Hemorrhaging Cash

 About 10-15 days ago the check engine light was flashing on Annette's van.  This usually means a cylinder is mis-firing.  Turns out we had oil fouled spark plugs on our 6 year old, 90k mile Honda Odyssey.  For the non-mechanical members of our tiny audience, this means that oil is getting into a part of the engine that its not supposed to.  We took the van to the dealership where they told us it would cost $1,000 to tear down the engine and get an independent inspector to evaluate whether or not this problem was covered by the extended warranty.  If it wasn't covered, the cost to rebuild the motor would be around $5300.  We checked with a couple other shops and it seemed like the best direction was to get the dealership started on tearing down the engine hoping that it was covered by our extended warranty. 

Fortunately, Honda decided to cover the cost of rebuilding the motor.  We just had to pay for the timing belt, water pump, oil change and a few other maintenance items that would have to be done at 100k miles anyway.  Total out of pocket was around $1500. 

At this point we thought we were out of the woods.  Little did we know what the 'woods' had in store for us.  

At about 4:30 a.m. Friday May 20, a bolt of lightning struck the 70' tall oak tree in our backyard.  Fortunately the tree is still standing as of the time when I'm writing this blog but its days are numbered.  We had two tree companies come out and take a look.  The first said the job was too dangerous and they referred us to another company.  The second company gave us a price and agreed to take down the tree and haul it away on Monday, May 23.  We are hopeful they're going to get the job done tomorrow because while the tree is still standing all of the girls have been sleeping in the basement.  

The estimate to take down and haul away the tree is around $3500.  We're considering selling tickets to the neighbors to help recoup some of the money.  Holy moly!