I just realized I haven't written here since September! I just posted several photos on the Bumpus Farm page.  Slip over there and look around I guess I've spent more time on Facebook than I have here.  There is more interaction than on a blog.  I think I'll just post some non-farm photos and write more later.

Random photos

Just a few random photos in no particular order.

Ken Hackler

CHARLESTON — Kenneth E. Hackler, 56, of Charleston, passed away Wednesday, September 11, 2013.
His graveside funeral will be held at 1:00 p.m. Tuesday, September 17, 2013 at Baliff Cemetery, West York, Illinois, with Reverend Walter Carlson officiating. There will be no visitation. Arrangements: Harper-Swickard.
Kenneth was born August 21, 1957 at Colorado Springs, CO, son of George and Dorma (Thompson) Hackler. He married Sheila Wilkey, February 27, 2005; she preceded him in death, April 11, 2011. He is survived by a daughter, Kenica Fonner of Champaign, his parents, George and Dorma Hackler of Charleston, two brothers, Timothy Hackler and wife Karla Jean of Brooksville, FL and Mark Hackler and wife Tawnya of Olney, IL, and one sister, Karla Jo Hamilton and husband Barry of Sulphur, LA. Six nieces and nephews, as well as eight great-nieces and great-nephews also survive. He was preceded in death by his maternal and paternal grandparents, and one niece.
Kenneth attended Wesley United Methodist Church. He was a skilled carpenter. Kenneth loved all kinds of music, and was a gifted musician, especially on the guitar. He never met a stranger and was always the first person to offer help to anyone in need. Kenneth always had a smile on his face.

A disturbing realization

I made a disturbing realization this evening.  A young guy I know was trying to locate a mistake his 16 year old son had made.  Ignore that part of it, the mistake is irrelevant. Think about my perception of a young guy with a 16 year old son.

If I perceive mid-thirties as young, then that make me ... older.

I might have been him 20 years or so ago.

TRAINING! Training! Training!  We train so we don't have to think "WHAT DO I DO?????" in a SHTF situation. Then after it is over we evaluate what we did so we do it better next time.

Why am I harping on this?

We were coming home from a family reunion this afternoon. South of Chrisman I saw a car along the road up ahead and thought "Odd place to put a car for sale" But I had seen several along the road for sale today so another was not a surprise. Then the pickup ahead of us slammed on his brakes, the driver jumped out and ran toward the car I had seen. As we got closer I could see what appeared to be smoke above it. Then I realized it was dust from the car running of the road and flipping a time or two before landing on 3 wheels. The 4th wheel was broken off and laying closer to the field.

I stopped and went toward the car. I yelled to the pickup driver and asked if it had been called in yet? He said no, so I called 911. I told dispatch we had a single vehicle accident, the car had run of the road and rolled. We had two people involved and needed ambulance and police. She got every one in motion.

The driver and passenger both conscious and alert and getting themselves out of the car. The driver (late teens girls) was slightly hysterical. The passenger (her dad) was calm and collected. I asked if either were hurt? Both said they were OK.

I guided the driver toward the road and sat her down. The Dad came over beside her. I gave both a quick look over and saw only scratches and a bump on her head.

By now an off duty corrections officer and the folks from the house down the road arrived. Then an off duty Chrisman police officer arrived. He got on his phone to his dispatch and gave them more info. He then started evaluating the driver and I told him it was now his incident. I looked the car over for evidence of a fire, then went to the road to direct traffic.

Just a few minutes later Chrisman Fire and North Edgar Ambulance arrived on scene. I was very impressed with how they responded. They put C-collars on both and loaded them on backboards.

A second ambulance arrived and it became apparent I was not needed and not doing anyone any good. So I gave my info to the officer in charge and left.

Looking back at the incident I only see a couple things I should have done better. I should have made sure both patient's C-spine was stabilized. The other things were mostly minor, not getting a blanket from the car to set them on, getting name and other info from them. That was my biggest omission. And of course I was not in my vehicle with my trauma kit.

Why am I telling you all this? Not to make me look good, because I see definite areas I could have done better. I'm telling you this so you can think through what you should do in a case like this.

Train yourself. Learn what to do before it needs done

It is retired

No, not me.  It.  Or more specifically the license plate BUMPUS 6.  When she got her new car Sue decided she wanted new plates.

