Stormageddon's Reduced-Sugar Plum Jelly (Rambly!)

Wow.  You *know* it's been a long time when your browser no longer auto-completes your web-address to sign-into your blog!

Yeah.  Sorry.  Been busy.  Yada-yada!

Oh.  And this might get a little rambly, so better go grab a cocktail (or move onto the next webpage, or whatever)!

Yeah.  So.  About that "being busy" stuff:  A few weeks back, my College Bud-D, the one who retired early and ex-patted to Messko, came by to visit for a few days.  Sort of an early start to GGW 2015.  Her arrival - fortunately or unfortunately- happened to coincide with some dates that hubs was scheduled for business travel.  End-result, we got LOTS of "Girl-Gab Time" and managed to get (most of) it out of our systems before hubs came home!

The thing about CB-D is, she used to be a total "Mover and Shaker" in the business world, and I was kind-of always in awe of her for that.  Now one thing she did for herself (back in her Mover/Shaker Days) was to buy herself her Dream Car - a red Porsche Turbo Carrera.  She bought it - sight-unseen - on eBay.  From out of state.  During her busiest work-season. So she had to call her hubbie to buy one-way airfare to go pick it up, and drive it home for her!

"So what the hell does this have to do with Plum Jelly?" you may well ask...

I'm getting to it, okay?!  (Jeesh! I told you this might get rambly!).

Well, I too have had a Car-of-My-Dreams (several, actually!).  I have *always* had a fixation with 2-seat convertible roadsters.  Since before I could drive.  MG Midgets, Triumph Spitfures, Fiat Spiders...  Mercedes 450 SL...  Miatas...  You get the idea.

I did have a Geo Metro convertible (my ONLY "New" car).  3-banger pumping-out 55 horses didn't quite cut-it, but I *loved* that car!

My most-recent Automotive-Love-Affair has been with the Saturn Sky. I have wanted that car since before they were in production.  I read every website that talked about it, and even went to the Auto Show to *see* the Concept Car.

That was back in 2005.

I was sad when Saturn and Pontiac got jettisoned. And that - pretty-much - ended my hope of one day owning a shiny new Saturn Sky...

Well, before CB-D's arrival, for reasons I cannot explain, I happened upon a used Saturn Sky for sale.  In METALLIC RED. (Did I mention that 2-seat convertibles are ONLY lust-worthy if they are red?  Yeah. They *have* to be Red - "QT's rule."  "QT's Mom Bonus" would be Metallic Red!).  I wiped the drool from my keyboard and realized that this was before Memorial Day Weekend - surely the car would sell.  And I've got a guest coming, and blah-blah-blah...  So I let it go.

Well, WHILE CB-D was here (now after Memorial Day), I happened to consult Google and - Lo and Behold - little METALLIC RED Saturn Sky is still sitting in the dealer's lot.  But I've got a guest here, and taking a drive up to Fairfield (2 hours away - one way) would severely cut into cocktail hour!

I showed the webpage for the Sexy Little Car to CB-D and she was all "Why don't we go and look at it?"

Long story short (and trust me - I could drag it out), it took awhile - about a month (long after CB-D left) - but now, that Sexy Little Ruby Red Saturn Sky Redline (Limited edition - only 500 made in this trim) now lives in my driveway!

Ain't she sexy???

Hubs, initially, wasn't too pleased about the idea (and - to be fair - I have *far* too many toys with engines), but we're adjusting.  Every morning, when hubs leaves for work, it's like Tetris or something with shuffling cars about.

During the day, she gets to be a Garage Queen:

Shamefully-dusty Heritage Softail in the foreground

(one of the aforementioned "too many toys")

I'm still very much in "pinch-myself-in-case-I'm-dreaming" mode.  She and I have "bonded" in the twisties of the Santa Cruz mountains, and she told me her name was Stormageddon.  I'm good with that!

So that covers the FIRST part of this post's title!

Okay, so Stormy's arrival *also* happened to coincide with the Great Plum Assault of 2015.

June 12:

It was looking a bit overwhelming...

(clickety-click to embiggen and experience the full impact)

June 13:

Is it just me, or does this look like a RIDICULOUS quantity of plums?

