Yes I Did It Again

There were only a few readers that caught on that there might have been a recent car transaction. Then, some more asking questions by making comments on the blog or emailing me. I decided it was time to explain.

This is not to make fun of any kind of addicts because addiction is a serious and terrible thing ... but I do see myself standing in a room with a bunch of strangers, raising my hand and stating ... "Hi my name is Steve and I am a car addict". For you long time readers there are no surprises here in this post but possibly a lot of laughter from the location you sit.

New readers, yes ... I have bought and traded a lot of cars, trucks, an RV, during the life of this blog in the last 6 years. I can't say I'm an addict really, it just took me this long to finally decide what two cars I like and the two cars I plan on keeping a long time.

Yes I justified everything back in late October when I explained here, the reasons I unexpectedly traded my Voodoo Blue 2007 FJ. I never planned to. Out of everything I said to justify it it basically boiled down to me not wanting to put $3,000 into a almost 10 year old vehicle that had close to a 150,000 miles, to replace the bad catalytic converters. That was the quote from a Toyota dealership where I made the trade.

I knew that day I drove off the Toyota lot with another 2007 Black Cherry FJ that I had made a mistake. It didn't ride the same, didn't feel the same and even within those first few miles I knew I would not keep it. I tried for the next month and a half to talk myself into agreeing it was a good decision.

By the time I returned home after the 75 mile drive I was out of shock and realized I should have kept the Voodoo Blue one with the needed repairs ... I could have looked locally for a repair shop that could give me a better price for making the repairs. Yet, when that Toyota service rep handed me the computerized estimate, I went into deep shell shock' that influenced my bad ... bad ... decision.

Besides the hail damage I did not see on top of the Black Cherry FJ when I inspected it before I bought it, it had a fairly good gouge in one of the hard plastic fenders. Normal wear and tear in different parts ... but those kind of scratches and dents bug the crap out of me. Like I said before, it just didn't ride like my other FJ. Plus the more I looked at it the less I liked the color. This was Black Cherry and the one I confused it with was the model they offer in Red Brick.

Maybe it was the weather turning cold in early December that made my brains cells go into overdrive on a brand new idea. I explained my thought process back then with a blog post, that you can read here if interested. I never drive my Z4 in cold or bad weather. It's a 'good weather' car where I can put the top down. So the month of December is a time I sometimes think of selling it more than driving it.

I had another brain failure when I decided I was pretty sure that I'd list the Z4 for sale on the Z4 forum, and Craig's List but not expecting it to sell until spring. At that time I'd park it down by the mailbox so those in heavy daily highway traffic could see it was for sale. I've never had a car last more than two weeks when I park them by the highway with a for sale sign on them.

That is when I came up with the idea of 'one car', 'one insurance policy', 'only one to maintain' blah blah blah ... the Mini Cooper Countryman S All4 would give me a small SUV and a Sports Car Mode. This thing would haul ass down the freeway at 85 and 90mph. There were only three problems with the car and none of them were maintenance issues ... it was a great car.

Those were:

1. I drove it more as a sports car because of how it drove ... I couldn't keep my foot from being buried into the accelerator almost every time I drove it. Luckily I never got a ticket.
2. Sadie and Stella were always looking to ride. This missed those rides in the FJ ... problem was they were a little cramped to ride at the same time. There's Stella checking for a way inside.
3. I have pretty much decided on a trailer I am going to buy and would feel much better towing it with an FJ and not the Mini Cooper S Countryman.

I had enough doubt about trading for the Mini Cooper. After I sat with the salesman for most of the afternoon, I changed my mind and drove home with my FJ. By the time I traveled the 12 miles home he called me wanting me to come back and make the trade. He sweetened his offer a little bit for it to happen.

Add in the other factor, that EVERY time I take this 14 yr old jewel out on the highway I hear myself saying "there is NO WAY I am ever trading or selling this car" !!!! It runs like it's new and has a little over 62,000 miles. My spreadsheet tells me I drive it 1,500 - 1,700 per year.

