I have not been working on cars for a few weeks, so today's post brings to light what has been distracting my time. This may be the last post for a while as I have absolutely run out of old material to post and the distractions are hardly post-worthy. We have a road trip late this summer, so I'll post on that when we get back. So, this break may be only a few weeks.
T Changes
If you remember a post from October of 2018 (See Let's See), Boo and I bought a house in Eugene. T moved in around Labor Day that summer, and lived there with different friends while they all did the university thing. Well, classes come and go, and before long people are graduating. Now, T is preparing to relocate to Los Angeles for music school. We are, of course, very excited for him ( and a little CoViD-fearful), but that leaves us with a now-vacant house in a college town where the school will be closed to in-person classes in the Fall. Or, at least we expect it to be.
Eugene
If you are not familiar with the city of Eugene Oregon, it is super-chill. The house is in the Friendly neighborhood, which isn't exactly close to University of Oregon, but it is a great neighborhood all the same. It's walk-able to food carts and shops, etc but unlike the greater Portland area, even the "busy" streets can be empty of cars for minutes at a time in the middle of the day. That's quiet.
House
So, this house was in amazing shape, albeit dated, when we bought it. Since I spent all of my savings on the down-payment, I had nothing left for any updating, but it was solid, so we left it be while the students lived there. When I say solid, this place is 50 years old and there is not a single squeak in the floors, the windows and doors all work easily, etc. Contrasted to the house we live in, which is half as old, there are all kinds of squeaks and the windows don't work all that great. Now, 2 years later, that delayed maintenance on the Eugene house is needed. The carpet, while top-end and nice when it was installed, looked to be from the early 70's; we concluded that it was the original carpet. The walls needed paint. The yard needed a clean up. Etc etc etc.
I re-allocated the vacation time that I had set up for now-cancelled music festivals to instead be used for a week in Eugene working on the house. Even after a week there, its not done. So, while I thought there would be a lengthy pause in interesting blog content because I would be sanding the Zed for weeks on end, instead there will be a healthy pause because I'm driving to and from Eugene on the weekends to get a house all tidied up.... to rent out, presumably. The challenge with that is in the current economic climate, and the low housing demand due to the closed university, I don't know if I can even find a renter after I put all this work into it. I realize that of all the problems in the world, this is so far into the first-world-problem definition, some folks might be offended by my concerns about a second home when they are having trouble simply paying rent and staying fed. I am not insensitive to that, honest. I'm just writing about where I'm at, and why there won't be regular updates while I finish this house, and then get back to Zed's paint prep.
Car Content
For today's obligatory car content, C has acquired a car for himself. He and I came to an agreement ($1000US) on the Zed, so it is now mine to complete. With those funds plus his own considerable savings, he bought a 2006 Subaru. It is not a turbo, but it has pep and a stereo that seriously cranks. Now, he has a nicer car than Boo either or me, and it is 100% paid for. Nice job, C. It looks as though he will be moving into his own place at the end of the summer, so more moving kids, more parental helping kids move.
So, I guess that's it. I'll be completing that house stuff this month, taking a road trip later and then shifting back to the Zed after Labor Day. I would love for the Zed to be on the other side of paint before the weather turns in mid-October. I expect I will be trying to finish it as the rains return, however. As always, thanks for following along, and if you know someone groovy who is looking for a place in Eugene, I'd love to meet him/her/them.
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