Category: blessed

Sturdy.

The pickup turned over 143,000 miles this morning. That’s 230,136 kilometers. Not that far in terms of distance. It’s quite some distance in terms of time, reliability, and, well, companionship.

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It is a 1999 model year Mazda B2500. The 2500 denotes its 2.5 liter engine, which I learned many years ago is a little small to pull a 3000 pound vehicle. It has been a light duty truck best suited to hauling a few sheets of plywood or sheet rock, several 4×4 posts, what have you.

I had always wanted a pickup. This one fit my wants and wants, so I bought it – in 2000. It has almost always been the secondary vehicle which is why it has so few miles for its age. It still fits my needs.

It has some rust. A few dash lights are out, the a/c died years ago. And yet it has been a largely reliable partner for approaching 20 years. I might lift a glass and smoke a cigar to mark having such a sturdy vehicle for so long.

A tree for Achilles.

You may remember that we let go of Achilles, aka Chili Dog, earlier this year.

Our vet clinic is in a network which gives people who let go of a pet, buy and plant a tree in the pets’ memory. So there’s been an informal ceremony every October since the year 2000. The municipality generously allows this to happen in a public park. We’ve planted trees for BoJo, Kendal, and Stella. So of course we bought a tree for Achilles. I put in a request for specific species, a Red Oak (Quercus rubra), which is native to both Texas (where he and I came from) and Ontario.

The ceremony was today and it’s a fine October day – mostly sunny, cool, and breezy. I was very, very pleased to find a healthy Red Oak sapling tagged with Chili’s name. So we planted it. It was no trouble at all, just like Achilles was. It’s near Stella’s and Kendal’s trees.

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I may not live long enough to sit in its shade. That’s fine.

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. -Greek proverb