Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

jmonroe1

@abacomike, not what we wanted to hear but it sounds like you’re on the mend. I know it must be tiring trying to catch up on the posts in here, so, my advice is to skip the rest and focus on mine.

Good luck and we’re all hoping for the speediest recovery.

jmonroe

ab348

Hi Mike. Glad to see you posting even though the circumstances aren’t the best. I had the same surgery over 15 years ago. It was indeed an awful experience as you said, which nobody really prepared me for. Just like you, recovery was slow and took forever because of complications in my case. It took a few months before I could do much and over a year before I felt sort of OK. Take it slow and easy,

stickguy

Hang in there Mike. hoping for the best.

Need to start calling you Timex. You take a licking, but keep on ticking.

roadburner

@abacomike Prayers for a quick recovery.

laurasdada

@abacomike Parroting the sentiments here; hopefully it's all making you stronger.

qbrozen

Best of luck with recovery, @abacomike . Hopefully you won’t need assistance too long.

laurasdada

State of Charge: Went into the office today, 55 mile each way in the Audi. 10 Chargepoint stations in my office park, gratis to tenants. Eight in use, one seemed to be confused in that it thought a car was charging, when it wasn't... So, I got a space and a free tank.
Averaged 47mph heading in as I left at 11am; 32mph homeward bound as I left at 4:30pm. And this is why I've only gone into the office four times in the last four+ years. MPG in the high 40s, low 50s each way.

Stopped at the holyland, Costco. Gas .20/gal more expensive for PUG than BJs (.35/gal more if you include my .15/gal discount) so I didn't fill there. Had a $1.50 hot dog and an OMG chocolate chip cookie. Them's good eats.

On my way out, there was a young couple sauntering ahead of me (read: serpentine, rather than in a tight line, so kinda in people's way), they hadn't bought anything. I loaded 60 rolls of TP and a few gallons of condiments into my hatch and noticed the young couple hopping into a black Lambo Urus. See, you shop at Costco instead of Whole Foods and you can afford a Lambo. Wish the wife would believe that.

oldfarmer50

abacomike said:

Hi, everyone. It's been a very long time since I signed in to this forum, but let me explain why!

About 12 weeks ago, I was hospitalized for blood clots in my urine which required irrigation of my bladder for several days. The doctors placed a folie into my bladder to assist with urination, but was unable to ween myself off the folie. Ended up at another hospital in Boca Raton after seeing a urologist, due to extreme pain in my back and chest. After blood tests were performed, my heart enzymes showed highly elevated levels so a cardiologist assigned to my case had me transported to Delray Hospital in Delray Beach, FL, so the cardiologist could perform tests in their cath lab to determine if there were any blockages in my heart arteries. Unfortunately, they found two arteries completely blocked and that a double bypass operation was required because the blockages were in areas of my heart where stents could not be placed.

I underwent double bypass surgery 7 weeks ago today at Delray Hospital. It was an awful and painful experience - something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. After about 10 days, I was transferred to a rehabilitation facility where I spent 5 weeks recuperating from the procedure. It's been a long process, to say the least.

I am now home and had to hire a private health aide to assist me in meal preparation, hygiene, therapy, etc., because my health insurance plan does not provide me with 6 hours per day of health aides - just 2 hours twice a week. It's costly (over $1000 a week). I am still very weak and need to use oxygen very frequently. I am working very hard at increasing my breathing to hopefully reduce my dependency on oxygen and getting occupational and physical therapy at home. I sure missed reading all the postings and it will probably take me many days to catch up on things. Needless to say, I am sure glad to be back - not quite as strong, but back, to be sure.

Sorry to hear about all your health issues, it’s tough to be on your own as you get older.

My brother, who lives alone in St.Petersburg is currently in rehab. He fell and hit his head and lay in his condo for two days before he got help. Fortunately, after a few days in the hospital he was able to be discharged to a rehab facility.

Hopefully both of you will have a quick recovery.

