It’s always Autumn in England

My last post got cut short, because we were leaving for the day with Evan’s family to go and visit a family friend.

My brother Sam is the only reason I go and watch Lapel Football games on a Friday night. I miss most of what is happening, because I constantly look for number 10 and watch whatever he is doing. Last night, he was by far the star of the game!!

In the 4th quarter, he made an amazing interception and took off running and made a touch down!! One of his team mates, I think they said his name was Mica, took out one of the Frankton players and just made a clear path for Sam to keep going, and go he did! I heard lots of comments about how fast Sam can run. I was very excited and so glad that I got to watch him make such a good play. GO SAM!!!

After writing my post, I found this link on my sisters blog. I am glad that my idea of what happened, was correct!

Lapel High School played against Frankton last night. Frankton are their big rivals because they are in the same school district. Frankton is a bigger high school and last year they won. However, for several years previous to that, Lapel had won. Last night was a great game. I don’t know if it is because it was my second game and I am starting to catch more that happens, or if reading about football this week has helped me remember more rules, or just because it really was a much better game than the week before.

Just after the game started there was an amazing sunset, so I grabbed a picture of that too. Here are some pics…but not many, because I really need a new camera.

We got a call today about 3pm. Our car has been totaled. They are sending a tow truck tomorrow and will also let us know how much money they are giving us to replace the car.

I am sad that we spent so much time choosing a good, reliable, practical car, in good condition, fully loaded and three weeks later I hit a deer and write it off. The concord had everything in it, electric seats, black leather interior, all the gadits you could want. I am frustrated that I have to go used car shopping again so soon. Mostly because when you buy used, you never know what you are getting, and the Concord was really great. I am sad, because I never even got around to naming the Concord.

However, now that we have had some time to think about what we want in a car, we might go for something very different, and it is nice to realise we want something different and have the chance to change our mind.

Ok, so I here is the thing. I drive an hour to work every day. It is 60 miles each way, so I drive 120 miles per day, 5 days a week. It is actually a really quick trip because it is all highway and interstate, so I put on cruise, turn the radio up loud on the ‘Oldies’ station (the best of the 60’s & 70’s), sing along and just drive.

Everyone keeps commenting on the long drive and the price of gas. So, here it goes.

Driving in America is EASY compared to England. The roads I used to to drive were crazy…narrow - enough to only fit one car; very curvey - enough to make you car sick, even when you are the one driving; and for the most part hilly - I couldn’t stay in one gear for more than a minute or two at a time.

Plus, I used to drive 15 miles each way (and it took 30 minutes). So, I only used to drive 30 miles a day. And, do you want to know what I spent on gas? 65 GBP (Great Britain Pounds) in money.

Here, I drive 120 miles A DAY and I spend about $100 in gas a week. THERE IS NO COMPARISON. So please, don’t ask me if I am worried about the price of gas, or if I am concerned about driving that far each day, or tell me I should get a more fuel effecient car.

In England I drove a 2.0 litre engine in a Ford Focus. IT WAS FUEL EFFECIENT and look how much I paid in gas. And for those of you who don’t know the exchange rate, I was spending around $130-140 to drive an average of 350 miles per tank. Yes, ONE tank of gas that got 300-350 miles. It was a 10 gallon tank. (Yes, that is right it cost me $130 for 10 gallons of gas.)

So please, go back and read yesterdays post about the car I want to buy and when I say it is a Mustang GT with a V8 engine and gas guzzling…to me, it is NOTHING!!! So, the more I think about it, the more I hope my car gets written off and I can buy that Mustang and guzzle the gas to my hearts content.

The insurance company sent out a Loss Adjuster today to look at the car. He said it would be really close to whether it was written off or would be fixed. He said he had to take the details back to the office and put them into the system which would give estimates of the costs of fixing things. He will then send that report to the insurance company, who will then decide if it is cheaper to give us a set amount of $ to get a new car, or to send it to the garage to be fixed.

I am torn. We just spent two weeks looking at and choosing the car we thought would last us the next few years. We tried to be wise about gas mileage, comfort, practicality, expense and ease of replacing parts…all the things to think about when choosing a car. We chose practical, with lots of comfort, since I drive 120 miles a day. But the Concord still got decent gas mileage, I averaged 27-28 miles per gallon in it. So, I would love to have the car fixed. And anyway, who wants to start car shopping all over again…walking around in 100% sunshine on a black top car lot, sitting in HOT cars, trying to decide while a sales man stares over your shoulder…no fun at all.

On the other hand, I don’t think I want to drive a car that has been pretty badly messed up. When the adjuster opened the hood, it took Evan and him to do it, and everything was mushed up against the engine. Plus, I have been thinking about cars and nearly convinced myself that we don’t really NEED a practical car at the moment. We have a truck that can haul stuff around, we don’t have kids yet, or have much need to be able to carry 5 people. Yes, the Concord is nice, but I can get a much COOLER car that will get 25 mpg, still hold 4 people if needed, but just be much more fun to drive. I’m 26, I should have a fun car!

