Turbo

Last weekend we ran out of propane for the grill - this is a crisis situation, as I don't cook much without using the grill. Last weekend the turbo went out on the truck, too. What a disaster! We were 'rolling coal' and we really are not that kind of people!

Our truck keeps this farm mobile. We don't use it as a daily driver, don't run errands that could be done with another vehicle, but without that truck we are farm-bound.

Generally the truck stays hitched up to the Glick, ready to transport the horses at a moment's notice or pick up hay, easily fitting 30 bales and getting up to 50 in that trailer.

He researched what was actually wrong with the truck, looked at how-to YouTube videos, endless opinions and options on open forums. He set the plan in motion, three trips to various local Ford dealers and one Sunday special delivery.

We both have been dealing with some kind of head cold, lingering cough, congestion, sore throat thing, which is wearing us down. We ain't as young as we used to be and bouncing back is not very quick or bouncy.

We got this truck the day after Christmas, 2003. Brand new from Miller Brothers, a local Ellicott City institution going back when cars were first invented. As a child my uncle would look at cars at this dealership on Sundays, when, by law, they were closed.

This truck was literally hand-picked, with an internet sale making the car-buying experience completely painless. The warm-fuzzy continues to this day with the salesman, Joe Wyatt. I believe my husband was relieved that he was married to a closet redneck: This was one honking beast of a truck. He had successfully talked me out of getting the 'dually', the model I had said I wanted for years while driving the Chevy 3500. Cooler heads prevailed and we've loved this truck since the moment we started it up.

We've driven the truck, while pulling a trailer, to Canada, to North Carolina's beaches, to Kentucky and all parts local. It's been a great truck for us. The truck is 22 feet long, and had everything we wanted (heated leather seats, electric windows) and all the power you'd need to pull a hill hauling live-weight horses.

I can recite the spec's: 2004 F-350 Turbo-diesel 6.0 crew cab long-bed, True Blue over Arizona Beige 4X4. As I said, a honking big-assed truck.

It was also a bone of contention, back in the day. He didn't want me to get a horse until the truck was paid for. I doubled up the payments and removed all the obstacles in my way. The sale of the 1989 Chevrolet 3500 helped finance the new truck purchase, too.

We have three trailers, all have to be pulled by this truck. The truck is a work horse; when we play it works for us.

He spent evenings and much of the weekend up under the hood, getting compression bruises from laying on top of the engine assembly. The truck is essential, but he is the master-mind and glue that holds this place together and afloat.