Saturday, December 09, 2006

I'm so darn cheap

I'm so darn cheap, it costs me. Paper towels. I buy the cheapest paper towels you can get. And then I make sure I totally run out before I buy more and then try to go without for as long as possible. Then when I get my next roll it is like a luxury.

"You need a new truck!" Jane said. (Jane was my girlfriend after Samantha.) "No I don't!" I said. "Yes you do Don! You can afford it!" "There's nothing wrong with my truck, plus I don't owe anything on it and know how to fix it." "It's old!" "No it isn't, It's cool." (1979 Ford F250) "This here's a real truck! do you know what a new truck like this would cost?" I asked.

Lovely as she was, Jane had no sense when it came to money, and clearly didn't know a good truck when she saw one. She was from Montana but I think she had spent too much time in California. I think she just didn't like yellow.

Some people just don't understand when it comes to trucks. Scott had been a sergeant in desert storm, and worked for us for a while. He was from New Jersey. One night I helped him work on his Jeep Cherokee which was broken down. I don't think he had much respect for me until I helped him fix his rig. He wasn't much of a mechanic. We took my truck to the parts store.

"What the heck is this!?" he asked. "It's a cowboy hat holder." I repsonded. "Haven't you ever seen one?" He couldn't stop laughing. "You've got to be kidding me!" Weren't his exact words.

I guess they don't have cowboy hat holders in New Jersey.
It's spring loaded. You put your hat in it upside down.

4 comments:

GrewUpRural said...

Trust me, being from the Mid-Atlantic, there is no such thing like this in Jersey.

Anonymous said...

I get the same comments (it's old! get a new one!) about my Jeep, and while I would like to get a newer vehicle I also want to be on more stable financial footing before I buy one.

Yellow is a "loud" color on a vehicle as big as a pick-up truck. I used to date a fellow whose pride and joy was his 1959 Chevy pick-up, which he had painted bright dandelion yellow.

I've seen cowboy hat holders, I just haven't seen anyone use them.

don said...

I don't have a cowboy hat, but I do have a felt Stetson fedora that I've worn in the woods from time to time. It's been in the hat holder.

Yes it is kind of loud. It might be the reason I've never been in a wreck with it. People see me coming.

don said...

'59 Chevy truck, cool. Even though I'm a Ford truck man. I have to share a truck story.

When I was at Montana State in Bozeman, I had a friend who drove a '66 Ford pickup. The guy was a serious cowboy and crazy when it came to driving, skiing and pretty much everything else. His truck had a big V8 in it and went really fast. It was a real sleeper to say the least. We got in a drag race with some guys in a Z and blew them away. Right on the main street of Bozeman.