[Deleted User]

Wishing you a speedy recovery @abacomike

explorerx4

@abacomike,
Glad you checked in and updated us on your situation and wishing all the best.

sda

Best wishes Mike. Glad you're doing better. Keep up with your exercises, not easy I know, but totally worth it. You've been through enough!

explorerx4

Got caught out in the rain today in the Mustang with the top down.
It was supposed to start raining around 3pm and I was headed home around 2pm after walking the dog.
At first, there were only a few drops. I could see where the cloud was and decided to head south, away from the lake and the cloud.
Unfortunately for me, the street I chose was under construction and had a temporary red light set up and it was red.
The cloud caught up and I put the top and the windows up before it hit really hard.
Found out a few things, wipers work just fine on intermitent or continuous, top leaks at the upper windshield trim, old tires worked better than I thought they would in the wet, brakes took longer to stop the car than usual.
As soon as I turned onto my street, the sun popped out.

jmonroe1

explorerx4 said:

Got caught out in the rain today in the Mustang with the top down.
It was supposed to start raining around 3pm and I was headed home around 2pm after walking the dog.
At first, there were only a few drops. I could see where the cloud was and decided to head south, away from the lake and the cloud.
Unfortunately for me, the street I chose was under construction and had a temporary red light set up and it was red.
The cloud caught up and I put the top and the windows up before it hit really hard.
Found out a few things, wipers work just fine on intermitent or continuous, top leaks at the upper windshield trim, old tires worked better than I thought they would in the wet, brakes took longer to stop the car than usual.
As soon as I turned onto my street, the sun popped out.

————————————————
You should have left the dog walk itself. They’ve been doing that since dogs were created. Dogs are spoiled today, they want walking companions.

jmonroe

cdnpinhead

@abacomike

Sorry to hear of your latest medical adventures. Hope you continue to recover well.

OF's brother, too.

explorerx4

@jmonroe1,
The dog was very happy I took her down to the dog park today.
Since I take a walk a couple of times a day, it was not extra work for me.
I'm not how much longer she could have resisted those steaks sitting on the counter that someone forgot to put in the fridge.

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

Got caught out in the rain today in the Mustang with the top down.
It was supposed to start raining around 3pm and I was headed home around 2pm after walking the dog.
At first, there were only a few drops. I could see where the cloud was and decided to head south, away from the lake and the cloud.
Unfortunately for me, the street I chose was under construction and had a temporary red light set up and it was red.
The cloud caught up and I put the top and the windows up before it hit really hard.
Found out a few things, wipers work just fine on intermitent or continuous, top leaks at the upper windshield trim, old tires worked better than I thought they would in the wet, brakes took longer to stop the car than usual.
As soon as I turned onto my street, the sun popped out.

I got caught with the top down in an unexpected shower when the car was parked. I put the top up and toweled off the leather completely, or so I thought. I went out the next day to fine mold on the seats after only one night. I got out the disinfectant cleaner and scrubbed every inch. Luckily it never came back.

tjc78

I’m sure I told this story before ..but why not.

When we had our 2015 Enclave I left the sunroof open overnight … we had a pretty substantial rain storm. Needless to say it was bad. The cupholders were completely full to give you an idea how much water came in

I used about ten towels to absorb as much water as possible and wiped every inch of the interior.

Then I put the heater on full blast and let it run for most of the day.

For about two weeks after the passenger seat occupancy sensor showed that someone was in the seat even when they weren’t so the seat belt chime when nuts all the time. Then one day it stopped and never came back.

Oh… this was Christmas Day.

stickguy

Also at Christmas. When we had our quest. Went to the north country where it was much colder. Parked in her parents driveway overnight. Forgot there was an unopened can of diet Dr Pepper in the cup holder.

Well, that exploded and blew soda slurry everywhere. Only thing that saved us was it was so cold it never got warm enough in the car to start melting. So I basically scraped most of it off and wiped out the rest. If the sun had come out and it all melted the stains might have been permanent.

imidazol97

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/25/ev-owners-want-to-buy-gas-cars-again.html

jmonroe1

imidazol97 said:

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/25/ev-owners-want-to-buy-gas-cars-again.html

————————————————
Hey @driver100, how did you log in as @imidazol97 ?

jmonroe

imidazol97

We're not even safe at the local satellite hospital w/ doctors' offices.

https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/1-killed-1-seriously-injured-after-car-backs-into-multiple-people-at-englewood-hospital/YZGLCTI6UZCZBF5A3IY3SP37VA/#

Would have been in cars parked in front of the hospital in this picture, I guess. The entrance is under the portico in the corner of the hospital IIRC.



