It's been over a year, but we're finally a two-car family again! Our trusty (or just rusty?) old Focus had been undriveable, sitting untouched on the street in front of the old house. A big part of that was just our laziness about taking it in to get fixed up, but we really haven't had a need for a second car. Even with our long commutes it's easier to carpool. There are occasions every few months of course, like when Julie had to go to Boulder during the day for a freelance client, where it would have been nice to have the second vehicle, but I don't know if that little inconvenience justifies the expense of a second vehicle.

But anyway, we sort of had our hand forced in that respect when we moved; I don't think the new owners of our old place would appreciate having their front curb be the permanent parking spot for our junker. So we had it towed to a local shop specializing in transmissions, since we knew that among its issues was the inability to shift gears. We were prepared for a huge estimate, fully expecting that the transmission was completely shot and would have to be rebuilt. We'd had discussions about how much we'd be willing to pay to fix it up and at what point we'd just decide to donate it for a tax writeoff.

Apparently the automotive gods were smiling on us, however, since it turns out there was nothing wrong with the transmission itself, but some sort of wire controlling the shifting had been chewed through, probably by the rabbit making its home under the car while it was parked on the street for a year. Replacing that wire, and putting in a new alternator to clear up some other electrical issues, and it's running perfectly smooth. We picked it up from the shop last night; it took some adjustment getting used to its relatively sluggish feel again, since we're spoiled with our zippy little Fit, but it's running as well as it ever did.

So now, of course, we need to decide if we really want to keep a second car around or not. We'll probably hang on to it for the short term at least, to see if Julie's new freelancing situation makes it more necessary.