OK, that's an interesting I could have done without

iraunink just called. The car started making a noise that concerned her when she was off to the youngest grand-daughter's birthday party on Saturday. She took it in for the mechanic to look at it this morning.

The engine is dead.

A new car was not in the budget for at least a couple of years. IIRC, this one isn't actually paid off until December 2011.

I have no idea how we're going to deal with this.