At least it wasn't a Buick driver. That would have continued the stereotype with some folks on here.

laurasdada

Met with my Fidelity advisor last week. He asked what do I want to do with the money I've saved for retirement? Off the top of my head, I answered:

• Porsche
  
• Aston Martin
  

He said he'd work up the financial profile for a 30 year retirement, given some relative longevity in my family. Which he did, but noted I'd have to work another 20 years given my stated goals and current savings.
So, I got that going for me.

driver100

imidazol97 said:

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/25/ev-owners-want-to-buy-gas-cars-again.html

Thanks @imidazol97 great article....I'll refrain from saying to everyone I told you so.

driver100

jmonroe1 said:

imidazol97 said:

https://www.cnbc.co m/2024/07/25/ev-owners-want-to-buy-gas-cars-again.html

————————————————
Hey @driver100, how did you log in as @imidazol97 ?

jmonroe

I have been busy for a few weeks but fortunately tuned in today.

driver100

@abacomike I just got back too but nothing to compare to your experience.
Sorry to hear about this, hope you are on the mend.

driver100

Fridge: I prefer side by side to French doors. We have French at home, side by side in Florida.
I like our Whirlpool side by side in Florida...counter depth;
This might help if you want to check pros and cons;
https://www.whirlpool.com/blog/kitchen/french-door-vs-side-by-side-refrigerator.html#:~:text=French door refrigerator pros,unique storage solutions and customization.

oldfarmer50

Little kid walked behind my convertible today and said “like your car….it’s so RETRO”.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing to kids these days?

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

Little kid walked behind my convertible today and said “like your car….it’s so RETRO”.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing to kids these days?

————————————————
Be glad he didn’t say, “I figured old geezers like you would be driving something like this”.

jmonroe

fintail

oldfarmer50 said:

Little kid walked behind my convertible today and said “like your car….it’s so RETRO”.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing to kids these days?

Probably good. Anything from the "nineteen hundreds" is old per the younglings today (to be fair, that's ~25 years ago at the very least now, and when I was a kid a 25 year old car was old, too).

stickguy

Used the new driveway today as a Wash bay. Nice big space and with the trees on that side had some shade. Overall a good work space. Finally got the truck cleaned up from the beach trip (I hate sand).

tjc78

@stickguy said:
Used the new driveway today as a Wash bay. Nice big space and with the trees on that side had some shade. Overall a good work space. Finally got the truck cleaned up from the beach trip (I hate sand).

You don’t know how much I don’t miss sand in the vehicles. The golf cart just gets hosed down after the beach.

imidazol97

Just had a confused older man walking along tell me he needed help--he needed me to call the police for him. He had a car following him. I could see no car following. A white car was parked in the driveway in a double home a few doors away.

Police arrived after 10 minutes or so. Officer knew him by name. Asked him some questions. Officer told him he'd take him home. His dog would be there, but apparently his daughter is gone working somewhere.

Sad. I don't want to live to be uncertain of who, where, what, I am like this gentleman. He was scared. I heard a few sobs as we waited. I wonder if his medications were a problem.

mjfloyd1

@imidazol97 said:
Just had a confused older man walking along tell me he needed help--he needed me to call the police for him. He had a car following him. I could see no car following. A white car was parked in the driveway in a double home a few doors away.

Police arrived after 10 minutes or so. Officer knew him by name. Asked him some questions. Officer told him he'd take him home. His dog would be there, but apparently his daughter is gone working somewhere.

Sad. I don't want to live to be uncertain of who, where, what, I am like this gentleman. He was scared. I heard a few sobs as we waited. I wonder if his medications were a problem.

Strong work getting him safely back home

mjfloyd1

Here is the fix for the faulty Toyota engines

https://www.motor1.com/news/727930/toyta-replace-100k-engines-tundra-lexus/amp/

oldfarmer50

imidazol97 said:

Just had a confused older man walking along tell me he needed help--he needed me to call the police for him. He had a car following him. I could see no car following. A white car was parked in the driveway in a double home a few doors away.

Police arrived after 10 minutes or so. Officer knew him by name. Asked him some questions. Officer told him he'd take him home. His dog would be there, but apparently his daughter is gone working somewhere.

Sad. I don't want to live to be uncertain of who, where, what, I am like this gentleman. He was scared. I heard a few sobs as we waited. I wonder if his medications were a problem.

That sounds like me in a couple of years. I’m already accusing my wife of hiding stuff on me when I can’t find it. It’s just a matter of time before I think I’m being followed.

