Rust, Rats, and a Reminder

I'm probably the only person in the country who seriously DOESN'T want a new car. I don't like switching cars and tend to drive mine until they're on the verge of death. My last car was 2 years old when I bought it, and 18 when I sold it (poor Merrie Grace couldn't manage the hills around here any more, but I sold her to people who lived in a flatter part of the state and just needed a second car for the wife). The car I have now, a Mazda Protege that I love, was 2 when I got it and is 12 now. And the car stills runs great, so I'd hoped to keep it for another couple of years. But then there is this:

 Rust--the scourge of New York State. It is caused by the salt they put on the roads to deal with the ice during the winter, and it eats away at cars like nothing else. Bah. There's quite a nice breeze through the bottom of that door, and the other side doesn't look much better.

My plan had been to replace the car before winter, but I've run into a snag: there are very few decent used cars available (due to the crappy economy and living in a small area with limited options to begin with and a bunch of people who can't afford to replace their cars until they're in the same state mine is in) and the few that are out there that are on my "list" [Mazda 3, Honda Civic or Fit, Nissan Versa...but only some years, Ford Focus, ditto, and the Hyundai Elantra] are priced almost as high as the new cars.

So I broke down yesterday and actually test drove a new Honda Fit. It was quite nice, actually, but I can't deal with the thought of paying full price for a new car (nor, honestly, can I afford to). At the moment, it looks like I'm going to try and get through another winter with my trusty rusty Mazda and hope for better results in the spring. But it is kind of discouraging.

As is the fact that I heard a noise in the walls a couple of weeks ago, so I put the rat traps out in the basement again. I checked them every day for a week, and nothing, so I figured it was a mouse. Went down last night to pick them up, and out of the four I put out, one had a dead mouse (sorry buddy), one was empty, and one had a rat in it. DAMMIT. So now I'm back to putting down traps and checking them daily, and hoping that lone rat was somehow one that just wandered in by mistake, no relation to the outbreak I had earlier in the year. (On the bright side, I haven't heard any more noises.]

What's that? Oh, you caught that, did you. Yes, I put down four traps and only told you about three. Why? Because the fourth one DISAPPEARED. Yes, you heard me. It's just GONE. VANISHED. I checked the entire basement, and I can't find it. So now I have visions of some rat with a trap on its tail, dragging the thing back off into the walls. Seriously, no clue. And it is freaking me out a little.

On a more positive note, my last (sniffle) online class, the "Crystals & Gemstones" workshop that runs Monday 23-25 is filling up fast, which makes me happy. I just finished writing it up, and I think it is going to be a lot of fun. I've got mixed feelings about giving up the classes, but I just don't have time for them now that the writing career is taking off. Don't forget to sign up soon if you wanted to take the class. Class registration
You can also still sign up for the ongoing Sabbats class if you missed it. We only have the last three Sabbats of the year to go, but all the info for the first 5 is still available, including rituals, recipes and more.

So, you have any interesting "R" words going on in your life this week?