Homestead

You just have to love the moments in time when you look at things and just roll your eyes and go whatever.

Just before Christmas, killed Bambi on the way home from work. Cosmetic but still about $2000 to get it fixed right.

Get a call last Saturday from my mom. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and was given 6 months, maybe a year to live. OK, call the brother in Edmonton and off we go to the coast to get her house sold and finalize a bunch of stuff so she can live out here in Alberta between my brother and I.

Sunday morning, leave the driveway to head up Highway 22 to Edmonton. 25 minutes out, drill Bambi's brother.....more damage but she runs and has one headlight working so mom is more important.....off we go.

Sunday night on the Snow shed hill on the Coquihalla, the old girl dead pedals and the APPS dies at 70 mph in a snow storm towing a 16 ft cargo trailer. Good old AMA tows the whole mess into Chilliwack and I get them to dump it in the Wal-mart parking lot.

Monday morning, search high and low for an APPS. Quoted anywhere from $900 to $2000. Told everyone to stuff it and had one overnighted out of Cochrane for $600. APPS is ordered, head over to the truck to take it apart just to get a head start for the next morning. When I get there, truck has 2 flat tires and some idiot stole the center caps off the factory wheels. Off I go to the tire shop to get the flats fixed.

Tuesday morning, Purolator arrives with the APPS. Scoot down to the truck to install it. No problems there, clear the codes with the Smarty, reset the APPS and fire it up. Away she goes with no issues except, I now have no fuel pressure. I carry an extra filter and pump so no big deal, change the filter. No difference so I just swap out the pump, 20 minutes later she is running with 16 psi at idle.

Wednesday morning I head outside to move the truck and trailer to continue loading. No go, batteries are dead. Best we can figure is one of the Bambi kills took out the passenger battery and it finally dragged down the drivers. 2 new batteries later and we are good to go.

Thursday morning, we leave Chilliwack at 5 am. Trailer is loaded to the brim with everything and then some. Come blazing in to Kamloops about 3 hours later, hit the card lock for fuel and then nothing. Truck wouldn't start, cranked just great but nothing else. We checked anything and everything. I pulled the Smarty out and checked for codes The grim reaper 0216....VP is dead. Call the dealer, they have one in stock. Call an old friend from my Kamloops days, he has an empty bay and we can install the VP there. 4 hours later we are on the road, truck is purring like a kitten.

Rolled in late Thursday night. Of course with all the snow we have here and with the chinook temps we have been having while we were gone, I pulled into the driveway and promptly got the unit stuck and stuck good.

It's still sitting there as I type this. The neighbour is coming over tomorrow to yank it out so in the meantime I drink!

So anyone want to buy a used truck? Don't worry, I'm keeping the old tub.

There's my story, what's your bad luck story?

Jeff

winkdemon

well that sucks man , sorry to hear about your mom , and all the stuff going on . i have one tho , running my old 1st gen , this was in ontario , we got ,1 feet of snow the night before , i was cleaning the drive way with the tractor , hyd pump went on the tractor , 1500 ,,, on the way to get the pump some one rear ended me, bumper right side tail light and box rear repair , 1000,,, got back the the house 6 hours later . took a ran at the drive way ended up in the field below the house . stuck lol. fixed the tractor to finish the driveway , then pulled the truck out , when doing that my dad backed in to the truck broke the grill ,150,, at this point i am ****** off , so the truck is out , and my dad is going up the driveway with the tractor and slides off the drive way and hits a survey steak . and now the tractor needs a tire . 1000

so the day ended up costing
1500 hyd pump
1000 body work
150 grill
1000 tire
50 case of beer
-------------------
3700

what a day

Scotty

You already know mine but here it is...This summer, my step dad falls on a clay pot and gets a small nick in his elbow. Supposed to go to the city for a check up with respirologist [sp?] after the wknd. On Sunday night his arm is swelling up. On Monday at the lung doc, he is told to go to the emergency and is admitted. His arm is RED from fingers to elbow...and spreading fast...so fast the skin is splitting. IV drugs and tests...nothing found but the IV is working and he is feeling better. Day 3 they say he can go home on Thurs. I get a call to come to the renal unit asap as his kidneys failed. I was the last to talk to him and he passed on Friday. I go home Friday afternoon, my neighbor to the south pulls up, gets out of his truck and walks towards me...collapses in my arms bawling. He just came back from identifying his 18yr old daughter...was killed in a car crash...I learn that one of the other kids was my buddies nephew. Then I get an email that a good friend of mine in Calgary took his life and then I get a call that another friend died in Okotoks. Then, when ya think its over we get a call that a good friend of ours lost her niece in a wreck coming home...texting. Theres still more...During the time my step dad is in the hospital, their house sells, they accept the deal and start planning to move to the city. He dies on his 70th birthday month and mom gets the mortgage paid out by insurance...if he had passed a month later...there would be no insurance...he left her a nice gift.

