Yes, it’s true. Our vehicles have always been jealous of the time we spend with “the other vehicle.” We can tell. Wesley, the newer car, has been getting all our maintenance attention for the past few days as we pull together parts and get to work on his transmission. There couldn’t be a worse time for Buttercup to hiccup than now. So, of course, who isn’t starting? Who has always been amazingly reliable but now has decided to flip-out and not start? Yes, that would be our dear old girl, Buttercup. David got in the car this morning to go to the North Island hobby shop to do a couple things for Wesley even though it is cold, wet, and miserable. And, Buttercup started, went 30 feet, and then said “I’m done for the day.”

David and a passing boat owner pushed Buttercup back into a parking spot. And, here we sit, warm and dry inside Mahdee looking out at the wet and cold surroundings and wondering when David will be able to get some test leads onto Buttercup to trace her problem. Somehow it doesn’t seem right in the pouring rain. She’s not a finicky car that gives us problems in wet weather. However, she KNEW we were dependent upon her and she has taken advantage of the situation. All the engine tools are sitting in Wesley. All toolboxes, everything. It’s all a couple miles away at the hobby shop. So, we hope there’s not much wrong since it will have to be fixed with our woodworking tools, a screw driver and a dental pick.

It is the perfect excuse, says David, for sitting inside and doing…nothing. This, I totally agree with him on. We have shore power. So we’re downloading Debian updates for one of the computers, doing laundry, and eating various munchies while we watch the winds whip the furled jibs of neighboring boats and the dockmaster scramble to deal with it.

I wonder what tomorrow will hold.