The Ford F-150 Has to Stay Alive

I'm not sure about your house, but around ours we aren't the only things getting old. I used to think we were keeping everything updated. We were current on trends and on top of all the changes and repairs needed around here for our health, safety and good humor. This sounds pretty good but in reality it doesn't wash.

For reasons I don't quite understand things began to change more rapidly when we reached the golden age of 70. That's when body part replacements started and home repair started slip-sliding away. Just so you know, we'll be 72 this year so this crap is happening way too fast for us oldies. A greater problem is that aging has become a HUGE problem for our vehicles.

Most geezers are murder on things with engines. We drive five or ten miles a week and then leave our victims parked in the driveway. It helps that many of us have old cars and pickups to start with. We like them for many reasons. When I needed a new rig two years ago, a 2000 Ford Taurus was the best car I could afford. Oh sure, I might have bought an old van, painted it with graffiti and put a bullhorn on the hood, but it just didn't seem right. I'm a great grandma now and we aren't supposed to do that stuff.

There are two vehicles in our driveway. Mr. S has a Ford F150 pickup that we bought new in 1996. At that time it was my rig. I drove it for work and everything else. That phase didn't last long because I needed something more grandchild friendly after our kids moved back from Alaska. Mr. S was delighted. He got the bright red new truck with matching canopy, hood shield, double tanks and custom sideboards. It was the beginning of a love affair that has never ended.

Let's say that Mr. S is very lovable but not much on maintenance. We'll leave it there but add that his beloved Ford is suffering from parental negligence. He did wash it before we took it to the mechanic. So it looked pretty good but we were advised that it needed a swimming pool full of rust treatment prior to necessary repairs.

Friends, here on the Oregon Coast, that which Mother Nature has rusted together is danged hard to get apart. Perhaps that is why we are still together after nearly 40 years but no matter what shape this marriage is in, it can't compare to the pickup.

I can't tell you what that pickup has done for us all these years. It's taken us on vacations around the West and it's hauled our important stuff. Folks have borrowed it for their own transport of household goods and furniture. It's been a champ and the guy driving it hasn't been so bad either. Folks around here sometimes take bets on when the pickup body will rust off, leaving Mr. S and Grover exposed to the elements. It could happen but I'm not in on the wager yet.

I need that pickup of his to stay alive. Why? I learned the hard way very recently that a Taurus is not a pickup. When I had my Chevy Aveo I used it like a freight truck. I actually brought home a glass picnic table and four metal chairs in that little car. Why? It folded up like a super being and would carry anything I could fit in there. This little car, named Myrtle, gave me her all before she moved in the family to Grandson Dawson. I still talk to her each time I see her in Albany.

Last week I was in Corvallis and went to Bi-Mart to get Mr. S a gift for Father's Day. No, he's not my father but I'm a sucker for all reasons to spend money on him. I got him a long-handled saw and we barely got that in the car. I had wanted to bring him home an arbor but that was truly impossible. I love my Taurus but it's not a truck. Why? It doesn't transform itself like good old Myrtle did.

What was needed at that moment was a 1996 Ford F150. Without it my possibilities are severely limited and you all know how I feel about that. Old women get crabby when they can't get the perfect thing for their homes or yards home without the help of others. This is why they like men with pickup trucks.

This is also why the red pickup is on a new maintenance schedule. She has to stay alive as long as we do. She's part of our family and I want an arbor.