Angry and irritated thoughts such as these swirled around in my head this morning. They were the thoughts occupying my mind as I left my volunteer stint in my daughter's classroom and walked to my............PRIUS! As I sat in my car, the Grateful Dead song "Victim or the Crime" started pounding in my head. Wow, am I the victim or the crime? Did the purchase of my beloved Prius somehow lead to the demise of the auto industry? YIKES!
Okay, buying a a foreign car may have contributed somewhat but, whose fault is it that I bought a Prius in the first place? It's Ford Motor Company's fault, that's who! Our first family of four vehicle was a Ford Windstar minivan. I loved that minivan (never thought I would admit to loving a minivan, but I have and I did). We were being good Americans and we bought an American car. Hooray for us!
The minivan worked well for a while. However, after it hit a certain number of miles, it started breaking down (should have bought a warranty plan!). And, it was expensive to fix. After a couple of times in the shop at prices that were unbelievable, we decided to trade it in and buy a new car. We took our little minivan into the car dealership, they made us a deal and we walked off with a brand new Toyota minivan (with a warranty plan). I loved that minivan too.
When I started commuting to work everyday and when it started to cost $60.00 to fill my gas tank, John began hinting that we should look into a Prius. I resisted, saying that there was no way we could all fit into a small car. Eventually, I caved in and I've been very happy with the change. We are the proud owners of a Toyota Prius that gets 47.5 miles to the gallon. We also purchased a warranty plan and a really cool service plan that rolls the cost of servicing the car into our monthly car payment -- we pay monthly for the servicing and don't have to cough up the payment at the time of servicing. That certainly takes the stress out of getting my car serviced because I know that it's already been paid.
Whew, that's a long story and with all that being said, I am crossing my fingers for some type of aid to the auto industry. I just hope that they really take a close look at their reliability factor. In the next couple of years, we may need buy a new car for John and if the American car industry can come up with a reliable, fuel efficient car, we will give it a thorough evaluation. Until then I'll be singing another Grateful Dead song for our overall economy, "I Need a Miracle."
According to the landscape architect, the garden grows 3 types of lettuces, spinach, mache, carrots, beets, onions and radishes. Come on over for a salad sometime!
