Throttled and an unfortunate event

No, I didn't decide to take another blog hiatus, I got throttled.  I went over the bandwidth usage limit with my internet service provider and my internet speed was throttled.  As in slowed down so much that a passing turtle gave me wind burns.  As in slowed down to the point that Blogger timed out each time I tried to post.

I was finally unthrottled on Monday and will keep a closer eye on my "Usage Meter" to avoid being throttled again.  Lesson learned.

DH and I went up to Dallas on September 22nd for a quick day trip.  The family was celebrating my dad's 80th birthday with friends, most of whom have known him for over 50 years.  It was a fun time.

On the drive home, we had an unfortunate event occur that reinforced our resolve to never buy/own another Volkswagen product as long as we live.  We were driving along going south on I-45.  We went over a bridge and there was a very slight bump on both sides of it where the concrete bridge meets the asphalt interstate.  

As we hit the bump on the south side of the bridge we heard a bit of a thump and then the Jetta immediately started sounding like it was flying to pieces.  There were growls and groans and shuddery vibrations.  But the engine didn't seem to be losing power, the oil temperature remained steady, and we weren't leaking any fluids.  So we gingerly drove it on home (another hour), being nearly vibrated into next week the whole way.

Monday morning we took it in to DH's mechanic.  Turns out the bracket holding the alternator had broken and fallen off, thus ruining the alternator itself.  When the bracket flew off, it sheared off two of the engine mount brackets (thus the vibrations).  It dented the timing chain cover.  And it may have caused other damage that can't be seen until the mechanic begins repairs.  (Stupid Jetta.)  

The Jetta was supposed to be fixed last week by Thursday at the earliest, or Friday at the latest.  The mechanic had ordered parts that were coming in on Wednesday by truck.  Wednesday morning, the truck got into an accident about two miles from the repair shop.  While the driver was okay, all the parts he was carrying were not.  So the mechanic had to reorder the parts.  Hopefully, it will be fixed before the weekend.  

The Jetta has been a sad disappointment to us.  It has nickled and dimed us to death, needing to go in for one pricey repair or another at least twice a year.  And then there are the cosmetic problems like the headliner completely coming unglued and falling down the third year we had it.  Volkswagen doesn't seem to care.

It does have comfortable seats and gets good gas mileage, but that's about all the good I can find.  It has not been comfortable for our pocketbooks.  Your own Volkswagen mileage may vary.  ;-)

With the Jetta in the shop, DH has been driving my truck to work since then and I have been stuck at the house.  Not a big deal, but it did make DH have to do the grocery shopping last week.  He had to go after work on a Friday.  I could have taken him to work one day and had the truck to myself for grocery shopping, but then I would have had to go back into town to pick him up, thus making two round-trips in one day which goes against the grain of tightwaddery and conserving gas.

I've been stitching and will post a progress picture soon.  My cat finally has a face as I like to backstitch as I go.  I don't hate backstitching like some stitchers, but I don't enjoy it as I'm too much of a perfectionist.  My backstitching never looks good to me even though other stitchers who have seen my work disagree.  Oh well.

LoneStar