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March License Plate ReportMarch 31, 2007 Pretty good haul for March: Iowa, North Carolina, Illinois, and New Mexico. Iowa didn't turn up till June last year. That brings the year-to-date total to 30 -- actually 29 if you don't count D.C., but I lived there for 11 years so of course I do. Uhura Mazda passed inspection this past Wednesday. Usually I get the job done earlier in the month, but what with moving 'n' all I left it to the last week. I hauled the vacuum outside along with assorted other supplies and gave her interior a good cleaning on Sunday. Ever since the inspector threatened to flunk Tesah Toyota because of the canine noseprints on her windshield I've figured that cleanliness might tip the balance, especially once your vehicle gets into the age bracket where flunking is a definite possibility. Tesah first flunked when she was 12 and then every year thereafter -- the ailment was different each time, but it always cost about $300 to make an honest pickup of her. Uhura is now 10, but for nearly 49,000 miles she lived off-island and if she ever went down a dirt road I'd be surprised. She just hit 75K. Wednesday, driving over to Cars Unlimited for a 2:40 appointment, I tested the horn. Didn't work. Kept testing it, down the dirt road, Old County Road, the Edgartown Road. Not a beep, not a bleep, not a honk. I resigned myself to flunking: Uhura's due for an oil change and Larry's crew can fix the horn while they're at it. Somewhere along the way I learned not to cop to your failings till they're too glaringly obvious to ignore so I handed over my registration and my 29 bucks and acted as if my inspection candidate was in perfect working order, all the while working out what I'd say when the mechanic drove her up with a red "R" in the lower corner of the windshield on Rhodry's side: Ha. I had no idea. Guess it's been a while since I used it. Better get it fixed: summer's coming. Imagine my surprise when the proprietor himself drove up, got out, and said, "You're all set." The report said "Horn: Funct." Maybe they'd forgotten to test it? That was more luck than I'm accustomed to -- although, true, the signs have been good lately: only the day before I'd gone to the dentist for my semiannual cleaning and checkup, hoping I didn't need a root canal and wondering how I'd pay for it if I did, and not only did I not need a root canal, I don't have to go back till my next cleaning in the fall. Leaving the barn a few hours later, I tried the horn again. HONK! Oh yeah. There's a trick to this horn, and I'm always forgetting what the trick is. Tesah beeped if you just brushed against the steering wheel getting in or out. Uhura needs coaxing, and if you press on either of the two horn symbols that the Mazda/Ford people considerately embossed on the steering wheel you'll get no response. Press well below the symbols, at the bottom of the compartment that supposedly holds the driver's side airbag, and HONK! So I'm ready for summer traffic after all, and I didn't really get away with anything. But I've still got that feeling that I'm on a roll.
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