Not sure exactly when I found the first "optimally squishy" plum and ate it, but the real "harvesting" started on June 20:

Round I

(just shy of 10 lbs)

June 21:

Round II

(13.8 lbs - according to the bathroom scale)

June 23:

Round III

(I assure you, the basket may be the same - but the plums are all different!)

June 25:

Round IV

(Yes, that's an egg on top!)

June 27:

Round V

(O-Dear-Gawd-in-Heaven! The PEACHES are starting!!!)

June 28:

Round VI

(19.8 lbs!)

Are you sick of looking at plums yet?!  Imagine how *I* feel!!!  And this is just ONE tree (the Santa Rosa plum).  I also have a Satsuma Plum (blood-plum - red all-the-way-through - and sweet as can be!).  Satsuma is still pretty young, so not very productive yet.  

So WTF to do with all of these plums, right?!   Even worse - WTF am I gonna do when I end-up with TWO insanely-productive plum trees???

• I fed quite a few to the chickens 'til I damn-near killed Henny Kravitz.  She ended up getting a (thankfully mild) case of sour-crop! 
• I found a handful of TRUE Facebook Friends who willingly took some off my hands - so yay for that!  
• And the local food bank does accept backyard produce - and even gives you a receipt (double-yay!).  

But still, so far I've tallied up at least 72 lbs of fruit - from ONE tree.  I've managed to offload much of the fruit - but certainly not ALL.

Honestly, I'm sick of plum jam.  Too damned much work with blanching, peeling and pitting (Ugh!). The crock-pot plum butters, sauces, whatevers I attempted to make last year were "Meh" at best.

Prunes?  Hell no (Tried it.  Hated it.)

So this year's Great Plum Experiments included Plum Wine (20# makes 5 gallons!), which is gurgling and fermenting under my desk, even as I type (I may or may-not post about that - depends upon whether it ends up being drinkable!).

  

Annnnnnd...  Google told me that I *don't* have to pit-and-peel in order to make Plum Jelly!  So THAT'S how I spent my ENTIRE WEEKEND.  It was a boatload of work, but I gotta tellya - it's some DAMNED TASTY SH*T!

Annnnnnd...  Since I spent SO MUCH TIME staring at deep pinkish/plummy/garnet-like liquid, I came to the striking conclusion that Plum Jelly is damn-near the EXACT same shade as my brandy-new (used) car!

Hence the name: Stormageddon's Plum Jelly!

Soooooo....  I guess for my NEXT post, I oughtta maybe post the recipe, huh?

Yeah.  Maybe I'll do that!

New (Old) Car Blues...

Sooo... A few days after buying "Whitey" (a name that I find rather 'rascist!' But it's Hubster's car!), we decided to bring Scarlet in to the Chevy Dealer for troubleshooting....

Now mind you, we haven't settled on a selling price but, initially, I was agreeable to $5,000 (after having seen similar cars on the 'net for anywhere from $7,900-$15,000) (but *those* cars had lower miles and were - ahem - "running!"). So we were going to drop Scarlet off for "Early-Bird Service" and I managed to get myself out-of-bed and functional before 7:00am (No Easy Feat!!!). I went out to the driveway, inserted the key and cranked the engine... She spluttered to a start and, almost immediately, coughed-and-died.

Do-Over...

Splutter. Start. Cough. Die.

Do-Again...

Splutter. Start. Cough. Die.

The Dealer is only about 3 miles from home, but clearly we aren't getting there under our own power!

Scarlet is, essentially, undriveable.

Hubs - at my urging - calls a tow truck and they showed up with a big ol' flatbed...

Poor Scarlet!!!

Scarlet gets loaded up and dropped off at the dealer...

Now, when Hubs dropped her off, he told the dealer "I'm 'giving' this car to my wife..."

The dealer initially quoted $145 for "Trouble-shooting" - but after 2 days with no resolution (they couldn't even get their electronic gizmo to "read" her trouble-codes), they doubled the "Estimate" price... And it took them several days to figure out...

I *knew* that Hubs wasn't paying the bill for this, so I got a little nervous every time he agreed to pricing increases!!! But $290 is still within my Comfort Zone. So I didn't b*tch too much!