Once I was sure that I was keeping the Z4, then there was no need to have TWO cars giving me that sports car feel, I knew I'd be trading the Mini Cooper S in for an FJ. After all ... the Toyota FJ was THE BEST car I've ever had and I have had a ton of them over the past 17 years for some reason.

Then a few months ago I started sorting out in my head, old options I had analyzed and blogged about on this blog years ago ... what to travel in, RV or trailer, or what to tow, etc. Out of all the options I looked at, I have always come back to the FJ towing either a small trailer or a converted cargo trailer.

How I missed seeing this trailer last year is beyond me but once I found it I had to research it. It's my new plan but not until my hounds pass on. I've explained in previous posts that I find it too hard to travel with three hounds and only two hands. Plus now I have not one but two big strong bloodhounds so that is beyond what you can imagine, trying to travel with.

From reading on the Mini Countryman forums, there were those towing boats, small trailers with the Mini but I just didn't feel comfortably putting stress on a transmission of that car towing something even as small as this trailer. Plus .... I needed more room inside.

So here is what I am planning to buy for traveling and to use the FJ as the tow vehicle. Taxa Trailers in Houston Texas. These photos are from their website, not mine nor someone's personal pictures.

But really this isn't a new thought that just happened this summer. From that day back in October I bookmarked the site at Car.com, showing me all the 2007 FJ's for sale within 100 miles of my zip code. I would check that site every night if not multiple times every day. I knew I needed the same options as the Voodoo Blue had. I knew I'd eventually find one on my terms.

I even tried to buy my old Blue one back in early January. Their price had dropped below what they gave me as a trade in. Everything had been fixed and it looked good as new on their sales lot. It might have been anger, or they just wanted to play games with me ... or maybe they thought I was an idiot just passing through ... but they didn't want to sell it to me.

They gave me an extremely low offer for the Mini Cooper as a trade in. Then when I thought I had a deal almost done the 3rd week of January, they told me a price over the phone that was $2,000 higher than I was looking at online. I decided then the games were over and I'd find something.

I mentioned once in a blog post recently that I had expanded my FJ search out 250 miles from my zip code, then 500 ... "Only to Look" if I remember correctly. I was really looking for one that had the same options as I had before. There were not many of them even in a 500 mile radius. Plus I only wanted one in Voodoo Blue or Silver. I finally located one 106 miles away but it didn't have a roof rack, so I passed on it a month or so ago. It had everything else I wanted though.

Mileage wasn't a big thing for me. I bought my last one with 130,000 miles on it. I've seen these have over 200,000 and still going strong. It was also good to see on the Carfax it had only one owner. The father gave this FJ to his daughter for college when he was finished with it, so it was never driven off paved roads, most likely had never been rock climbing and the pictures showed very little wear and tear.

It might seem trivial but I wanted  this model of radio, not the black one that many of the 2007's have.

These 5 buttons showed me quickly I had a lot of the same features my old one had. We were off to a good start as I scrolled through the pictures. Again, no scruffs or scratches in the normal places.

It looked so clean and not scuffed up in back that I had to download this photo to my computer so I could enlarge it for a closer look. It looked even better in person. No normal wear and tear in the back. Yes it had the large sub woofer, not a deal breaker but just like my other FJ.

New floor mats throughout ... no scratches or gouges on the back door. I also didn't see any signs of rust around those 5 screws above, my old one had rust on them.

It looked brand new inside on their sales ad and also in person ... I don't know if the backseats have ever been used.

I knew since I bought this one at a Toyota Dealership that it had gone through their service department where any repairs or upgrades were done before it was put on the lot for sale.

Seeing these same wheels heavily chipped and worn on the Black Cherry FJ, I read on the FJ forums it was common for that to happen on their stock wheels. These wheels are brand new.

The sales rep told me on the phone that he had the rock rails taken off, sanded and painted. He also had his shop repaint these silver parts of the bumpers. That is a black fly in the picture, not a chip.

I did not find any wear and tear on the body itself. All of the plastic bumpers and fender guards are in perfect condition. The only dent I found was a small round one above the driver side door handle. It did not have two options my other FJ's had, the tow package and a roof rack. It did have the extra skid plates.

