Buying a car in 2021

Test driving his future car.

Grandson #2 turns 16 in September. That means I need to buy a new car.

Four years ago when Grandson #1 turned 16, I gave him my five-year-old Toyota Yaris and I bought a 2016 Honda Fit. As it turns out, buying a new car in 2021 is a very different experience.

The gift of a fairly recent, reliable car is one of my ways of helping these boys through college. A major worry I had as a college undergraduate at the University of Northern Colorado was having reliable transportation. The state of Colorado in the 1970s required motor vehicles to have a safety inspection every six months. And somehow my $500 cars always wound up needing one damn thing or another. Dopey, the 1961 Volkswagen Beetle, had a malfunctioning horn. A 1959 Rambler I owned seemed to always overheat. And it never seemed I had enough tire tread at any inspection.

I bought a green 1964 Volkswagen Squareback with a rebuilt engine with my last $600. (I was supporting myself and my family with minimum wage jobs at the time.) It ran well for two days and then the engine froze. I took it to my mechanic who said that yes, the engine was rebuilt - rebuilt wrong. It was going to cost me another $600 to have the engine rebuilt correctly. My only recourse was to call my dad and ask for a loan. I had always been too proud and stubborn to ask anyone in my family for money. He lent the funds to me and told me I could repay him after I graduated. But when I tried to repay him during my first year of teaching, he said to call the money a graduation present. My college education cost my parents $600. The car lasted my final years of college and even through my first year of teaching.

Kids in college have enough to worry about. I don't want my grandkids to worry about having a car that runs. 

From reading the newspaper, I realized this was not an auspicious time to buy a new (or used) car. Disrupted supply chains, computer chip shortages, and increased demand have created a shortage of new cars. I didn’t realize just how great a shortage until I started shopping.

My family rightfully thinks I am cheap when it comes to selecting cars. And they are right. I like buying new, but I also have a tough time spending much money on a vehicle. But as I told my daughter, I thought I would go a little crazy this time and instead of buying the cheapest new car available, I just might buy the second to the cheapest new car on the market. Maybe I am cheap.

I looked at Toyota RAVs - too big and too expensive. I looked at Honda HRVs - too little leg room and noisy ride. I looked at the Kia Soul - nerdy. Finally, just for the heck of it, I looked at a Subaru Crosstrek. It seemed to check all the boxes. Plenty of legroom. 30+ mpg. AWD. 1500lb towing capacity. Well rated by Consumer Reports. And the Sport model was, well, sporty looking. Of course none of the dealers had any cars actually in stock that one could purchase, but they usually had one to test drive, and for $500 you could reserve one that was supposedly in transit. 

Or, you could order one made to your specs - your options, colors, etc. Downside, it takes literally months for it to be manufactured and shipped. And of course any attempt at bargaining on the price is met with a contemptuous snicker from the salesperson.

Since I am not aware of any more grandchildren that will need a car for college for quite a number of years, I decided to sort of deck out my new Crosstrek Sport, adding nicer sound system, fancy floor mats, heated this-and-that, a rear view mirror with a built in compass. I got it in a purty blue color.

Supposed to get here sometime late October. Who knows, it might just be the last car I ever buy. Unless self-driving cars become practical and my family tries to take away my keys.

Cooking for those we love

This Labor Day weekend, as is the custom, I will be joining my daughter and her family at a small resort. (My son and his wife are busy moving into a new home and sadly cannot attend.) For me, one of the highlights of getting together is the chance to cook a meal or two.

I am not really much of a cook. When I am eating alone, I microwave the healthiest thing I can find, but my motto is “If it takes longer to cook than it does to eat, it’s not worth it.” I have toast for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and a quickly zapped bag o’ veggies and noodles usually for supper. I’m still searching for a healthy frozen pizza or pot pie. I eat to live rather than live to eat. 

But if I have a guest or family coming over, I really enjoy getting out the pots and pans and baking sheets. While I still prepare simple dishes, they do take some time, planning, and even skill. Going to the effort of making a meal sends a message - I love you enough to go to actually do some work. And that is what I think when someone cooks for me as well.

Many, many years ago, I learned when I was single and poor, that women I dated appreciated having a meal prepared for them - even more than being taken out for supper. It was certainly less expensive, and in a way, more intimate. It never hurt to make some small error in preparing the meal like having the folded omelet not quite come together that gave one an aura of vulnerability, awakening perhaps, one’s date’s maternal instincts.

For many years, my home on the lake was the venue for family gatherings of 20-24 people on the holidays. I was usually responsible for cooking two large turkeys in electric roasting pans. I used the slow-cook method of starting them the evening before the noon meal the next day and letting them cook all night. I also worried that this method might poison my entire family, but if anyone got sick, they didn’t tell me. And the turkey was so moist and tender, it fell off the bone.

A favorite family meal has for many years been something we call “stupid soup.” It got its name when a friend who was eating it asked for the recipe. When I told him, he said, “Sounds easy enough that even a stupid person could do it.” And the name stuck. The soup’s actually a hamburger-corn chowder. Brown hamburger (or crumbles if vegetarian), along with onion and green pepper. Add a can of diced tomatoes, a can of cream of celery soup, and a can of whole kernel corn. Toss in a little pepper and garlic if you are so inclined. I serve it with a tossed salad, freshly baked corn bread, and a relish tray of pickles, beets, and olives. 

A family tradition is also to have “It tastes like I died and went to heaven” for dessert. This is another tough one to make - a freshly baked brownie with a generous scoop or two of pink peppermint ice cream on top. For me, breakfasts are also fun, whether French toast, pancakes, or more recently, a blueberry bread pudding. Of course with microwaved bacon or fake-un (plant based bacon). Spaghetti, chili, casseroles, BLT sandwiches, and slow cooked brats and sauerkraut are also found at times on the Che Johnson menu. Along with the experimental dish now and then - few of which become keepers.

I sometimes wonder if things can become too traditional. My siblings and I always laughed because my dad’s second wife always served exactly the same meal each time we visited. For years. “Wonder what Marge will be serving today?” we’d chuckle. Do my children make the same remark?

While we are at the resort this weekend, I am sure we will throw some burgers and brats on the grill and spruce up some store-bought potato salad with fresh veggies. Standard fare. But it is not the food itself. Whether caviar or peanut butter, making it, sharing it, eating it demonstrates our love for each other. I don’t even mind doing the dishes.

On this day: memories good and sad

As do most Facebook users, I get a notification to past posts called "On This Day."  The links take me to things I've shared in years past "on this day."

While I enjoy looking at most of these old posts, I have to admit that more than a few are bittersweet. Happy times with friends and family that may not be happening today; small grandchildren now adults; activities that now seem unlikely to happen again - sledding with children, opening toys at Christmas, bicycling in exotic locales.

There is an old maxim attributed to Dr. Suess - "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." And rationally this makes complete sense and I like to think I am a rational human being 99% of the time. But sometimes the heart overrules the brain. And instead of being happy it happened, I am sad because it's over. 

Even so, I will probably still keep clicking on my "On This Day" links...

2013 - Missing these little boys