I’m not going to reveal anything yet, because if the car isn’t totalled and we get it back, I don’t want to be too heartbroken (I would say disappointed, but I never know how to spell it, so heartbroken was much easier…and yes, dad, I had to use spellchecker on that).

Anyway, if the car is totalled, you might see me driving something very different to a Chrysler Concord. Graham….you should be hoping that the car is totalled, you definitely want me to pick you up at the airport in my other choice of car!

I think one of the most surprising things about living in Indiana and hitting a deer is the response that people have when you tell them. Here are some typical ones…

"Well your car isn’t as bad as it could have been"
"Oh, yeah, that happens all the time"
"Yeah, we hear people hit deer on that road all the time. In fact, we usually call a friend and he comes and picks them up"
"I’m surprised you could still drive your car"
"I’ve hit at leat 6 deer and written off every car"
"They say not to slow down for deer because it’s more likely to hit your windscreen then."
"There’s nothing you can do about a deer, except hit it"

Across the road from our neighborhood is a small field and there are often about 3-6 deer standing in it eating. You often see people stopping and taking pictures and I used to look and count them and think they were really cute. Today when I drove past them, I swore! lol ok, not quite, but they just don’t seem as cute somehow.

I am waiting on insurance to call us back today to confirm we can take it to the Chrysler dealer and once it gets there we will find out if it is written off, or if they will repair it. I will keep you updated.

Here are three things which you are likely to encounter if you live in Indiana. All of which I have experienced just this week.

First, is corn. I haven’t had a chance to get out and take any good pictures of corn fields yet, but they are all around the area Evan and I are living. So, when you live in Indiana, you are likely to eat a LOT of fresh corn. Now, where you buy your fresh corn is the actual experience I want to tell you about. In the parking lot of grocery stores or gas stations are wagons or carts LOADED to the top with freshly picked corn from early that morning. So you head to parking lot, grab a bag and pay about $2 for 14 ears of corn. Evan and I headed out Saturday morning to do just this very thing and I couldn’t resist getting some pictures.

  fresh picked corn and veg

Secondly, is Football. My little brother is 6′2" and plays safety (I hope that is correct) for his High School Football team. I don’t really know that much about Football, so I just cheered for his team, and kept my eye on Sam, rather than trying to follow the ball. My grandma, aunt, cousin, brother, mom and her friend, dad and I all sat in Lapel High School bleachers cheering on the Bulldogs at their first game of the season on Friday night. They won!! I was very excited they won, but I was also very glad Sam didn’t get hurt. I was afraid if someone tackled him, I might have had to jump the fence and pound some high school for hurting my ‘little’ brother….good thing that didn’t have to happen!

Sam is in the middle of the field, number 10 in black and gold

The third experience of living in Indiana, happened to me on my way home from that very same football game. Just after midnight, I saw a deer standing by the side of the road, and in the next second the deer jumped out from the bushes and right in front of my car. There was a huge thump and then darkness in front of me as my headlights went out. Thankfully, the car kept running, and Evan was in his truck in front of me, so I called him and told him to make sure I got home and not to lose me. We were within just a mile or two of our house and on our road, but the light for the battery was flashing, I lost power-steering, the air-conditioning quit working and I could smell several types of fluids. I could also see the hood of the car was bent up, but my windscreen wasn’t cracked and I could see out. I made it home and Evan shined his car lights onto the car so we could see the damage. By the time we got home, the car was smoking, so we figure the radiator is probably gone too. I called our insurance, but because it was out of hours, we have to wait until Monday to get the process rolling and find out if they will repair the car or if it will be written off.

  what happens when you hit a deer with your car

Amendment: I don’t know if the deer was dead or not, because at the precise moment it hit the car, I was scared it would hit my windscreen, or blood and guts would fly up on my windscreen, so I closed my eyes! LOL But the next morning, Evan and I drove out there and there was no deer on the road. I slowed down as soon as I saw it, so I think I must have slowed down enough that it didn’t die immediately, but who knows what happened to it.

Here is a picture of my office. I took this the first couple days, so I now have a nice, new chair. I am going to turn my desk facing the other way, so I can more easily see who is coming to my door. I am also getting rid of the very small bookcase and just keeping the large one.

Just for fun, here are some pics of the cats!

Here is Harry, sitting in all 4 cats favorite spot…looking out the window

Chaucer sitting on the cat tower that Evan made

Chica and Chaucer playing

William is a bit camera shy, so it is hard to get him to hold still long enough to get a picture. I will keep trying though!

Today is my first day of work. My alarm went off at 6:30am, which hasn’t happened since the 13th June. But, I managed to get up!

Now I need to finish getting ready.