Hurtstang

We had a good visit with Mom today. She is doing well and seemed upbeat and happy! We did a few things for her around the place, and she was quite happy to have Ken trim the shrubbery. (I can’t use the word ‘shrubbery’ without thinking of the Knights Who Say Ni!) After that we sat out on her porch and enjoyed the breeze and chatted a bit. Now we’re just hanging out at home and watching other college games while we wait for the ND-Michigan game. Oh, and thanks for the horseradish cheese, Mom! We’re going to try some of that tonight!

Ken started the ball rolling with the insurance claim on the car today. The appraiser will be coming on Monday to check it out, and we’ll go from there. Ken got a copy of the police report online, and all culpability is given to the truck that hit him. The police report also estimates the damage at $5,000-$10,000. GAH!

I’m not surprised, though. I took a closer look at it when we got home from Mom’s. (Click on picture to embiggenate.) I’m no expert in how much it will all cost, but I had two uncles who ran body shops for decades, and my cousin still runs one of them. The entire door will have to be replaced, and I’m guessing the rear panel will also need to be replaced, because it’s got a large dent near the door and several fairly deep gouges over the wheel well. The front panel will probably not need to be replaced, but I think they’ll probably still paint it. With all of that, the repair costs could really be up there.

In fact, because there are so many miles on his car, it’s entirely possible that it might be totaled. If that happens, my cousin might not get the repair business from us! But we’re just going to wait and see what we hear from the appraiser. We’ve just been speculating about different scenarios and vehicles, but before we get too deep into that, we’ll have to see what the estimated damage is.

Taking a closer look made me feel a little ill. First and foremost, it really could have been so much worse...for Ken. He came out relatively unscathed. Just a small cut on his hand (he picked a shard of glass out of his scalp this morning), and some generalized aches and pains. He’s been taking Advil to help with that, and he’s okay. He had a little chip on his glasses—thank science he was wearing them, because a piece of glass could have gone into his eye!—and he will talk to the claims adjuster to see if new lenses are covered. I would think they would cover that. It’s not on the edge, it’s right in his line of sight, and that would bother me. It makes you think about how close things can be, and how our mortality is sometimes just inches away. Our friend Lisa expressed something close to that, about “inches and seconds,” and she is so right.

That’s the main thing, and I know that a car is just a car, and can be repaired or replaced. But Mustangs are special. I’m driving my fourth one (“Slick”), and Ken got his (“Blacky”) the year after I got mine. I love Mustangs like no other car, and to see Blacky all scraped up and dented, his side mirror hanging down with its guts exposed...well, it just hurts my heart. Blacky has been a faithful companion and has delivered us safely to Florida several times. He’s been to Chicago, Indianapolis, “Woodbury,” and various other spots near and far. Seeing him all banged up like that just makes me feel so sad. I hope it works out that we can get him fixed up. “We can rebuild him!” If not...well, we’ll cross that bridge IF we come to it.

In the meantime, Team Nutwood is hangin’ tough!

GO IRISH!