So we have to arrange a funeral, find my mom a place and move her to town while all this other stuff is happening. I am over at my neighbors to the north visiting and the gal says she does not feel well. I go out of town and the day I get home theres cars all over the block...police, ambulance etc. She died...woke up, coughed and bled out from a bowel problem. 6 wks to the day after she died, he died making coffee from a brain aneurysm.

That 9 wks was by far the most trying and painful we have experienced. During all of this I am postponing a surgical repair of my torn tendons in my right arm...half hoping they will heal. Then when I know and the doc knows I need to get them fixed...the date I had gets bumped to January 15 and guess what...I got bumped again...on the list for next week now.

Talk about trying stuff. Jeff, I know how that goes with a truck...my 04 did that to me...one thing after another after another and all right between Christmas and New Years in North Dakota. Keep in touch man.

Scotty

Homestead

The truck to me is totally irrelevant. In a situation where it is family involved, I'll do what it takes. I was prepared to buy a new truck at one point just to continue on.

Family is all that matters to me.

With regards to my mom, she's strong and one hell of a fighter. She has already said she is not going to cave in, it's all or nothing to the end.

It hasn't hit me yet but it will and it will hit hard.

But hey, right now the truck runs, doesn't go anywhere being it's stuck but it runs I told mom about it and she just laughed.

Jeff

Lil Dog

You guys are a strong bunch to take on all that. Makes all the other worries of the day just seem so small.

Dr. Evil

Very sorry to hear Jeff - all my best Brother. Stay positive.

hotdram

Sorry to hear about your mom's diagnosis Jeff. My wife (35 y/o) just had a needle biopsy on her breast 2 days ago and we are waiting the results, benign or malignant. Lately, I have been praying like you wouldn't believe, I will add your family to the prayers.

~Rob

Homestead

Hey Rob

My fingers are crossed for your wife. I know about the praying, we all have the "won't happen to me" thing. It sounds like they are going to catch it in time.

Mom's case is just to far gone to do anything about. It's a fast growing tumor that is unrelated to smoking, we can all get this one. Unfortunately in her case, other than treatments (radiation and such) there is nothing they can do. I figured they could just remove the lung but it's past that stage. It's strange, 6 months ago, there was nothing on her x-rays and I mean nothing, not a mark or blip or anything. Now, it's a totally different scenario, you wouldn't know it was 6 months.

But she is strong, I actually just talked to her a few minutes ago. I'm heading back down there tomorrow morning to finish finalizing things and get the house listed for sale. I'm taking the mini van this time I'll leave the old Cummins home this time.

Jeff

DODGER BOMBER

wow and i though Life was tough for me. Sorry to here all. Best of luck to both.

P Kennedy

Sent you a PM but why did you move in under my black cloud! Just kidding great place and hope things get better. PK

greenworks

WOW it is amazing the things we go through and some how continue on.

I have the patience of a knat when it comes to broken parts when I need to get somewhere in a hurry.

My Apps went again yesterday in my truck, I went for the kit that Tim (timbo1 I think) sells on the DTR it was around 220 CAN shipped from the US, everyone is saying it is much more solid than the dodge junk. I'll let you know

Hope everything is going well since Jeff.

Scotty your story is hard to even comprehend, I hope all the familes are doing ok after that bunch of events

J

Dr. Evil

Also sorry to hear about your situation Scotty - wishing you and the family my best...

And Rob too...

hotdram

Thanks everyone for the well wishes, thoughts and prayers. They worked. Got the good news late this afternoon: totally benign
I have never been so happy/relieved/thankful in my life.

~Rob

HDBeauty

Sorry to hear about all of that Jeff...I definitely have my fingers crossed for you!

Shayne

Scotty

Excellent news!!!