Instead they had added a Reece Tow package to the car, rated for 5,000 pounds, same as the FJ. Using the roof rack on my other one in June 2015, I decided then that I might like a rack by Baja much better. It is more rectangular and still uses the same factory mounts. If not I can have or I can install a factory roof rack.

The girl from college added her own touch to the FJ by adding a spare tire cover with a color that matched the car. That is going up for sale on Craig's List if anyone is interested or knows of someone with a Voodoo Blue FJ that would like one.

I had not been in the driveway more than 5 minutes before Stella was leaving bloodhound drool on the back bumper and near the doors ... her way of looking for a way to get inside and ride. Over the past two weeks of ownership, every time I open the back door to get something out or put something inside the FJ ... Stella gives a quick glance to see if we are going for a ride anywhere. It's been too hot lately to take them anywhere and I'd never stop with them inside the car in this type of weather. Our local drives are always to and from the house with the AC on if it's too hot.

Finally this past Saturday the temps had not reached 80° and there was a strong breeze to keep things cool. I told Sadie "let's go for a ride" and she went nuts. She never barks but she did then and didn't stop. She was in back of the FJ almost before I could get the door completely open.

That is when I found out that Stella's hips are definitely bothering her. She wanted in the back but couldn't jump in the back like she use to do before. She put her front paws on the bumper and I lifted her in.

Heidi took her co-pilot seat up front, windows down and she was ready to ride.

To say the hounds were happy to go for a ride again is an understatement.

So, lesson learned. No matter what comes up with either car, I will keep it and fix it. I was curious to see what the final cost was to me. I hated to look but had to put some numbers down on paper. You guessed it ... Since trading the FJ in October I have spent more than the $3,000 it would have cost me to fix the first FJ.

I never planned on trading that car until it broke. I'll not trade this one. The Toyota FJ is the best vehicle I have own, plus that Z4 that is driven only in good weather. I forgot to mention they gave me more for the trade in value of the Mini Cooper than what I paid for it in December. I also paid $500 less for this FJ with the same miles as my first one I bought in May 2014.

Also you might have noticed I never changed the truck plate when I traded for the Mini. It was allowed to be used on the Mini because BMV classified it as a 'wagon' but I was pretty sure I'd be using that plate again on a different FJ ... a lot of readers probably did also.  LOL

If you read this far you are to be commended. For the first time since I traded for my first FJ in May 2014 I have not had on iota of buyers remorse about this latest car deal. Things feel back to normal with an FJ back in the driveway.

NEVER a dull moment here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana ... LOL

The Hounds Slept Through The Afternoon

I can't tell you just how fast our afternoon went. The only thing different than yesterday, was that I stayed awake all afternoon ... but hounds didn't. Stella slept next to my chair, Sadie moved to the bedroom on her dog bed in the corner and Heidi went back to the floor next to the air condition register right after her lunch break.

I spent all afternoon looking at Toyota FJ's on cars.com When I didn't find anything I liked within a 250 mile range, I move moved it out to "all" ... nationwide. That would increase my chances of finding the one with all the TRD options I had before but less chance of buying one because I wouldn't travel that far to buy one. It listed 296 for sale but only 2 of them had TRD options.

At lunch, Sadie never got further than the 6 blocks before she turned around and walked toward the door. It wasn't even raining, no thunder, just a lack of interest.

I couldn't find Heidi in the front yard nor the backyard ... I walked all the way in front of the house to find her on the north side where the overcast skies made it even darker under the shade of the trees.

I spoke recently of 'ground surge' ... here is a fine example. 20 years ago this water meter was sitting at ground level with the top of the lid so exposed I would have to mow around it. So my whole front yard has slid toward the highway gradually.

I spent so much time on the computer today looking at cars I needed a break. My Garmin VivoSmart3 told me numerous times to "MOVE" but I kept ignoring that vibrating warning and the word covering my screen on my wrist. By 4:30pm I was ready for a walk myself and was pretty sure that Stella and Sadie would want to go with me.

