Black Betty!

Woooah Black Betty, Bam-a-Lam. Wooah Black Betty Bam-a-Lam.

This song is probably one of my favorites. I have no real deep meaning for it, don't even really know of Ram Jam (the artists), I just like to jam out to it. It all started in High School I heard it at a party and fell in love.

Back then I drove a two-tone brown 1986 full size Ford Bronco, a real winner! Her name was Brown Betty... obviously she wasn't black. My next vehicle I acquired in 2002, a 1996 Dodge Ram 1500. She didn't really have a name, good truck, liked the gasoline though. Decided to head to K-State, so I needed something a little more reliable & economic. I went the only place I know for a good VW, BOULDER, to check out a diesel Jetta. Bummer was payments were too high, but I was on a car buying high, so I settled for a 2005 Jetta. Don't get me wrong she was a good little car... when she wanted to be. I had quite a few warranty issues with her, Ole Jetta, was her name. One time Ole Jetta locked me out, completely shut down & someone from Topeka VW had to come tow her. In 2010, approximately 135,000 miles in, I had to put a new motor in her. Now, I am not really a low-to-the-ground car person. I am a get muddy, high up, 4x4 gal! Always have been, always will be.

While I was in the hospital Ole Jetta went down another road, so on August 26th I came across a 1995 Jeep Wrangler that I fell in love with... & was a good price. She's a little rusty, a little oxidized, a little squeaky, & a little rattly, but hey that's why I'm dating a mechanic ;). One would think being born & raised by a grease monkey I would have picked up some skills of some kind... nope. I was usually being called into the shop for, "hey! hand me that wrench!" or "hold the light....still!" Dad has attempted to show me things I just don't retain part identification or what that sound really means knowledge. I have over the years learned how to change a tire (a necessity in the jetta-she had a TON of flats!), and change the oil. Who knows maybe Paul is the teacher I really need with this Jeep.

I LOVE the fact that I am off the ground again, even if I currently have to hold my driver's side door shut... I'm waiting on a part that's busted. I also LOVE the fact that she is black... her name:

BLACK BETTY!

WOW! .... it's been a while

Soo..... Haven't done much writing. Did I mention I don't have internet at my house so the only time I have with the world wide web is either after work, a friends house, or in a library. (yippee!).

Anywho... a little update on what's been going on since the end of Feburary:

- March:

• Went home to Colorado! only upon arriving the Ole Jetta broke down once again! At first we thought it was just the replaced $320 radiator fan. Meanwhile, I barrowed my dad's bald tired ford to go up to meet some fellow Kansans in Breck to get in a little snowboarding. Boarding was fun. Our last night we all went out on the town, a little basement bar for some pool'n beer, we ran into some fellow KSU alumni. Then we strolled up to an Absinthe bar for some $9 swiss absinthe shots. Oh, the drive home was just as eventful. Bald tires + slush + incline = spin out = on shoulder, with traffic, attempiting to put on chains (the 1st time ever). Succeeded after an hour or so of freezing my hands off. 50 yards later threw a chain! So repeat. Finally, on and rolling.... SLOWLY. I just stuck behind a semi, & left them on all the way down the mountain. Once out, stopped took off chains an& had breakfast at a truckstop diner. I was pretty shaken up. Eventually, made it home. After checking in with dad, he informed me that now my car wouldn't start. We took it to the foreign guy in Niwot. When we went to pick it up the technition informed us that it would be $5500 to fix.... I walked out in tears & had to calm down. Turns out VWs, Audi's, & beamers' books all say to change your oil at 10,000-15,000 miles. So, I broke my own 3,000mile rule & did what the book said. What a bunch of Crap!! The tech said to ignore that, no matter what you should be changing at the latest 6,500miles! So, my car could've ranged from just skipping time to busting rods. Well, the ole jetta was staying in CO. Rental Kansas bound, sporting a classy pearl PT Cruiser :p

• In KS, I have some great friends... One that lent me her car for the time being.
• Oh, I'm working a 2nd job!!! A liquor store.... it was an easy catch, because I have "prior experience!" It was a have too. I'm out of a Powell trip AND have a car to fix. Oh well, at least I get a discount :).... I'm dabbling in more microbrews, recently I suggest the Saranac's Summer brew - De-lish!

- April

• Mainly work!
• A little CatFishing!!

• Found out my car had the worse case scenario. F'd up all the rods! So, dropping the dough for a new motor was in call for. I compared just buying a new vehicle but I just don't have the resources. Dad's motor guy found a new-ish motor. So, I will be driving the ole jetta into the ground!

