked about gas mileage.  After all, a 454 is not going to get good mileage.  The son says the truck gets about 12 MPG but I am thinking 10.  On the other hand, Hubby's old Chevy truck ['78 ??] gets about 15 MPG.  So, if I have to drive 100 or so miles to go to Carson City and back, that will be about $40 in gas.  Reno and back will probably cost me closer to $70.  That could add up fast but...I probably won't end up driving the truck very often.

All of our older vehicles cost about $400 a year to insure and about $50 to register.  That will be an additional expense.

This truck drives completely differently than Hubby's short bed four wheel drive pick up and I think I will enjoy driving it.  It has a low gear so I should be able to take off with the little horse without jerking him.  The clutch engages way at the top of the pedal so it will take a little getting used to.

Obviously there is more than enough power to pull my little horse trailer or even a large load of firewood.

We go back to pick the truck up on Tuesday morning.