backing out of my drive way. was just popping it into first when WUMP. What the heck !!!??? My neighbor was running late to work at just shot straight out of his driveway without looking. My car some rubbing on the bumper and the taillight had one section of plastic broken. His car fareda lot worse. Unfortunately for me I as still rolling so that made me partially or equally to balme. We agreed it was a no fault. As I have a $500 deductable no point calling insurance. Went to Ford dealer to see what the part costs. But of course....they don't sell the lens, only the entire housing. $201 plus tax. And installing it woud be a lot more difficult than just undoing some nuts and screws as you have to dissassemble all that felt covered plastic stuff in the trunk Well I found the 4 crunched pieces and reglued them (Good old Testor's tube glue) We'll see how well that works tmmorrow That and i'll hit a junk yard and see what I can pick up a used part for.

You can usually pick up things like that pretty easily at junk yards Steve.

After the week I've had I didn't do anything I didn't have to do yesterday. I'm really not superstitious but on Monday I had to pay $189 to get my car fixed, twice what I was expecting. Then another $100 to get our dryer fixed. Then I got a quote of $250 to fix a leaking water connection for our garden hose, which I'm going to have to attempt myself today. All in all if that is what the week leading up to the 13th was like, I didn't want to tempt fate on Friday itself.

What part is it? That seems like an awful lot for anything needed for a hose.

I was lucky. Nothing happened out here.

Sorry to hear about the fender bender.
Had a rather mundane Friday the 13th myself.

It's the outside faucet for the garden hose. It has to be freeze proof, Colorado, go figure. Retail it's $30. It has to be soldered on, naturally. I don't know what kind of mark up or labor charge this place had but $250 was insulting. I got the connections on, and soldered, and naturally it leaks like a sieve. Did I mention I hate soldering? So I'll get my neighbor, the neighborhood handyman, to help me out and my wife will make him a cheesecake for his troubles.

Sounds like a fair enough trade. I know I love Sara Lee CHeesecake, but a homemade one. Guys getting a great trade for a little twisting and bending in my book. Oh got the reglued and taped pieces on. It's good enough to pass muster so I wouldn't get nailed by some over-zealous police officer. At 20 feet you would never be able to tell. Up close it just looks cracked.

Ian's Friday the 13th wasn't that great. His left foot/leg has been bothering him. Well, both my brother and I had to wear braces as a child so we did some x-rays yesterday to make sure everything was how it was supposed to be, and it is. But taking the x-rays was rather traumatic for him.

Probably anythng that takes place in the hospital is traumatic to him. Poor kid just needs a break from them for a few years

You would be surprised. He really doesn't have a problem with hospitals or doctors. He doesn't like to be held down, usually that means he's going to get a shot or IV, but he holds no grudges and is very forgiving. With his mom working at a hospital, he's really at home there two.

My dad was an Army doctor, so I have no problem with hospitals. Kind of got me real spoiled though. Never had to wait for anythng. Needed an Army physical...attached a senior NCO to me and off we went getting whatever done immediatly be totally done including blood work and ear hearing and all that within a couple of hours. Remember spending 3/4 of a day doing one when I was active duty after he retired. Of course they did try to prank me. The doc doing the prostrate probe on me walked in wearing those shoulder length plastic gloves

I got by the 13th Ok but had to pay $175 on the 12th to get my SUV fixed. 12th/13th ... same difference... got me too. Luckily, after being out of work for 5&1/2 months I've been on a new job for the past month so I'm not complaining. I was able to pay the bill without digging into the savings. Felt good.

I'm not working, so that limits what I can do. The car is good enough to pass inspection, and I gues that will have to do. Should keep most of any water that tries to get in out as well.