While Sadie moved along the edge of the woods like always, Stella once again tried to sneak off toward the neighbor's wooded area. She will ignore my calls at first and then decide to join us.

These berries are looking good but they are not mine to pick. My neighbor who owns the field will take his wife with him on their ATV and pick them in a few weeks. I bet they make some great pies.

Sadie and I were so involved with our walk after making the first turn, we did not realize that AGAIN ... Stella tried to sneak over to that wooded area. Once she heard me yell her name she turned and walked toward us. I guess I should let her go so she will get it out of her system. She has disappeared into that woods only once when she saw the large blonde cat.

She trotted a little again this afternoon. The temperature is much cooler today, mid 70's but the humidity is up and it feels just as sticky outside if not a little more than yesterday ... it's tempting to open the windows but the AC feels awfully good when we step in the house after being outside.

Like I have said before ... I like every car or truck I've ever owned and wished I had them all. I like those FJ's but have also thought about a Toyota Tacoma Dbl Cab ... they tow 6,500 pounds. If I didn't care a lot about towing I'd take a serious look at this 2008 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara I saw online today. It's on the same car lot where I bought my blue FJ. Yet, that jeep only tows 3,500 pounds.

I like what I have though and don't really want to trade the Countryman. I don't want to sell the Z4 either ... so really nothing will be done, I just like to look. It's the same way when I look at houses for sale.

I'll tune into the MLB All-Star game after the game starts ... that will be 10-15 minutes after it comes on tv I guess. I hate all the pregame glitz they have to have so I'll leave the tv off during that time.

I am not sure if Heidi is going to walk in the field again. I thought she'd be interested once they cut it but anymore when I ask her if she wants to walk with us, all she does is roll over to get her belly rubbed. She has no interest in going outside to walk.

Another quiet afternoon here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana today.

To The Hounds Everyday Is A Holiday

I knew when I retired in April 2014 that my life would not change much from a weekend routine if I stayed where I have lived now for 20 years. Traveling was an option, but I did not have my answer about traveling with hounds until after our trip in June 2015. What I did not know was that I would become more like the life of a 'hound' ... it's not bad really ... stress free, relaxing and no schedules.

You might tell from the opening paragraph I am in the mood to do a little rambling about life in general here in the tropics, minus political or religious talk. Commentary will not go with this morning's pictures of our walk. I will warn you that Heidi is not photo available since her new love is the air conditioned living room while setting records for continuous sleep on the couch. She gets up only to eat and drink water.

With a little rain scheduled for tomorrow, which may or may not happen based on recent forecast, the yard will be mowed today no matter what. With the new Indiana state laws starting July 1 I was happy to follow one of their newest laws ... an additional 10 cent tax per gallon of gas. Luckily I was filling up a small can for my lawn mower and not my cars. The Countryman was filled up on Friday at 12 cents per gallon lower than today.

Indiana may only have 3.5% income tax but they don't miss a beat on that 7% sales tax. I've paid higher in other places I have lived but Indiana taxes everything imaginable and I'm guessing that is why the state has billions of dollars in their accounts. Still I live in a low cost area, so it all evens out.

In the above picture Sadie was positive she was inches away from finding a deer. Stella trotted behind her but never got into the full running mode like Sadie did all over the field.

After looking at past blog posts for this time of year in past years I realized that July 4th weekend was no different this year than in past years, even before I started blogging. I can't remember being into parades, crowds or carnivals even at a young age. I might have been forced to go to them at an very young age but my mind was somewhere else ... most likely the ballgame I was missing on the radio or tv.

So the hounds and I are more than content to sit outside with a large glass of ice tea watching traffic go by with a highway full of camping trailers, boats and a few dangerous drivers that you hope they get back on the road before mowing down your mailbox. I am out of the hole digging business just so I can plant a new pole to mount a new mailbox on ... 99.9% of my mail now is just recycling material.

I am an addict with no possible help when it comes to college basketball and college football. Yet, I cannot remember the last time I watched a complete NBA game. I watched part of their Game 7 but not all of it. I do like to follow what certain players are doing ... so this week has been rather eye opening since they started their free agent signing period.

