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2006 is definitely shaping up to be one for the books.
Last week Sunday my sister-in-law Judy's husband Richard died. He had been in frail health for a number of years and finally his heart gave out while he and Judy walked the two blocks to their church (in fact he keeled over in the church's parking lot). The funeral was planned for Friday morning in Fargo, followed by interment in the Veteran's Cemetary in Mandan (just across the river from Bismarck).
So Thursday evening, after dinner at my brother Franklin's house, we piled into my old 1986 Mercury Sable (86,000 original miles) for the 200 mile drive to Fargo (our 2001 Lumina being on the fritz with a faulty ignition module). The drive was uneventful. we pulled into Fargo around 10:00 PM, checked into our hotel, and proceeded to Judy's house to pay our repects.
The next morning we were getting ready to go to the funeral when Christine and I realized our dress clothes had been left behind in Bismarck! A mad dash to a nearby JC Penney store to buy something presentable was accomplished successfully and we got to the church with just a few minutes to spare.
After the service we went back to the hotel and checked out, refuelled the car, and hit the road with everyone else to convoy to the Perry Funeral Home in Mandan for the final trip to the cemetary. We pulled off the highway into the funeral home parking lot and parked the car to await the rest of our group. A half-hour later, our party assembled, we got back into the car for the trip to the cemetary, only to discover that the Sable's transmission had died! No reverse, no drive, just park and lots of neutral and perfectly normal oil levels. So we had to pile in with some other relatives for the final five mile leg of our journey.
Richard got a proper (and mercifully short) military service, with the Honor Guard giving a 21-gun salute and the bugler blowing Taps and the chaplain presenting the flag to the widow. I can usually maintain my composure at funerals pretty well, but military funerals really get to me. Say what you like about the military, but they certainly know how to give their own a top-flight sendoff.
What astonishes me about the whole affair is that that old Sable covered 86,000 miles in its lifetime with only minor indications of transmission slippage under load and otherwise no problems at all, carried us 200 miles to Fargo and back and forth around downtown Fargo, and 200 miles back to Bismarck, and gave up the ghost only after delivering us to exactly where we needed to be! It's almost enough to make a cynical old reprobate believe in guardian angels.
So how was YOUR thanksgiving?
Kevin
Last week Sunday my sister-in-law Judy's husband Richard died. He had been in frail health for a number of years and finally his heart gave out while he and Judy walked the two blocks to their church (in fact he keeled over in the church's parking lot). The funeral was planned for Friday morning in Fargo, followed by interment in the Veteran's Cemetary in Mandan (just across the river from Bismarck).
So Thursday evening, after dinner at my brother Franklin's house, we piled into my old 1986 Mercury Sable (86,000 original miles) for the 200 mile drive to Fargo (our 2001 Lumina being on the fritz with a faulty ignition module). The drive was uneventful. we pulled into Fargo around 10:00 PM, checked into our hotel, and proceeded to Judy's house to pay our repects.
The next morning we were getting ready to go to the funeral when Christine and I realized our dress clothes had been left behind in Bismarck! A mad dash to a nearby JC Penney store to buy something presentable was accomplished successfully and we got to the church with just a few minutes to spare.
After the service we went back to the hotel and checked out, refuelled the car, and hit the road with everyone else to convoy to the Perry Funeral Home in Mandan for the final trip to the cemetary. We pulled off the highway into the funeral home parking lot and parked the car to await the rest of our group. A half-hour later, our party assembled, we got back into the car for the trip to the cemetary, only to discover that the Sable's transmission had died! No reverse, no drive, just park and lots of neutral and perfectly normal oil levels. So we had to pile in with some other relatives for the final five mile leg of our journey.
Richard got a proper (and mercifully short) military service, with the Honor Guard giving a 21-gun salute and the bugler blowing Taps and the chaplain presenting the flag to the widow. I can usually maintain my composure at funerals pretty well, but military funerals really get to me. Say what you like about the military, but they certainly know how to give their own a top-flight sendoff.
What astonishes me about the whole affair is that that old Sable covered 86,000 miles in its lifetime with only minor indications of transmission slippage under load and otherwise no problems at all, carried us 200 miles to Fargo and back and forth around downtown Fargo, and 200 miles back to Bismarck, and gave up the ghost only after delivering us to exactly where we needed to be! It's almost enough to make a cynical old reprobate believe in guardian angels.
So how was YOUR thanksgiving?
Kevin
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