Taking a Break

Sorry for my absence, but we were away on vacation and gave the Mighty Fit a break from the rigmarole of everyday life. We went on a trip to Turks and Caicos and left our beloved Mighty Fit in the parking lot of the hotel (park and fly) for about a week and half, and at some point toward the end of the trip I began to wonder (hope?) that the car would start up when we returned. Sometimes when the car sits for a week or more, it doesn't always fire up like you hope it will, especially in cold weather. Plus, I had the usual neurosis of whether or not it would even be where we left it.

We arrived back in Boston early in the day and I figured that if there were any problems, it was still early enough to get some assistance if we needed it, but in the end, we didn't need it. At all. The Mighty Fit started up no problem, and the drive home was smooth and uneventful. I'm just glad we have a reliable car that fires up when we need it.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Andy Laing for the pic.

Hitching a Ride

Last week we had practice up near the even bigger city and I really wanted to take a break from all that driving. Not only are long drives a complete drag, but I feel for the Mighty Fit and all the miles we put on it, not to mention wear on the snow tires, which at that time we had not yet replaced. I ended up asking our friends M&JR for a ride and they were more than happy to oblige since we live en route and they are the sort of people that will completely inconvenience themselves in order to help out. That's just the sort of generous and thoughtful people that they are, making yours truly feel inadequate.

I have to say, it was nice not having to drive, but it got me to thinking about not only how much driving we do, and believe me it's a lot, but how much stuff we have to haul in the Mighty Fit. I think about last year when we were skiing and had hockey practice afterward. It was crazy. We literally packed the Mighty Fit to the roof: we had three sets of skis and two snowboards along with all the required boots, two big hockey bags with sticks, my skates and stick (I was a coach), and an ice chest with lunch. It would have been nice, and still would be nice, to have a roof rack. We would head out to the ski hill and ski until early afternoon, then head over to the rink for ice time. It was a total drag unloading the Mighty Fit when we got home, but it also gave us a warm fuzzy feeling inside because we had such a fun-filled day.

It's a testament to how much you can get done if you just do it rather than simply fret about it and worry. When you do the latter you end up with nothing but a bad hair day, while if you just try, you have so much to potentially gain, especially if you're driving the Mighty Fit. We all know this from experience and yet we still allow negative emotions to prevent us from even trying. The power of negative thinking; it's funny, and maybe a little sad, how that works, isn't it?

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Michael Martin for the pic.

Snow Tire Neurosis

Leave it to me be anxious over this, but I really want to swap out my snow tires for summers because with every day that I drive on them, I can feel the microscopic layers wearing off of them, thus shortening their useful lives. That drive up to Maine nearly broke my heart. My hope is that we can get another year out of them, but with all the driving we do, that may not be realistic. Part of the problem is that the weather up here is crazy and you just don't know what you're going to get. One day it's balmy, and the next you get snow. I wouldn't give it a second thought if spring would just declare its arrival and we could be done with the snow and ice. No such luck.

This winter was particularly rough, too, because since there was little in the way of snow, the hard roads probably wore down the snow tires even more. Factor in all the driving we do for hockey, school, and work, and it's amazing we get more than a year out of them.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to crosslens for the pic.