I'll not go into detail but in summary, when a player that I never heard of in college, is only a role player in the NBA and doesn't score much more than 5 points per game ... is signing for 8-10 million per year ... something is out of whack. The stars of the league are signing for $20-40M per year ... when does it tap out?

If I count my neighbors in a half mile radius there are 7-8 houses. All of the owners living in those house drive a pickup truck as their main vehicle. I live in the land of pickup trucks. That got me thinking the other day just how versatile a pickup is. I should have never sold my 1994 Chevy V-8 with the heavy duty shocks and springs for towing. It was not driven much but was always there when I needed to bring home some landscaping mulch, river rock or building supplies from Lowes or Home Depot.

Like I have said recently I am very happy with the Mini Cooper Countryman. It has done all I expected it to do plus more. It's very comfortable over long distance and since it's bigger (800#) than the smaller 2-door coupes, it does not have the 'go-kart' feel to it. So, I really don't have any intentions of make a trade for any kind of vehicle right now. Once the hounds pass on and I decide how I want to travel, I will decide what vehicle I will use.

Stella does not do full speed runs like she use to. She has been trotting more these past few days but I was pretty sure I saw her flinch a couple of times over the weekend when she started to trot.  The vet approved  of me giving her 700mg of buffered aspirin in her food twice per day, based on her weight. We will see if that works instead of moving on to something stronger.

She stopped this morning to sit and face the neighbor's house with the pool. No one was out swimming that time of morning, nor were they bbq'ing but she was smelling something ... I was wondering what they were preparing for a possible cookout later today or tomorrow ... Stella can smell food a mile away even while sleeping.

Once I yelled at her "come on let's go" ... she started the slow walk to the house. She is on her own time, not mine. The great news today though was how she did NOT tear out the window screens while I left her and Sadie in the bedroom when I went to town to buy gas and dog food.

I FORGOT to close the windows to prevent her from tearing out the screens and jumping out the window like she did twice in past years. I did not realize I had forgot to close the windows until I opened the door to let them out when I got back. It was fantastic to see that I still had window screens.

It's been around 7 months since she had any kind of separation anxiety and damaged anything. I wonder if she had figured out she is okay and I'll be back since, she has lived her 2 years this August.

The weekend was very relaxing, no drama, hot but not so much where you couldn't go outside and the humidity was a low 64%. I don't know where the gnats or other flying bugs went but I am happy that I can sit outside and read without battling bugs ... plus I can see where the hounds are as they roam the field.

Sadie turned to look this morning to see if Stella was going to make it back to the yard sometime before lunch. She too cannot understand the slow pace of Stella but will aways wait for her to catch up.

Notice the dark spots on each leg where Sadie licks. Is it seasonal allergies? She seems to do that more in the summer and spring compared to the fall and winter months.

I guess the highlight of today will be mowing the yard. That will get my pulse rate near 170 even if I am not panting or out of breath. It will be a good 47 minute workout.

The Garmin VivoSmart3 has done exactly what I wanted plus a couple of features I had not counted on. It's very accurate about my sleep patterns, right down to the very minute I lay down to sleep at night to getting up. I guess I am not the deep sleeper I thought I was as I only get 1-2 hours per night of deep sleep.

With the combination of the Garmin, no fast food runs or junk food, and Sadie dragging me outside for 3 walks per day ... I lost 5 pounds in June, an inch around my stomach and 3mm of fat pinched between the calipers. I am a couple of pounds away from the weight I was 18 years ago.

I've also been doing some low effort bicycling both on my mountain bike rides to town and my road bike out into the country at a faster pace. Still not anywhere close to what I use to do but enough to get the pulse rate up.

I'm sure there were other things I was going to talk about but have forgotten them.

I'll have to get on Google search later on and find out how to adjust my exposure setting on my Nikon camera. It does talk about 'exposure' in my owners manual but nothing shows me where and how to adjust it. {Found it and adjusted the exposure compensation to -3}.

