Friday, August 24, 2007

Love to see you at the Tsuga fundraiser

Dear family,
I have been working on the memory book and thinking about Dad. I am glad to know that I am not the only sibling in this family that has and is having strong feelings in the wake of our father dying. Not that it changes how I feel but it is comforting to know that I am not alone. It was really nice to have Doug, Jeanette and Ian surprise us with a visit last Sunday. I got to play with Ian working with clay and "Sculpey". All of us went out to eat at a lakefront restaurant in Penn Yan. It was a relaxed time and so nice to be with family. I hope that we will see many of you in New Hampshire over Labor Day weekend. Barb and I plan to be at the fund raiser for Tsuga. See you there?!
Hugs,
Carol

1 comment:

Doug said...

We knew we would be squeezing time and finances to make a trip to New Hampshire, but we all looked forward to seeing as many family members as we could, including Mike and Sue's dogs. When I found the pool of coolant under the van Tuesday afternoon, it confirmed what I had been concerned about for a couple days: I had noticed that there was a bubbling sound coming from the coolant overflow tank on the van whenever I stopped. I had also mentioned to Jeanette that I had still felt a little shimmy, so I was going to see if Monro could check it out, later that day. When I saw the coolant on the parking lot, the shimmy became a secondary concern. Monro did get the radiator put in in plenty of time, but I never like to take a long trip on a repaired vehicle until I've been able to drive some miles nearby home and be sure that everything is tightened up correctly. I was disturbed that this radiator had failed, since it was only put in a few years ago, when I went to get the van from South Carolina (I had found a shop that would replace the original leaking radiator, only a few hours north of Florence, but I was told that the the mechanic didn't want me to be in the shop, and in Virginia later that night -- the night of the northeast blackout, I think -- I found out why: he had only used water to refill the cooling system -- dangerous in 90+ degree heat --, but we'd been charged for coolant; I corrected that problem myself in the middle of nowhere and called the shop to demand a partial credit on our bill for repairs). Well, my caution was vindicated Wednesday when I went to Belmont to file my Small Estates Procedure Act affidavit with the Allegany County Surrogates Court (the court's certification gives me the authority to act as Administrator of Dad's estate): When I got out of the van, there was, once again, a pool of coolant under that van. I found that one of the radiator hose clamps had not been tightened adequately, but of course I didn't have many tools with me, and things were too hot for me to do much, so I took care of my business with the Court and took a package (birthday gifts for Kate and Lucy) to the Post Office while I waited for things to cool down. Anyway, using an electrician's knife that has a screwdriver in it and then a 5/16" box-end wrench purchased from the hardware on Main Street, I got the clamp tightened and used the coolant and water I had in the van to refill the system and got home, but I was really glad that had not happened on the way to New Hampshire . . .