-May

• First weekend, Greyhounded it home to CO. Whew! there are some different folks who ride the bus. Left round 10am, got into Denver round 8pm. The whole family was at the bus stop waiting! They had fun people watching. Then we all loaded into my brothers "redneck" truck and drove around downtown denver trying to find a place to eat. Mexican it was, with Margaritas!! So, the drive out was even better with a drunk backseat driver mom!:) Next day I was back in KS with the ole jetta.
• End of the month back in CO!! For little sis' graduation!! The drive home kinda sucked, AC is busted in the Jetta.... ugh!
• Anywho, that friday back I took Tess to get her first tat! haha with out telling mom! I made her go first (b/c we got matching ones). It was HILARIOUS!! quote, "it feels like I'm having a baby out of my foot!" like she knows what that feels like ;). When we got home I asked mom how her mood was... she responds by asking me if I was pregnant, then if Tess is pregnant, then if I got another tattoo... ha I responded "you should ask your other daughter" She flipped! Then thought it was cool. I drew up our last name in our old trucking font & added a paw & hoof, because that's what Tess & I are all about... cats/dogs & livestock!!!
  
  That night Cory, Dad & I put on the hog... a 266lb gilt!! yeah, mom took in a 300 some lb pig!! That female barely fit in the roaster or truck bed for that matter. She needed 15hours of cooking. I ended up falling asleep in the shop.
• Next day was a burner of a graduation, I swear they're getting longer & longer! than the Par-Tay! A lot of old family friends showed up which was nice.

• Rest of the time home, went fishing & 4-wheeling (my fav!!!) & hit up Estes park like a bunch of tourists. Had to stop at my favorite place.... THE TAFFY SHOP!

-June

• So far not much. Just lots of rain!!! I floated my car a couple times. I need to remember the rule... something about can't see don't attempt you'll drown (It's some rhyme that I can't think of).

The Ole Jetta Journal

Here lately my Jetta, Ole Jetta, as I call her, has been playing a bigger role in my life. She plays a big one as is, driving me to Topeka (50min) every day & back. When that trek has added obstacles like snow, drifts, fog, rain, ice, gravel, cows, etc, her theme song would be, "I think I can, I think I can." It doesn't help that when you give a 4x4 country girl a car she's going to put it to the test! Here's an example. I had to work xmas this year (note: I work w/animals so obviously they NEED fed, & I'll be darned if I don't make it) & this year there was a snowstorm working its way over. So, I knew to get up an hour earlier & think ahead (b/c I live in the country so I have to contemplate, "okay which roads will be plowed, pavement or gravel, wind blocks, snow drifts, etc") That morning I went with the most pavement, b/c surely it had to be plowed. Well, a couple yards into the asphalt I knew a plow hadn't touched it yet. All I had to do was get around some S curves then onto the next road (which I thought would be better). Over the curves, I pet Ole Jetta as we floated across the drifts..."just a little further, come on, come on" if I would've stopped at all that would've bee the end. We made it to the T... just 7 more miles till hwy99..."We can do this!" If you had never traveled Zeandale rd you wouldn't have know what was road & what was field, but we made it, barely. There were some big drifts forming so I just held my breath & plowed through them. 99 was alright, then onto 70. It was okay too! Then I got into Topeka.... Have they ever heard of plows!? Their streets were horrible & of course the roads to my work weren't "plowing priority." On top of it all the plow had pushed all the extra snow in front of the front gates, I gunned it .... made it. Only to find out there were only 9 (out of 14) that made it in.... great day! :p

Any who, for the drive home I opted for the same way, after all we made it, plus surely the plows will have gone over it by then. Topeka was still a mess, 70 was good, 99 was fair, Zeandale road was..... I get a half mile in & half the rd is drifted! A truck heads toward me, and I'm the one who has to move over! Check! okay next S curve, First part a little drifty. Second part, half drifty so I stay to the outside, cruise in 2nd, then..... slide & STUCK! "Are you kidding me? After all I had been through? & only 9 miles from home!" No damsel in distress act for me, I was too tired, too pissed off, too strung out for that crap. I called Jorge, he's at home with busted 4wheel drive but heads my way. So, I bundle up, grab the ice scraper, push open the door. Ole Jetta was buried up past the frame in a drift! I begin digging... 2 cars drive by with out stopping "Really?! on Christmas!" Another comes by & says "well, if you're still here in a few I'll come back" (Thanks buddy!). Then I see a durmax come up, a farm kid! He gets his dad & returns with tow-strap in hand! As they were hooking up, Jorge shows up, then the plow drives by..... embarrassing to say the least. We yank her out & leave her at the farm kid's dad's house in Wabaunsee b/c there was no way I was making it home. That night I enjoyed xmas dinner with a stout vodka n schnapps martini! Next morning work beckoned .... again. So, Jorge took me to Ole Jetta. He escorted me past the snowy spots & I made it! Then a day off! whew!

That's not the end..... last week I was headed out to find a part-time job. Going around one of those S curves (note: I like to be Mario Andrettie), well I slid on some gravel into a stout little T-post just 1 foot off the road! Clipped my mirror which knocked out my passenger window. Then proceeded to dent my rear door, wheel, hubcap, fender, & bumper! UGH!! Took her to the shop.... $4000 n some dollars!! Holy Crow!! thank gosh for insurance! So, Yesterday I dropped her off to get all nip/tucked. Now, I'm riding a Hyundai SanteFe, which for a foreign it's pretty nice.... xm radio! Basically, I'm getting spoiled.

Hopefully, the rest of the year Ole Jetta and I will have a low key time!