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30 September 2007

Sophie's bloomers - leg 2

False Foxglove
Agalinis sp.

Blue Anise Sage
Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue'


Crape Myrtle
(Lagerstroemia indica)

Mexican Petunia
Ruellia brittoniana


Mexican False Heather
Cuphea hyssopifolia


and last, but certainly not least, the famous...

Blue Curls
Trichostema dichotomum

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Well, I finally did it. My yellow truck is no longer sitting in our driveway. *sniffffffff* With no relief in sight of the gas pumps, I really need something that does better than 20mpg. The last weekend of the month is the perfect time for car trading and everything fell into place so perfctly, it just had to be. We stopped first at the Chevy dealer, where a snooty salesman informed us that he had nothing in our price range. Well, I can take a hint. Far be it from me to waste a used car salesman's precious time. So we bopped down the road to the Hyundai lot. There were two definite possibilities. One had already been marked down about $1000 and rode a lot nicer than the other. And its much plainer stereo system worked better. (Dud music can be a deal-breaker.) We told the very nice salesman exactly what we wanted for the truck and how much we wanted to pay for the car. Their counter offer would have required around $1790 from us. We countered their counter and their next CO involved our paying only TTT, a total of about $872. Hmmm... make it an even $500 OOP and we have a deal. OK? Done! In the end, we had to shell out an extra $40, coz the state no longer sends you a title when you pay off your car loan. It's all online now. So the dealer has to do a little extra 'legwork''to get the truck title. Memo to us.... request that piece of paper next time.

Here's the really cool part. Duller has been doing a lot of traveling this month and is about to get a 'reimbursement' of just about the exact amount we just spent. He never spends the entire per diem, and his car gets great mileage, so most of that is 'gravy'. Plus, we got a refund today for the GAP insurance we were forced to acquire with the truck loan. That alone covers more than half. Ain't God good?!

So, I came home with a smaller car, one year younger, with half the miles and fairly close to twice the fuel efficiency. Reckon I'll get over losing Ol' Yeller after a few fill-ups. 8-]

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on the new more fuel efficient car. My drive back and fort to work vehicle is an old 1988 Honda Civic. It has 147,000 miles and still runs like it came off the lot. And no one believes me that it gets 45 miles to the gallon. I put in about 8.5 gallons and drive 390 miles before I have to fill up again. I wonder why even cars today rarely get gas mileage that good.

R.Powers said...

If I may be so bold ... your bloomers are lovely.

Congrats on your "new" car. I am seeking something used for Junior to drive ... I may have you be my negotiator :)

NOBODY takes a blue curls photo as well as you.

MinorcanMeteorolgist said...

What FC said...You have great-lookin bloomers, and the blue curls are amazing. We have some of those Mexican Petunias growing wild in the back of our house now...I need to try to transplant them closer to the house. Congrats on the new car!

SophieMae said...

Thanks, all y'all! *blush* 8-]

RCWB, that's amazing! And I totally believe it. I'm sure today's cars COULD be produced to get that kind of mileage, but then we suckers... er, I mean consumers wouldn't be buying as much gas, would we?

Aw shucks FC! Pshaw. 8-}
Re negotiating, it's a good thing I didn't let Duller go by hisownself. He would have taken, at best, the $872 deal.

I had a feeling you'd enjoy some of those livestock links. I keep trying to get pics of the cracker horses at the ag dept's farm in Tally, but I never can manage to get up there when the gates are open.

H-teen, I keep wanting to transplant some horsemint. I tried once a few years ago, but it didn't take. Aw, I just checked Floridata and found out the Mexican petunias are invasive. Glad mine are in a planter. Rats!

SwampAngel65 said...

As always, you take great pics! Congrats on the new car! I know how hard it can be to say goodbye to and old faithful. In my family, we tend to drive our cars until they suffer cardiac arrest or are murdered (3 of mine fall under that category). I see people all the time who pay off a car and right away go get another new one! Crazy!! I think that's the mentality of the Banana Republic down here. But with gas costing what it is, it's hard to keep fueling my husband's truck. That's why on road trips, we usually take my little rice-burner. I wish they could get the whole battery thing a little more manageable, then I'd probaby go get a Prius.

SophieMae said...

SwampAngel... thanks! 8-]
This is the first time I've traded in a vehicle while it was still in great shape. Feeding it was just getting to be too much. It sure felt good to come out on the plus side of the deal for a change. And even better that we didn't have to finance anything. It's weird, though, to be so close to the ground. LOL!

Meems said...

so sorry i missed this post until now. we were out of town for the weekend and once i get behind, the blogging falls off the table.

so here's my catch-up. congrats on your car. i am still holding out with my SUV - the switch to something lower would be difficult but i would do it if necessary. i always count on hubby for the kind of dickering you were able to wrangle. he hates it every time but he's really good at it.

loved the green lizards on the red lids and the mirage info.

your blooming photos are so much fun to view. i will have to check out some of the varieties i don't have to see if they work in my zone. i kind of doubt it since i've never seen some of them in our nurseries. you do a much better job with flowers than you give yourself credit for. thanks for all the great photos of the parks- you inspire me to visit more when we are out of town. will be in tally again this weekend so i am working on hubby to fit one in. he only has doak campbell stadium on his mind so it's reeeally a long shot. :-)