At the same time, I *did* get a little "mileage" out of the fact that he was claiming he was "giving" the car to me. I had also posted, on Facebook, that I was "buying" the car from my husband - and several "friends" [who don't *know* Hubs] were posting, in response, that DH should *give* the car to me!!! To which I replied "LMFAO!!!"

Anyhooooo... After about a week, the Dealer determined that the ECM ("Computerized Brain" I think), as well as the PROM (some kinda "Performance" sub-brain Electronic Gizmo) were hosed and needed to be replaced. The ECM was relatively easy, but the PROM was not "stock" so we had to go online and find a place that carried it, and would be willing to "overnight" it to us...

In the meantime, DH was carrying on about how Scarlet would have to be covered, if kept in the driveway. Both our sprinklers, and the neighbors' sprinklers would wreak havoc on her pristine paint. Hubs sent me to a Corvette-Specialty website where I could purchase the "Typhoon" (or "Monsoon" or "Hurricane Katrina" or "Armageddon" - I can't remember!) model of car-cover (for over $200!!!).

I opted for a somewhat-lesser model of waterproof car-cover (I'm sorry, we don't get Typhoons here. Nor do we get 12+ feet of snow per year!) (And I need to purchase something that I can wrestle-off, single-handedly!).

Anywaaaaaayyyy... Between the car-cover, Chevy-Dealer "Estimate," new PROM and new ECM, I am already "into" the car for well-over $1,000.00, right?

Now... The following weekend - which was LAST weekend (car is still in the shop, right?), my College Buddy D came to visit, and we went out Sailing last Saturday... We had a FAN-Freaking-Tastic Time... But while we're loading up the truck, a guy pulls up in his 1987 Red Corvette. Hubs goes to chat with him (completely forgetting that he'd met the same guy, previously, at the Dry Boat Storage yard). The guys start chatting about their respective Corvettes while I'm standing there, listening...

Guy tells Hubs "I paid $600 for this car... Had to put $3,000 into it to get it running, but it's running real good - don'tcha think?!!"

I'm sure Hubs was wanting to cringe and die at this point because we haven't "finalized" our negotiations!!! (and, to be fair, I wouldn't put Scarlet in the same "category" as this '87 Vette. She is *clearly* in better shape. But still...!)

Nevertheless... I felt that $5,000 was a bit "aggressive" - given her issues. Had she been *running* when I bought her, then Yeah, Maybe! But she wasn't. Annnnnd... While she was in the shop, Hubs asked the dealer to *also* look into her Oil Leaks and provide an add'l estimate (Again, I'm thinking, *I'm* paying for this!!!).

Well, Long-Story-Short: We got the new PROM (Fed-Ex'd from some Corvette Specialist in Tennessee), got the new ECM (from the Dealer), and got "Estimates" for her 3 oil leaks ($1,600+). I paid for all of that to the tune of >$1,000.00. NOT including repair of the 3 oil leaks!

THEN we started pricing negotiations....

Yes, I did get *some* mileage out of the fact that he told the dealer he was "giving" her to me (as well as the comments on my Facebook post!). I also dredged-up the fact that "Mr. 87 Corvette" only paid $600 for *his* car...

The negotiations were rather comical - in retrospect. Hubs kept mentioning prices which I agreed to (far too readily - hindsight being 20/20!), then when I'd drag out my checkbook, he'd raise the price!!!

We finally settled on $3250.00 - which is acceptable. She still needs her oil leaks addressed, but I can do that at my leisure.

In the meantime, we are attempting to address the A/C leak in "Red." (I may have my friend's son, Chris, try to trouble-shoot that). Annnnnd, I'm trying to sell Albatross - our 16.5' sailboat - so we can clear some space in the driveway....

Initially, I thought I would try to sell CreamPuff, Mom's Sebring Convertible, but she is the "most reliable" car I've got right now - so that would be kinda silly.

I just can't bring myself to part with Red - I love the car too much! Plus, there weren't many Sunfire Convertibles made - so she *might* be worth something, someday... Luckily, my friend, P, has a Mobile Home with an open parking space, so I can park a vehicle there - at least temporarily!

The Fun just Never Stops!!!

Heinz 57... (New Car Blues)

Ketchup - err - Catch-up Time (Get it?! Har-Har-Har!)

Man, I stop blogging for a couple of weeks and all hell breaks loose!