Dementia is a horrible thing especially when paranoia manifests. My father had that but his dementia was pleasant. He didn’t understand what was going on for most part but he trusted that people (particularly family members) were not out to hurt him.

oldfarmer50

mjfloyd1 said:

Here is the fix for the faulty Toyota engines

https://www.motor1.com/news/727930/toyta-replace-100k-engines-tundra-lexus/amp/

I can’t help but think that Toyota farmed out engine production to Hyundai/Kia since that’s the same problem that the Korean’s had. What’s the chance of two different manufacturers having the same defect.

ab348

I read that they were going to replace them all. That’s a whole lot of new engines and a whole lot of money. At least they didn’t just reprogram the knock sensor to detect an impending problem like H/K did.

I was watching a video of a teardown of one of those bad H/K engines and the guy doing it said he had done several of those teardowns and they all failed on #3 cylinder. He had no explanation for that.

abacomike

@imidazol97 said:
Just had a confused older man walking along tell me he needed help--he needed me to call the police for him. He had a car following him. I could see no car following. A white car was parked in the driveway in a double home a few doors away.

Police arrived after 10 minutes or so. Officer knew him by name. Asked him some questions. Officer told him he'd take him home. His dog would be there, but apparently his daughter is gone working somewhere.

Sad. I don't want to live to be uncertain of who, where, what, I am like this gentleman. He was scared. I heard a few sobs as we waited. I wonder if his medications were a problem.

After living in a rehabilitation facility for 5 weeks and absorbing the sights and sounds of all that was around me really brought me to the realization that becoming that sick or mentally “out-of-it” caused me to not want to live under those circumstances.

Wearing a diaper or unable to communicate with others would be devastating to me to the extent that I would rather “expire” from this world. I am going to be 80 in October and thank God I can drive and walk with the aid of a walker due to my bad back. I can’t afford a private aide starting Monday. So it’s going to be difficult to live alone.

I have friends who have helped me over these past 12 weeks, but that gets old to them - they have their own families and lives to live. If I wasn’t able to drive, I don’t know what I would do!

stickguy

tjc78 said:

@stickguy said:

Used the new driveway today as a Wash bay. Nice big space and with the trees on that side had some shade. Overall a good work space. Finally got the truck cleaned up from the beach trip (I hate sand).

You don’t know how much I don’t miss sand in the vehicles. The golf cart just gets hosed down after the beach.

we take the Maverick. So much better having everything sandy in the bed. I broomed it then hosed it down. Plus we are close enough to the beach that we walked so no sandy feet getting back into the car after a beach day.

stickguy

getting old is not for sissies. thankfully of the old people in our family (both sides), while we dealt with plenty of medical issues, nobody had dementia related issues. My father is 95, still drives, and probably remembers stuff better than I do. I will say though, it is a big relief that he is living in a retirement community and not off by himself, especially since he does not have someone with him now.

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

mjfloyd1 said:

Here is the fix for the faulty Toyota engines

https://www.motor1.com/news/727930/toyta-replace-100k-engines-tundra-lexus/amp/

I can’t help but think that Toyota farmed out engine production to Hyundai/Kia since that’s the same problem that the Korean’s had. What’s the chance of two different manufacturers having the same defect.

————————————————
Very likely when you don’t take steps to avoid it and/or chince out on engine flushing after machining. Machining engines is so much more precise today yet cleaning up the mess afterwards seems beyond some manufacturers capabilities.

Funny, I never heard of this happening back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.

jmonroe

kyfdx

oldfarmer50 said:

imidazol97 said:

Just had a confused older man walking along tell me he needed help--he needed me to call the police for him. He had a car following him. I could see no car following. A white car was parked in the driveway in a double home a few doors away.

Police arrived after 10 minutes or so. Officer knew him by name. Asked him some questions. Officer told him he'd take him home. His dog would be there, but apparently his daughter is gone working somewhere.

Sad. I don't want to live to be uncertain of who, where, what, I am like this gentleman. He was scared. I heard a few sobs as we waited. I wonder if his medications were a problem.

That sounds like me in a couple of years. I’m already accusing my wife of hiding stuff on me when I can’t find it. It’s just a matter of time before I think I’m being followed.

Dementia is a horrible thing especially when paranoia manifests. My father had that but his dementia was pleasant. He didn’t understand what was going on for most part but he trusted that people (particularly family members) were not out to hurt him.

I guarantee she is hiding stuff, because my wife does the same thing! 😡😂😂

tjc78

Speaking of the golf cart … stumbled upon a post on FB about them (response to an article from the local paper)

Wow- I’m floored at the posts.