Illinois has a basic random numbered car plate for way too much money. For just a little more you can get a personalized plate with letters and  number.  For even more you can get vanity plates with fewer letters and a number or maybe just letters.  And for even more you can get one of ... I forget how many specialty plates

I told her that was OK, but it was her decision what to get on them.  This caused a lot of thinking and writing possibilities down.  She came up with 3 choices and sent in the form.  This week they came in the mail

I had a lot of plans for this summer. We got the new car, so we were going to take a couple road trips.  Going to family reunion.  Easy summer.  To use a Corkism "Always make a plan so you got something to change."

I'm not going to list all the changes, just admit sometimes we are not in control and let it go at that

Later Y'all

A WHAT ?

We did something very unusual Monday.  Something we have only done one other time. We bought a new car.

We traded the Honda CRV for a new Toyota Prius Hybrid

No, it isn't IH red.

Nothing is perfect.

The Honda has been a good car.  We bought it 3 1/2 years ago and really haven't done much more than routine maintenance.  It never quite got the gas mileage I had hoped for, but it was pretty consistent about 24 MPG. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.

Recently it has been developing a couple quirks.  I kept feeling a ... not a vibration, more like a buzz. To me it felt like a rough bearing but I never could find it.  We've been smelling antifreeze inside the car and the windows have been fogging up slightly. And the transmission has been shifting much more reluctantly.

I had a pretty good idea what the antifreeze odor / window fogging meant.

I did a little online research.  It became evident you don't want to try replacing the heater core at home.  Especially in a Honda. 

It would have been difficult before air bags.  These days it is dangerous.

Monday we had planting caught up and it had rained, so Sue and I went to Terre Haute to the Honda dealer to get a repair estimate on the heater core and transmission.  They would be glad to diagnose our problem and give us an estimate.  It would be at least $58 for each item they looked at, possibly more.

Well, I don't want to take advantage of anyone.

"OK, go ahead."

"The first opportunity will be tomorrow morning if you wish to make an appointment."

I went ahead and made an appointment. I finally pinned him down a little on possible costs.

"I've NEVER replaced a heater core in a Honda."

Yeah, right.  "Well, what are we talking would you guess?"

He estimated labor at $1000 plus any parts. That kind of matched what I had read online.

I asked about the transmission.  Could it be as simple as just changing a filter?  He didn't think that would do it based on my description of what was happening.  He said the transmission would be at least $2500, possibly as much as $6000.

I thanked him and told him we'd be back tomorrow. And I intended to.

Sue and I got to talking about it.  We were looking at dropping probably at least $4000 in a car with 160,000 miles that wasn't worth $4000.

Was that the best choice?

So after dropping things off at Goodwill we went next door and wandered around the Burger lot.  Nice salesman/drummer (Yeah, he knew where we were from.  He played a gig at the 

 Corner Bistro last weekend!) showed us several cars to get an idea of what was available.

Sue's only real sticking point is seating.  She wants to sit more like a chair and with with your legs straight out in front of you like you are on the floor. So we looked at and tried sitting in several.

We left there and wondered through various lots.  Sue was ... amazed is not the right word ... to see a Cadillac with a sale price tag of over $70,000 in the window.  I was intrigued by the sales lot arrangements at some places.  A couple made it almost impossible to drive around and look at the vehicles. It's like they were trying to convince me not to shop there.

I said I only had one criteria: Not black or dark. I have a black grain truck and that is not a good choice in Illinois in the summer.  We pulled in the Chevy lot and she started laughing One row was nothing but black, charcoal gray, and dark blue or green.

We ended up all the way out of town at Toyota. I'd never even been on the lot before. We stopped and looked at a couple used Rav4's.  They were sitting next to a Prius C ( the smaller version of a Prius ).  Salesman came out and talked with us, got the key to a Rav4 so we could sit in it. I said "Hey! While you are doing that grab the key to a Prius.  I've heard a lot about them but never sat in one."

When he came back he talked us into taking a Prius for a drive.  I liked it, Sue was not to enthused.  Then he mentioned the Prius Sedan. OK, why not? 

Sue liked it.

It drives nice, it's quiet, gets fantastic mileage, has a good reputation.

We came back, talked to the salesman, left and ate lunch, played with some numbers, scratched our heads... Oh, and Sue said if we get one it has to be this or this color.

We went back, found the right color, got a trade in quote, and took a big leap.

Was it too much money?  Of course.

Can I afford it? Probably. I sure hope so. Because we're going to have this one a LONG time.

Oh, and no, it doesn't have all the geek features.  I'd kind of liked the backup camera but can't have everything.

Wonder if my TopCon 350 autosteer will adapt to a Prius?