Battle Ground, Washington

It’s C-R-A-P-P-Y. My car has a second name. It’s M-A-Z-D-A. Oh, I hate to drive it every day and if you ask me why I’ll say: The crappy Mazda has a way of dying almost every day.

Unbelievably, the steering went out on the Mazda this morning. We’ve had it towed to a local shop, and depending on the cost, we may just decide to crush the thing down into a small metal cube. But only if I get to pull the lever. It might be a simple fix, but I suspect that by the time we’re done with this latest repair I will have, in the past three weeks, put more money into the car than it’s worth. That’s hardly a feel-good.

Nonetheless, we had a pretty good Saturday. My parents let us borrow their Honda Civic, enabling us for the first time in days to drive without fear of automotive catastrophe. The Kanns threw an awesome Kannburger BBQ, and I’m not just saying that because Maria and I, comprising Happy Team Yellow, were victorious in the party’s croquet game. (In truth the best player was probably Eileen, who staged a monster comeback that fell only one shot short of victory.) Great food, great games, great conversation…terrific stuff for which Joe and Carol deserve major props. Thank you!