Weekend Wrap Up- Vampires, Wildfire, And A New Car

 Weekend Wrap Up- Vampires, Wildfire, And A New Car

I'm sometimes a bit nervous putting up my Weekend Wrap up posts, because my level of active may not be others, and I do understand that. I post them primarily to remind myself to keep my foot on the gas, as that is when I do live my best life.

Friday- Walked 4 miles in the AM with spouse. Returned to house to clean up and leave to attend a delayed new resident orientation at my mom's 55+ community. When she first moved in a few years back, the orientations were still stalled due to COVID, and so we were attending this one as a make-up. Nicely, we saw a couple we know from one of our social groups, so that was fun.

On the return trip home we stopped at a Toyota dealership and found a hybrid sedan that was very close to, but not exactly, what we wanted. Our want list was primarily the color of the exterior (pearl) and interior (black or dark grey), Apple car play, and a sun roof. 

Returned home and saw smoke in the hills near where we'd just been, which is never good. Our Watch Duty app showed a fast moving wildfire had just broken out. We spent several hours keeping an eye on both the hills and the app to see where the fire was moving. Although it never turned in our direction, or anywhere near, it did end up burning six homes before being put out by our amazing and hardworking firefighters.

A bit sobered by the day's fire event, we spent a quiet Happy Hour at our favorite brewery before returning home to watch the sunset, then a little TV, before bed.

Saturday- I put together a smoked salmon spread from a packet I purchased in Alaska this summer, in order to bring it to a gathering at one of our social clubs.  The spread was delicious, and the event was, as expected, much fun.

On the return we stopped into a different Toyota dealership and found a hybrid sedan with the exact features we wanted. I jotted down the VIN and called the salesperson at the dealership closer to our home, so he could arrange to get it transported over to them for us to purchase. While we were waiting for the call that the car had arrived, we did a quick re-arrange of the garage in that the new hybrid is a bit longer than the Prius it's replacing. Once we got the call, we headed out to purchase the car. 

Sunday- A slow morning after our late Saturday night at the dealership. The car purchase actually went smoothly, other than having to endure one high pressure sales pitch. My spouse and I had agreed we were not going to purchase any maintenance or service plans no matter what, but darned if he didn't waver, which caused the finance manager to 'up' his pitch. I reminded my spouse of our agreement, and we did end up declining any and all options.

Which is why I so loathe the new car buying process. What other transaction results in you being put in the position of having to resist a hard selling pitch? In my normal life I just wave my hand at any attempts, and keep on with what I'm doing. 

After breakfast, we took second cups of coffee outside for a bit in order to enjoy the break in heat we were finally receiving. I also worked just a bit in the front yard, 'playing' with some new plants I'd had installed in front of our privacy fence. We then got dressed for a live production of an adapted version of Dracula, after which we enjoyed a lovely shaded patio Happy Hour at a nearby restaurant and talked about the production we'd just seen. It was different, and opinions were divided. 🙂

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Today, Monday, I walked four miles at our harbor, and am now headed out again in order to sell our trade in car to C#rMax at the price I already have in hand. I hope you are having a good Monday as well, wherever you are.