Where to begin? Oh, lets jump back to a couple of weekends ago. DH had been hemming and hawing about Scarlet, his 1988 pristine Garage-Princess Corvette, not running properly. Of course, he'd also been muttering, for months (No - Probably YEARS) about how he wanted to buy a new(er) Corvette... It became, kind-of, an ongoing theme of his and my only take on it was "If you can afford it - Go for it!" (in the meantime, it sort of-almost started to become "background noise" whenever he'd bring it up - because I'd already "memorized the tune!")

(Side-Note: We decided, even before we got married, that it would be best for all concerned if we kept our finances separate. We do go-in together on the Big Ticket items, but we keep totally separate accounts. It's kept everyone out of prison and/or the morgue!)

Well... He took Scarlet in to the Corvette Specialist and was vacillating about whether or not he wanted them to trouble-shoot her issues and finally settled on: "No, just give her a tune-up." They also swapped out her ECM (mind you - I have no idea what that means, but I think it's part of her computerized brain) and that fixed *part* of the problem, but Long-Story-Short, it really didn't completely address her problems.

And, to be fair, she does have 137K miles on her and probably *shouldnt* be relied upon as a Daily Driver. And Willie the Tundra only gets about 13 mpg, so he really isn't very economical for daily use either. I've got Red ('97 Pontiac Sunfire Convert w/144K miles and non-functional A/C!) (But I *love* her!!!) and Cream Puff (Mom's 2002 Chrysler Sebring Convert with low-low miles - but she's kind of an "Old Lady Car!"), and Rog isn't listed as a driver on my insurance policy anyway...

So anyway, weekend before last, there was more of the "Humunha-humunha-I-need-a-new-car" chattering going on. Along with a sprinkling of "I don't think the Corvette Place did very much trouble-shooting on Scarlet."

"Well, you told them not to!"

("Oh yeah!")

Then more humunha-humunha Scarlet's not reliable, I need a newer vehicle, yada-yada... Only now there was a change to the lyrics. Now he's decided that he wants a Brand New car. And, at appx $50K (base model), a new Corvette was not very realistic.

"I think I want a Camaro." (See? I was listening!)

Well, I let him yammer about it for awhile (to see if he was serious. He's *generally* not too impulsive - especially when it comes to parting with large sums of money!). Actually, Hubs has done pretty well with his investments this year, and his stock options have performed *quite* admirably, so he has determined that a New Camaro is within reach... Okay....

"But maybe I should have them try to trouble-shoot Scarlet..." "But I really want a New Car..." "I haven't bought a NEW car since 1985...." "But Scarlet's such a GOOD car..." "But the V6 Camaro is only $26,800 and it gets better mileage..."

:::sigh:::

I let him argue with himself for awhile (No point in me diving into the ring!). In the meantime, I pulled up my company's intranet site to look into vehicle discounts. We do get "Fleet Pricing" with several major automotive manufacturers, so I wanted to see if it would be worthwhile to pursue.

Well, he had printed up the Window Stickers for a couple of specific cars that he was contemplating. I was able to pull up the exact same cars thru the "Discount Pricing" site and it appeared that we could get about $1000 off of MSRP (for the cars he was looking at. The discount was chunkier for the more expensive ones)...

Annnnnnyyyywaaaaayyyy... This must've gone on for a couple of hours, and when he started to ask for my opinion, I totally chickened-out (because sometimes asking for my opinion *really* means it's time to start a lively debate!). "Look, I've printed up these two cars - using my company's fleet-pricing discount - Do you want to buy a new car? If so, let's go, okay?!!"

And off we went. On the way, I did ask about the fate of Scarlet. He indicated that he wanted to trade her in, and that he hoped to get $5,000 for her.

"Not gonna happen. And if it does, that just means they're gonna jack-up the purchase price of the new car."

(Although - since he was a cash-buyer - I don't think they'd have that much "wiggle room" to bury the trade-in in the purchase-price).

"Let's see what they offer you for her. I might be interested in buying her."

('cuz I *need* another friggin' car!!!)

