Last Friday Kaitlin sent this picture of Banshee (on the left) and Sammy (on the right) riding in their new car, a Honda Element. The car was bought for them and they clearly appreciate it.
Kaitlin took and sent the picture using her iPhone while riding to Ann Arbor, Michigan from the Chicago area. The four of them, including Torben, make the drive every weekend when there is a home game for the University of Michigan. His family lives in Ann Arbor, and they’re all loyal Michigan fans.
So why the new car for the dogs? They had been making the trip in their hybrid Honda Civic, which has great gas mileage but is a crowded for the dogs. They wanted to wait to buy a bigger car, but Banshee became deathly ill a few weeks before the first game this season and had to have extensive surgery…she lost part of her pancreas, stomach and intestines and the vet thought she was going to die. But she’s a tough lady and seems to have recovered. Because of her wounds she couldn’t make the drive (five hours or more each way) in the crowded Civic. It was a matter of renting a bigger car for the games, or buying a new car now.
So the Saturday before the opening game I received a phone call from Kaitlin. She and Torben were getting lunch before deciding which car to buy. They had narrowed it down to the Honda CVR and the Honda Element. They were having trouble deciding so she phoned to get a different perspective. Kaitlin told me the pros and cons of each: the CRV had slightly better gas mileage and looked a lot nicer but it wasn’t as roomy. So, wonders of modern technology, she had me go to the Honda website and look at both models. The available CRV was dark blue, the Element gray, and the site let me pick the color of each car. I brought each one up in its own window and switched back and forth while we talked about it. The more we talked the more clear the answer became… they were buying the car for Sammy and Banshee and the visibility and extra room in the Element made it the better choice.
Families can be expensive, but as you can see from Sammy and Banshee’s picture, they can also be priceless. 🙂 I was grateful that Kaitlin included me in the discussion. She’s an extremely capable woman, and it was generous of her to share the process. It’s another way of keeping connected and building family memories. Thank you, Kaitlin!
A couple of years ago we were faced with a similar dilemma. Ali, our aging dog, was not able to make the trip to visit our son and daughter-in-law in the Oldsmobile, “emphasis on old”, prompting us to buy a more appropriate means of transportation. We settled on a small SUV and after the first trip the kids announced that they were transferring from the university they were attending to one nearby so they could be closer to family.
The things we do for the four legged members of the family.
Namaste
.-= Roger´s last blog ..Missing Your Dreams =-.
We bought a CRV back in 2004 when looking for a vehicle that my wife would be able to load her mom’s wheelchair into fairly easily when she when to visit her, if I wasn’t along. When we bought our motorhome last year, it turned out that the CRV was a perfect fit, because it could be towed all four wheels on the ground without any special modifications except connections for the tow bar. Whenever it gets too old, we’ll probably be looking at another CRV first.
.-= Mike´s last blog ..Elk along the Madison =-.
Roger,
I have a feeling that your attitude toward the four-legged member of your family has a lot to do with your kids transferring to be closer to you. 😉 My daughter is a few thousand miles away, but we’re still close as a family.
Mike,
I was taken by the CRVs a few years ago when we were car shopping. It didn’t quite work for us, but I can see why you chose it.
Kaitlin and I are slightly more partial to the Element because it reminds us of the first new car we bought as a family, a Fiat. It also had a boxy look and had great visibility. We bought it when she was 5 years old and we loved it. She still has the license plates.
Oh how I love this post. I feel like I had a part in the choice too. (not really but pretending) Aren’t email, Internet & cheap long distance phone costs wonderful?
Namaste
(India Hindi word- Tried to look it up but no results. Is good though. Fold your hands in front of your chin & even better.)
bikehikebabe,
Yes, it was great to be able to participate in the conversation. 🙂
From the web:
Namaste, Namaskara or Namaskaram (Sanskrit: ??????, Hindustani pronunciation: [n?m?s?te?], from external sandhi between nama? and te) is a common spoken greeting or salutation in South Asia. It is derived from Hinduism, and, in India and Nepal, it has multi-religious or else common usage where it may simply mean “I bow to you.” In religious formulation, the meaning can be explained as:
* “I bow to that inherent in you” (That refers to divinity, or “that which is divine”.)
