Yep! Didn't do much of anything today except check out the car battery in the Honda CR-V, which has been acting like a battery about to go bye-bye. Slow to start, dead on arrival every single time we tow even after just an hour of towing. It's only three and half years old, and should have lasted longer, but maybe it needed replacing. We've been carrying our handy dandy little red charger with us in the car, just in case, but it's time to get the battery checked.
We went to the Napa Auto Care Center in Ellsworth, ME. It's about 30 minutes from our campground. They tested the battery and one of the cells was bad. Time for a new battery for the car! One hundred and seventy-eight dollars later, (117.00 for the battery, 51.00 for the labor, we're good to go. We could have gotten a cheaper battery elsewhere, at a local auto parts store (but the local ones here didn't have insurance to install), or Sears (none near by) or Walmart, or Honda (not very close) but for various reasons satisfactory for our situation, picked a Napa Auto Care Center to do the job. Napa is found easily all over the U.S., so we wanted to be able to find a store quickly and nearby if there's gonna be a problem down the road. They got us in and out quickly, and the car is acting like a new car again. Hopefully, this will help us not have to charge the battery with the handy dandy little red charger every single time we tow. We didn't have to start doing that until two years into towing the car. We don't pull the one obscure, hard to find fuse under the dash--too big a pain in the patootie to do, and we haven't wanted to pay for an extra switch / special fuse fix there is out there for the battery running down during towing, a common problem with the CR-V, at least that's what we've heard. The little red charger has been one of the best darn investments we've purchased since we started on the road. We use it for inflating our bike tires as well.
On the way to the auto care center, Sparky spotted a guy selling.....
MOOSE antlers! Yee-haw! Well now, two years ago, we spent days looking for moose and it took awhile to find a mother and her calf, and they were WA-A-A-Y far away. Sparky got all excited about at least being able to see ANTLERS for the moment. And of COURSE, she had to have her photo taken holding some, much to Eldo's consternation!
Sometimes he finds these photo ops a little embarassing...you know, the guy selling these is trying to make a living, and Sparky isn't the ONLY tourist who wants a souvenir photo of holding big moose antlers, you can be sure of that. Well, Sparky has an answer for that one! (Of COURSE she does, she ALWAYS does! laughs E.) I told the gentleman, I do a blog, and I'll put his name in here, and tell that he sells moose and elk bone chews as well. So here he is, a great sport himself, to let me take his photo with a set of elk antlers. David Gardner is THE MAN!
His business is DOWNEAST DOG CHEWS, Ellsworth, Maine--moose antler, deer antler dog chews, all natural chews made from naturally shed moose and deer antlers. He also sells wild Maine blueberries which are DELICIOUS! Sparky bought some from him yesterday. They are little blueberries, not like the big fat hybrid ones sold in stores. There is no comparison to fresh Maine blueberries vs. store bought ones.
And if you want to buy moose or deer antlers, they are sold by the pound. Sparky looked at some, thinking they would be a GREAT motorhome decoration on the front, going down the road.....(GOOD GRIEF! She's lost her mind! worries Eldo) but the nice rack she looked at was about 995.00. We'll pass....(You are darn tootin' we will! says E. Hmmmmmm, rack, did you say? I know where you can see a nice rack....) ELDO! This is a family blog, remember? :-) He didn't really say that, I'm just teasing....
At any rate, Sparky is very happy to have seen moose antlers up close and personal...Thank you, Mr. Gardner. This is as close to being a moose as we're gonna get, most likely. And as close as ANYBODY wants to get or should get, I'm sure! See you later!