Let me know your thoughts… I never looked at them this way.

“The Low-Speed Electric Vehicle (LSEV) has replaced owing your own pair of waverunners as the badge of honor for entitled snobs at the Shore.

Its is a ridiculous novelty purchase that just takes up limited space in your favorite shore town. Why? Everyone scooting on these has driven some other sort of vehicle to get to the shore that is parked somewhere else in towns where there is limited parking available”

“ They should come with a Dork stamp for your forehead!”

“ Stupidest thing on earth....status symbol I thank god my dad had boats jet skis and fast cars as our toys......I probably would be a different person if I grew up riding on a low speed vehicle smh come on guys get something that's cool and actually fun for the family to enjoy”

28firefighter

Let’s ignore the fact they’re quieter, slower, more environmentally friendly, and probably reduce congestion. So they’d prefer you drive your full size vehicle to the busiest parts of your shore town vs leaving it in your driveway?

Haters gonna hate.

ab348

Nonsense comments. Lots of communities see them as a big improvement over conventional vehicle use especially if they are electric. You need a few prerequisites though. The community needs to be fairly compact and have mild weather. Planning for them so they aren’t mixed with conventional vehicles very much is important. I don’t know how that works everywhere. Lots of retirement communities rely on them though.

jmonroe1

tjc78 said:

Speaking of the golf cart … stumbled upon a post on FB about them (response to an article from the local paper)

Wow- I’m floored at the posts.

Let me know your thoughts… I never looked at them this way.

“The Low-Speed Electric Vehicle (LSEV) has replaced owing your own pair of waverunners as the badge of honor for entitled snobs at the Shore.

Its is a ridiculous novelty purchase that just takes up limited space in your favorite shore town. Why? Everyone scooting on these has driven some other sort of vehicle to get to the shore that is parked somewhere else in towns where there is limited parking available”

“ They should come with a Dork stamp for your forehead!”

“ Stupidest thing on earth....status symbol I thank god my dad had boats jet skis and fast cars as our toys......I probably would be a different person if I grew up riding on a low speed vehicle smh come on guys get something that's cool and actually fun for the family to enjoy”

————————————————-
With beach towns trying to eke out every buck they can get, you better hope they don’t start charging a yearly fee for a “forehead dork stamp” like they do to register your dorkmobile.

jmonroe

mjfloyd1

@abacomike - wishing you a speedy and complete recovery

imidazol97

abacomike said:

After living in a rehabilitation facility for 5 weeks and absorbing the sights and sounds of all that was around me really brought me to the realization that becoming that sick or mentally “out-of-it” caused me to not want to live under those circumstances.

Wearing a diaper or unable to communicate with others would be devastating to me to the extent that I would rather “expire” from this world. I am going to be 80 in October and thank God I can drive and walk with the aid of a walker due to my bad back. I can’t afford a private aide starting Monday. So it’s going to be difficult to live alone.

I have friends who have helped me over these past 12 weeks, but that gets old to them - they have their own families and lives to live. If I wasn’t able to drive, I don’t know what I would do!

I'll keep your improvement healthwise in my thoughts and prayers.

As to the elderly guy, the policeman called him by first name as the policeman came up our driverway. He talked to him in a respectful and caring manner. Much as he would have to to lost,scared child. These are the same officers who needed 4 policecars because they had a carload of rowdies stopped and needed to keep the cohorts inside the vehicle while they interrogated the driver from what I could tell as I drove past. Otherwise I would have expected the rowdies inside the vehicle to all get out and run toward the city limits like in some COPS episode. Talk about being versatile in protecting our city.

The gentleman is I guess 10 years younger than I am. I feel worse for his daughter. The officer asked him where his daughter was. Gentleman said at work, but he didn't know where she worked. Officer told him his dog would be at home with him. Gentleman pointed to a different car parked up the street, said it was following him, and said he didn't want them to know where he went. Officer told him he could get in the back where tehy couldn't see him and he would go the other direction around the blocks to get back to the daughter's house.

I feel bad for the daughter. It's a heavy load to take care of an aging, failing parent.

I think I just want to die of a heart attack after I'm 85 or 90.

stickguy

Todays project. Finally got the TV off the floor in front of the fireplace. Perfectly level and didn’t fall off the wall. The definition of success for this project.

tjc78

@stickguy
Nice! I like that you kept it as low as possible.

I have our TV way too high in our family room.