Groundhogs in Jersey? What, you have no deer to decimate your garden?
I miss the farmstands in Hudson, NY we used to buy from. Now, it is the once a week CSA, Whole Foods, Morth Williams, Amazon Fresh, or the guys on the street corners selling a large variety of fruits and veg.
The deer tend to stay content with wiping out the hostas in the front yard; only once have we seen one venture into the back yard (accesable only by walking down the drive past the van, or jumping a fence from the next yard over). But the groundhogs will go anywhere.
And just last night, I almost hit a 4-point buck that ran in front of me as I was driving to pick up dinner.
I must drive faster than you do.
I generally have to dodge the doe (or does) that is/are running away from the buck at this time of year.
At least here in WI if we hit one we can have the cops tag it so we can haul it home and try to recover any venison that is not destroyed. The last one I hit was able to run away (Iām sure it died later since I was doing 55). I had a big Dodge Ram on my back bumper so I couldnāt brake or I was going to be a deer/truck sandwichā¦
This is a pretty busy crowded road; 25mph speed limit. There was just a bigger break between me and the car in front of me than between some of the other cars. Didnāt see any does. At least he was smart enough to judge traffic.
And trust me, out in the country, Iād be driving considerably faster than 20-25. 
Just got back from a 75 mile drive in my taxi 
All good. Mechanic wants it back tomorrow to check his work, but wanted some miles on it first. All good. 
The issue was a brake hard line failure (corrosion). Parts arenāt made anymore so it had to be made by hand using NiCopp lines. Front to back, 100% replaced. Add in calipers, pads, and rotors for the front as well. 17 hours of work, over 3 days.
OMG, the cost of labor alone might sink you.
Shop rate is $175 an hour. They did it for much less as a favor to one of their best customers. The owner did a lot of the work himself.
Just the brake line portion of the project was $1700. Tack on another $1100 for the calipers, rotors, and padsā¦. So yea, stupid expensive. Hard to toss a car like this in the garbage because of brakes thoughā¦. Calipers were original (1996). It was time, even though they were working just fine. The bleed niple broke off due to corrosion when they went to bleed the brakes after the new lines were in. Thatās why they had to be done. If youāre doing the calipers, you have to do pads. If youāre doing pads, you need to do rotorsā¦. Blah blah blahā¦. But itās true. Gone are the days where you can just resurface (cut) rotors.
The rears were done 3 years ago so all good there. Keep in mind that this car gets driven less than 1,000 miles a year.
My Subaru Dealer is up to $275 an hour. 7.5 hours of labor for the clutch on that last week. Plus $1200 in parts (Clutch, Pressure Plate, Throw Out Bearing, Pilot Bearing, Flywheel)ā¦..
Labor is nuts in the NYC area, as Iām sure you knowā¦.
Time to move??? Nah.
I understand. I had to give up my dearly beloved 1993 Mercedes 300E a few years ago when a needed replacement of the electrical system far exceeded the value of the car.
Giving up 450 a month in garage fees was also part of the decision process.
Not bad. My shop said I needed a new exhaust for my 2011 suv (200k miles, factory original), They made it on site for half the price same day, cause they are also an exhaust shop! Will now outlast the vehicle, but also means no new car payment and no app!
I didnāt realize how big this thing got this summer until we hauled it inside for the winter with a hand truck. For fun, stuck it on a postal scale - 72.4 lbs. Itās absolutely enormous and may be already outgrowing its new pot from less than a year ago.
PS - Itās got 14 flowers on it, or coming up from the inside in October, and itās been outside with lows in the 40ās lately. Not looking forward to the daily misting / every other day watering to keep it happy. It had a timer automatic drip line outside since Mayā¦.
Iāve never seen a peace lily remotely this large, or with this many flowers. It had 2 dozen at one point in July.
ETA - Iāve since really cleaned it up (removed any yellowing leaves). It looks nice. Miracle Grow next week. I do that on a calendar-reminded 5 week interval.
