Thursday, November 26, 2009

Buying A Car

We bought another car yesterday because the head gasket blew on the one we were driving. We had a 2002 Oldsmobile Alero and this is the second time we have had overheating problems. I spent $900.00 for repairs the first time and I am not going to go through that again. A month ago we just purchased two new tires and we were going on a trip the day the head gasket blew so it has a full tank of gasoline. God has a way of looking after us. The head gasket blew before we got out of town on our 3 hour trip, so we were able to drive it to the garage to have it checked out. You never know what to buy when you buy a used car. First of all you need to have in mind the kind of car that you would like to buy and secondly the one that you can afford. When you by a car today you have to think about the gas mileage. The big SUV's are going to be a thing of the past the way the gas companies are robbing us. Gas just shouldn't fluctuate back and forth twenty cents day by day. I look for a car with the lowest mileage and the highest year. Also you have to think in terms of how long you are financing and if the car will last that long according to the miles. You can about count on driving one from 12,000 miles to 20,000 miles per year. Now to do the math 20,000 times 5 years or 60 months is 100,000 miles. How many miles does the car have on it that you are purchasing? If it already has 100,000 miles then you will be stretching it by your last payment. That would be 200,000 miles on the vehicle.I feel good about the purchase that I made. I found an honest dealer who deals in selling cars with Salvage titles. You have to be careful in buying one like this because you may get burned. I bought a 2005 with 50,000 miles for a fraction of the price of one that didn't have a salvage title. This one had just a little rear end bump up so the front end was not hurt. Some people look for style but I look for dependability. If you find something you like make a decision because the more you look the more frustrated you will get. I got my payments at a comfortable rate $129.00 per month for 48 months. I can pay a little more and get it paid off quicker. Happy shopping.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

INCREASING DEER POPULATION

A couple of years ago I worked extensively on my Hall genealogy and I noticed a similarity in all of my findings. Back in the 1700's, 1800's and early 1900's the men outlived most of the women. This is different than what it is like today. Most definitely the women are outliving the men. My second finding was that all of the families were real large with say 10-12 brothers and sisters. Thirdly in a lot of cases the wife died and the man remarried to have another 10-12 children by his second wife. On the US Census it said that all of these mens occupations were farmers. When I was a young boy there were no deer around except in the mountains and I had never saw a wild turkey. Now it is dangerous to drive at night even for fear of hitting one of these large animals. I usually see and almost hit one or two on a weekly basis. There is always deer in the headlights. The reason there were no deer when I was a boy was that during the 1700's, 1800's, and early 1900's man killed out the deer population to feed these large families that I have told you about. I live close to a place in Wilkes County called Traphill, NC. It got its name becaise they used to herd wild turkeys into a large trap and they called this place Traphill. Here in the year 2009 people get their food from the grocery store and most familes have 2 or less children. The deer population and the turkey population is increasing yearly. Each year there are many car accidents because of the abundance of these beautiful creatures. Another place close to where I live is a town called Elkin, NC. It got is name from the Elk that lived here along the Elkin Creek. There are no Elk here now because man killed them all out in the early years.
Drive slower at night, keep alert and watch for glowing eyes, and hopefully you will not hit one of these animals. Car Insurance companies will raise our premiums if the accidents continue to occur.