So we went to the dealer with our respective print-outs. We agreed, in advance, that I would keep my "fleet pricing" quiet and let Hubs handle the pricing negotiations. I must say, he did *extremely* well and I didn't have to gnaw my tongue off - not even once during the initial negotiations! They didn't want to wheel-and-deal too much, initially (But c'mon kids - in *this* economy?! Just how many new cars are you selling, anyway? And I couldn't help but notice all those EMPTY LOTS on Auto-Row where NUMEROUS dealers have gone completely kaput!!!). Well, we did end up having to 'fess-up to having a "Fleet Pricing" discount (and I had printed up my 'Approval Code' or whatever), but DH managed to beat the Fleet Pricing, as well - by about $250.00. So Good For Him!

(Our Truck-Shopping Adventure was way more scary than that - but that's a story for another day!)

So then the whole Trade-In discussion started up and, as I predicted, they didn't offer him squat. They were willing to offer $1,000 for Scarlet "As-Is" and Hubs was not happy - at all. However, Scarlet is *not* the kind of car they would feature on their used-car lot. Instead, they'd sell her at some wholesale car auction and she would, undoubtedly, end up at one of those No-Name Used Car Lots in a shady part of town (Happy Jorge's Auto-Rama - "No Credit? No Problem!") Oh, the HORROR!!!

Hmmm... Looks like I might be buying me another car!!!

Anyway... Hands were shaken, and keys were handed over (and - amazingly - we never got locked in "the little room" - nor were we subjected to 'Musical Salesmen'/"Hi, I'm the Sales Manager" yaya-bullsh*t that you normally endure when purchasing a new car), and then we were off to see the "Finance Girl."

Mind you, this is a cash-purchase, but there are papers to review, and contracts to sign, and more opportunities to up-sell sh*t that we don't need! I remembered this routine from when we bought Willie. We got an "okay" deal on the truck - but we totally got raped on the Lo-Jack and Extended Service Plan...

So we're in Finance Girl's Office and there's the whole On-Star Contract ("if you sign-up today!") and the XM Satellite Radio ("Last hot dog in the ballpark!"), and "Roadside Hazard" (which will cover your tires if you get a nail - for *only* $750 - "Are you freaking kidding me???"), and "Paint Protection Plan" (Umm, it's a WHITE car!), and the ubiquitous 72-month Extended Warranty (which is *really* only 36 months - since the car COMES with 36 months Bumper-To-Bumper)

So this is the part where I'm gnawing through the tip of my tongue as Hubs is getting the particulars on each of these "Added Benefits" (and "If you sign-up today, we can use your Fleet Discount to yayayaya..."). I couldn't help but cough -audibly - over the Roadside Hazard Protection ("Umm, you could BUY a whole new set of tires for that!"), but I thought I exercised GREAT restraint!

After about 20 minutes, I couldn't hold my tongue any longer and I suggested, oh so gingerly, that "If you were asking my opinion... Here is what *I* would select..."

I think, the fact that Hubs was paying CASH (as opposed to financing), made him a little more agreeable to money-saving strategies, so he *did* end up taking my suggestions (Whew!). And no blood was shed!!!

So he only got the 72-month Extended Warranty (with $100 Deductible). The XM Radio can be added to my Sirius Account (at a discount) after the initial 3 month-freebie expires. Paint Protection?? Puh-LEEZ! And I think I've said enough about Roadside Hazard Protection! OnStar is on him - if he wants it, he can renew it...

So anyway, we showed-up in one car. We drove home in two.

Hubs was happy and I was - well - a little apprehensive. Looks like I just bought myself a high-mileage "Classic" Car with "Unknown Issues!" And now, for the two of us, we have: 3 Sports Cars, 1 Old Lady Car, 1 Pickup-Truck, 2 Harleys and 1-1/2 Sailboats. Excessive???

Oh, and our house is on a corner lot. Not an "open" corner lot where we've got front-and-side parking! Oh Noooo! It's an "inner" corner where we really only have room for ONE car on the street!

One Very Smart Thing that Hubs did, while we were there: He mentioned that he was gonna have to sell Scarlet on the open market (since - even the salesman agreed - $1,000 Trade-In was not-at-all satisfactory). DH did manage to negotiate a discount on Labor for bringing Scarlet in for trouble-shooting and repair.

We took advantage of that a few days later.

To be continued....................................

Happy Hubs - with his New Toy!

And - GASP - I think I bought Scarlet!!!