* “I respect divinity within you that is also within me.”
* “The light within me honors the light within you.” (in yoga)
The question marks are non-English characters. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namaste
Jean, Namaste.
.-= Rummuser´s last blog ..Crank’s Ridge =-.
Rummuser,
And Namaste to you, dear friend.
Wow! Pieces come together. When Conan (Tonight Show) folds his hands & bows, after introducing certain guests, he’s doing the Namaste, I bow to you thing.
Rummuser, you are so funny. I’ll come visit you in your hut at the corner of Sandeep’s estate near Crank’s Ridge.
bikehikbabe,
I love it when pieces come together too. That’s why I poke around so much when I don’t understand something. It’s a giant jigsaw puzzle. 🙂
Namaste from India! Well, people can love their animals as much as family. I was reading a blogpost this morning by a writer who lost her beloved dog and it was heartrending. The blog is Jan Mader’s ignitetowrite.blogspot.com and one can get into her animal blog from that site by clicking on the link. Right at the top of her second blog there is a linked post entitled ‘My Heart Hurts – Kelly is Gone’ and I clicked on the link and I’m telling you, it was so moving. So if the choice of car is motivated by the comfort level of the animals, I can well believe it!
.-= gaelikaa´s last blog ..Lost in Space! =-.
gaelikaa,
Thank you for the link. The piece touched my heart too.
We’re afraid this could happen to Banshee soon because they don’t know what was wrong with her. All the more reason to get the car now, while she can still enjoy it. I will let you all know if she has another attack.
gaelikaa, I read your blog… Lost in Space. I wasn’t able to add a comment & what I say wouldn’t go well in India either.
Get out of that household. You have high blood pressure & it seems you aren’t with your husband a lot, if he gets home at 11 PM. Have your own dwelling in India or get Yash to be a professor in Ireland.
I know it’s not good to give unasked for advice, but I needed to tell you.
got a bit behind with your posts/pages Jean…life at the coalface just got a tad busier.
this last week I had a ‘short answer test’ mostly on vocab to do with Geography/E. Asia. The night before it I thought, I had completely lost it so the next morning I dashed into Uni and with the aid of the past 5yrs of questions I worked through the most common recurring and made a a couple of sheets of answers.
Most of the questions were in the range of ‘give 3-5 reason why xyz’…I still thought I might not be on-to-it!
Anyway, the sheet was laid in front of me (my writer had hers) and Q1 was not one of my ‘samples’ so it got left until later! At the end of the my answering ‘we went back to Q1 and Q11’
Q1 suggested only one thing – something to do with religion in Tibet so I said something like. Early religions in Tibet and Burma. I had no idea on Burma-bit but it sounded good.
Q11 completely stumped me and I remembered something Hong-key said about the test “I will know if you have guessed…so if you don’t know leave it blank” – and that is what I did!
My writer, said she thought I had done pretty well; she remembered doing a previous test for someone else. Time will tell. Each of the 20 questions worth 5 marks each.
I’ve a joint-presentation this coming Monday…the other student has no time to face2face so it’s emailing. I split the reading down the middle and suggested she did the first 6pages and me the last. Then after that I have to write a 1500 word essay on the matter (hand in 14days later)
I’ve a 2000 word essay due this coming week as well…but it’s nearly done!
Next Frid/sat/sun I’m away at a retreat with a bunch of other women – craft thing but you can do whatever you like. Breakfast, morning/arvo tea, lunch & dinner daily with it all prepared and washed up by the staff. Just need to manage the bedding!
