Car Troubles in Mexico

 This is probably going to be a short one.  First...KITTEN!

The Cat Distribution system WILL get it done.  It goes to great lengths.  Because we did not want another cat.  There were many strays outside vying for positions in the home, for the expensive (relatively, cat food is in sachets here not cans) cat food, love, and comfort.  But we kept all the outdoor cats outdoors.  A system that worked well for Scrappy, who will not abide a second cat in the home.

Then...there was a worker over fixing the drainage in our back garden that the tree roots had destroyed.  All day long I kept hearing a cat crying.  I went out twice trying to find the source, but I couldn't go in back because of the workers and equipment.

Once they left:  THE HORROR.  A tiny four week old kitten was in our dirt container things surrounding the back patio.

Now:  This is Mexico, and these are 'Terraced' houses (if you're British).  Basically our house is in a row of connected houses that share at least one wall with the house next to you.  Behind our back garden are more houses completely enclosing it.  

So how did this kitten get there?  It was a tiny baby, clearly still with its mother.  

Well...either it fell off one of the surrounding roofs (unlikely since he wasn't injured) or his mother was transporting her kittens from one location to the next and...kind of forgot him.

WE. DIDN'T. WANT. ANOTHER.CAT.

We were waiting for Scrappy to live out her twilight years so we could look forward to a no pet period of traveling.  Also--Scrappy is violent.  Every time we tried to invite a new cat, no matter how carefully, she would always attempt murder.  Often lulling them into a false sense of security before catching them unawares and tearing their faces off.

But WTF were we going to do?  This was a baby.  If we left him outside he'd die.  :(

So.  I took him upstairs and set up a boundary to keep him locked away from Scrappy.  We tried a few times to introduce them, hoping she would have mercy on a baby, but no.  She's as violent as ever in the beginning.  

After a month and a half, with his scent permeating the house, and him more than doubling in size and no longer being contained, she has accepted her fate.  She still hisses and scratches him when he comes near, but she's not actively hunting him.  

Scrappy has mellowed in her old age.

And Frijole has wormed his way into our hearts.  I never knew I could love another baby so much.  ;_;  He is a little ray of darkness to brighten our lives.  And his grandma adores him too.

But seriously...he's grown like a weed.

So...the Cat Distribution System wins in the end, and I don't think it's a coincidence that he appeared LITERALLY a day after I posted about how our elderly cat (23 years old now) wouldn't be around for much longer.  It was like I was ASKING FOR IT.

And now on to the Title Story.

Our 2017 Chevy Equinox kindly drove us down to Mexico.  A 5 day trip, loaded with belongings.  But what do we do?  Let her rot in our parking space.  No oil change.  No tune-up.  :sigh:

Now 7 months later I decided to go to the beach.  Yay!  A free day to recharge my batteries after writing multiple scripts one after the other in an attempt to finish my current game serial so I can focus on more profitable projects.

Never made it to the beach.  The car started stalling in traffic.  -_-  Horrifying.

We limped to an oil change place and they changed our dirty oil, cleaned all the sand that infiltrated us (beach town woes) and replaced our spark plugs.  

Great!  I'm sure that was the problem.  Let's continue as normal.

We manage to go shopping (at Sams Club again because we're spoiled assholes) and as I'm leaving Sams Club, not only does she start stalling again, but the CHECK ENGINE light is on!

We get into AutoZone to run the diagnostic and get a printout.  They tell us to have a mechanic check before we buy any parts.  Okay.

Well.  I don't want to deal with this.  I don't want to drive a car that stalls at every stop sign to whatever mechanic there is, sit all day with it, struggle, etc.

ADVANTAGE MEXICO:  We have a Mexican for that.

My neighbor took the car and is dealing with everything.  He will be well paid.  This is someone we trust and we appreciate so much that he will deal with the mechanics instead of us.  

He's the kind of guy who will refuse payment for helping you and you have to force it on him.  Sometimes by buying him take out food and hiding the money in the bag when you give it to him.  :p  Did that twice.

But he's definitely going to get at least $200USD for all this shit he's doing today.  x_x  I just don't want to deal with it.  I want my car to work again!

Here's hoping we don't keep having problems.  He said Chevy Equinox's get all shitty at this age, but we have low miles, y'know?  Only 130,000 kilometers (we flipped it to metric).  So...that's not much, right?  

I'm hoping we can have it survive at least 4 more years until we get permanent residency, then I can buy a new car if I need to.

In the meantime, Fingers Crossed!