I am not sure why but comparing my photos to those I took the first week I owned the camera ... there are major differences in quality. Those pictures taken when I first bought my camera were so much better in color and depth.

Oh, I did find out from another Countryman owner on the Mini forum that our black cars with the red mirror covers, JCW inserts on the sides and red brake intakes ... were an option that came out for the 2012 model (my year) and still available on his 2016 model. I might have the dealership or a local body shop install the stock red stripes again. Not sure.

I'm off to mow the yard while the hounds sleep until their lunch.

Still great weather here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

We were out soon after 8am. I would have been drenched with water/dew if the field had not been cut. I still feel small droplets of water coming off my hiking boots with each step. Cool enough to wear a sweatshirt ... but the hounds were "noses to the ground".

While Sadie started chasing swallows almost immediately, Stella was more interested in finding supplements to her diet with hopes I wouldn't catch her soon enough. The word "no" was used a lot this morning for both hounds and each time their findings were dropped to the ground.

That didn't mean they couldn't exercise their noses. There was plenty of time and plenty of field to do that. We walked a little further today along the back side to keep everyone within the cut path so we would not mess up the piled rows that they will rake later before baling.

With the yard mowed yesterday and the forecasted rain blowing out for another few days replaced by sunshine today I wasn't sure what plans I had for today. It looked like the chances of rain were slim for this afternoon but very good later tonight after midnight.

I had a lot more weeds to cut along the driveway bank. I did that until my battery ran out of juice. I did take the Z4 out for another drive of about 50 miles.

This morning we walked by the electrical tower to the woods on the north side. Here is a picture from an angle never seen before. I am standing at the far NE corner of the field, the tall tower would be to the left. Looking back toward the house you can see just how much incline there is to the middle of the field.

I look for them to rake and start baling late this afternoon. Once that is done that will put us back on our regular path which can be seen since it's a darker green.

It is funny how excited they get when we get ready to head out for these two or three walks per day because when they get back home, all of them are in a deep sleep with ten minutes.

Today wasn't much different than yesterday afternoon, except less sporting events to watch. So I spent most of the day outside reading a couple of books. There were no bugs or gnats to bother me, Sadie and Stella enjoyed roaming the field even after two hound walk.

I thought the way Heidi jumped off the couch that she was going on with noon walk with us. She was only needing a place to lay outside under the sunshine while Sadie, Stella and I took our walk.

With all of them outside it was time to cut their nails and brush them. All three of them were very cooperative in the nail trimming expedition so they were awarded peanut flavored bone treats afterwards.

I remember how nice it was to walk around 8:15pm last night so we are going to wait until then for our 3rd walk of the day.

I found out a couple of things concerning my 2012 Mini Cooper S Countryman and the slowness I had with Google Chrome. I always suspected a previous owner had added those red stripes, stock design, to make it look like the model above what it actually was. If you remember I took all of the red striping on the car off in March.

These side panels were a dead giveaway because of the "John Cooper Works" side panel, plus the front bumper and by a couple of other features I knew that this was not a John Cooper Works model. That would make it sportier, a little more horsepower and worth more.

Did they change out these side panels, add red mirrors and the red inlets in the front grill and the stock red stripes to make more on the trade-in value or just because they wanted that model?

I found out the true specs of the car last night as I was curious enough to find a decoder that could break down the VIN in detail. In that description it stated the car came with black mirrors ("outside mirrors same color as car") and the HP was for the Sport model that I have, not the John Cooper Works model.

I was also suspicious at times when I looked in Google Images for my car and I could not find the model with the stock red stripes with a black roof. That model of car always had a red roof, along with red mirrors and red grill intakes.

I am going to buy the stock side panels for the "S" model that I have and still try to find some black mirrors to replace the red ones, taking the car back to it's stock description. Those black mirrors are hard to find, even used ones for sale.

I mentioned the other day I was having problems with Google Chrome when using blogger. I tried something this morning because the only recent change I had made was adding the "Pocket" app. That gives you the ability to save a website into Pocket so you can read it offline. It's a great feature for those using laptops yet is a standard option with the Safari browser.

It was a pretty quiet day in retirement here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.