I’ve still got other essays in the pipeline and a powerpoint presentation but pretty soon I will be wandering around doing not much for 3.1/2months Summer holidays! 🙂
.-= Cathy in NZ´s last blog ..You never know what’s in a trademans’ toolbox =-.
When we were buying our newish car, I expressed my concern that Murphy wouldn’t be able to get in. The very laid-back salesman handed the keys over and said, “You won’t know unless you try it.”
I smile whenever I glance in the rearview mirror & see Murphy sitting there so regally.
I agree. “Priceless.”
.-= Marianna Paulson´s last blog ..Welcome Home =-.
Cathy in NZ, I love to read about you, on the other side of the world. As you go into summer, I go into winter. The Uni work is complicated. Great you can still do it!
Knowing my fondness for dogs, I was just offered a four year old dalmation by a friend, whose family are fully occupied with the friend’s, thrice weekly dialysis and attendant problems with his health. I was very tempted as I know the dog well, till I realized that my days of caring for a pet are gone. In the meanwhile, my son Ranjan has joined up with the local stray animal welfare group and has been attending classes on first aid to animals. He has been advised to take anti rabbis vaccination and he will take one tomorrow. When I told him about the offer he wanted to take the dog but on my telling him that he will have to take full responsibility including exercise, feeding, medical care etc, he balked.
The problem with pets is that we start keeping them and end up being kept by them. I have had my share of those experiences, and do not want to have them again.
.-= Rummuser´s last blog ..Suzen’s Comments And My Inspiration. =-.
I was playing online Scribble last night with a lass from Indianpolis and it was 9.45pm here and 6am there – Friday for both of us! The Net does away with ‘time’ as such…and if you’ve up when you get an email/message from somewhere far away it’s even ‘closer’ eh 🙂
.-= Cathy in NZ´s last blog ..You never know what’s in a trademans’ toolbox =-.
Cathy,
Good Lord! It makes me tired just thinking about all you have to do. Good luck!
That must be fun to do something in real time with someone so far away. The new technology is mind-boggling.
Marianna,
Thank you for the image of Murphy sitting regally. It warms my heart. 🙂
Rummuser,
That’s too bad that Ranjan didn’t want the responsibility. I don’t blame him but it would have been nice for you. You already have plenty of responsibility and it would have been nice to enjoy the dog without an added burden.
bikehikebabe,
I agree, it is fun to be connecting with someone in the southern hemisphere.
I got tired just looking at it as well, Jean! So tired that I was in bed early last night and I struggled to get up this morning (Saturday) to a point where I am still not officially dressed (now late arvo) I have just added layers of things.
At some point, I needed to go out to the letterbox and I didn’t wanna get properly dressed so I just made sure my dressing gown covered everything. Fortunately didn’t run into any neighbours 🙂 – no letters just junk post.
However, I haven’t been slacking @ word creation and reading of words. I’m doing a presentation of a Mao Zedong speech on Monday with another and we have been emailing back and forwards off and on all day!! It’s not a long speech, we each have 6pgs but what we don’t have all together yet is “who the listeners were?” “where exactly they were?” My books on the matter are in my locker @ Uni (which I will visit with tomorrow) when I feel like getting dressed!!!
I remember back in 1997 when I got on-line the incredulous emails from people in the Northern Hemisphere who couldn’t believe I was here :-). Of back then, Internet was much slower and the computers didn’t have all that they have now.
I look around me and marvel at the extra bits that just hook in/out – the USB drive has been a fabulous addition for me the student. I can do things at home and then just plug the little beastie into a machine elsewhere.
But on the other hand, if for some reason I foul up with ‘saving documents’ at Uni – I can access them from home by a ??system link. I did that last week – I thought I had lost the darn document, nope, I didn’t save it to the USB drive thingy 🙂 🙂 I saved to the Uni documents!
.-= Cathy in NZ´s last blog ..You never know what’s in a trademans’ toolbox =-.
Cathy,
Again, good luck! Thank you so much for taking the time to write. We love hearing what you’re doing.