In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Options

Mom agrees she is never driving after dark again

Locust ForkLocust Fork Member Posts: 31,674 ✭✭✭✭
edited January 2014 in General Discussion
I got the call a little bit ago.....Mom thought I would like to hear the silly thing she did today.

She wanted to run up the road and get something from Jacks. She doesn't like to drive at night, but hasn't had any incidents...unless you count earlier today.

She backed out of the garage....did the little turn....and started down the driveway.

She thought "its REALLY dark and the trees seem to be REALLY close to the car." Their driveway is pretty long and there are dogwood trees up each side....BUT...these were not the trees she was meandering around.

She realized that she had somehow gone between two of the dogwoods and was DRIVING AROUND THE FRONT YARD.

Yep....my mom got lost...in her car....in her own front yard.

She went back in and fixed some frozen thing using the microwave.

Too funny!
LOCUST FORK CURRENT AUCTIONS: https://www.gunbroker.com/All/search?Sort=13&IncludeSellers=618902&PageSize=48 Listings added every Thursday! We do consignments, contact us at mckaygunsales@gmail.com

Comments

  • Options
    dcon12dcon12 Member Posts: 31,941 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Locust Fork
    Too funny!


    Not really. Don
  • Options
    LaidbackDanLaidbackDan Member Posts: 13,143 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    She is aware of that little switch she can push that can illuminate her way?
  • Options
    montanajoemontanajoe Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 57,999 ******
    edited November -1
    scarey,,glad she stopped when she did. Yep,time stop.
  • Options
    Locust ForkLocust Fork Member Posts: 31,674 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm just glad she is the one to say "yep...done!"

    My dang father....he is going to be a different story. If there were a cliff nearby I think I'd start calling him Thelma just to see if he "got it."
    LOCUST FORK CURRENT AUCTIONS: https://www.gunbroker.com/All/search?Sort=13&IncludeSellers=618902&PageSize=48 Listings added every Thursday! We do consignments, contact us at mckaygunsales@gmail.com
  • Options
    cranky2cranky2 Member Posts: 3,236 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm glad she gave up before she ran into the house.
  • Options
    CaptFunCaptFun Member Posts: 16,678 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Larry can help you with this. There is one part in the car usually easy to get to that will always keep it from running. My Nana's car it was the rotator arm on the distributor. I pulled that puppy and put a note in there that said. Do not fix this, Nana is not competent to drive and do not tell her this.... and then left my number for them to call for payment for coming out there. Old lady still had her car and her keys, it just did not move.... Most of the folks she called to fix it were very understanding, one or two even refused payment.
  • Options
    Dads3040Dads3040 Member Posts: 13,552 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I was lucky. My Dad and I had gotten GrandDad's Galaxie painted and spiffed up, and then I found it with the passenger side all munched up with yellow paint scraped all over.

    I asked GrandDad what happened, and he didn't know he had driven too close to a light pole base in a grocery store parking lot.

    I was trying to figure out how I was going to get the keys from him, and why did it have to be me, and all of the other things that run through your head.

    Then I heard the keys jingle behind me, and GrandDad said: 'I guess you all will have to drive me around. That could have been a kid I hit, and I wouldn't have known it'.

    We ended up having fights to decide who would take GrandDad to his Knights of Columbus meetings. He had been the state Grand PooBah, and if you were with him, drinks were free! Woo Hoo! We had a bunch of fun hearing about GrandDad when he was young.
  • Options
    JamesRKJamesRK Member Posts: 25,670 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It's not always a matter of age. I voided my wife's driver's license over forty years ago. She still keeps a valid license for identification purposes and she has keys to the car and the truck, and I'd let her drive if we're in extremis with no other way out, but I take her anywhere she wants to go any time she wants to go and sit and wait until she comes out. It's a pain in the butt sometimes, and she finds some place to go every day, but it's better than sitting at home sweating blood until she gets back.
    The road to hell is paved with COMPROMISE.
  • Options
    retroxler58retroxler58 Member Posts: 32,693 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by CaptFun
    Larry can help you with this. There is one part in the car usually easy to get to that will always keep it from running. My Nana's car it was the rotator arm on the distributor. I pulled that puppy and put a note in there that said. Do not fix this, Nana is not competent to drive and do not tell her this.... and then left my number for them to call for payment for coming out there. Old lady still had her car and her keys, it just did not move.... Most of the folks she called to fix it were very understanding, one or two even refused payment.


    Very GOOD idea... I may have to 'unplug' my 80 y.o. Mom's car... too.
  • Options
    Locust ForkLocust Fork Member Posts: 31,674 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Mother normally stays home.....ALL of the time. She will go to her doctor appointments and such, but you really have to TRY to get her to get out of her bedroom. Its really a problem. She has these nutty doctors that give her anxiety meds....and over the years she is nearly what you would call a shut in.

    My sister messed my mother's car up down one side. Its a 2012 Civic that looks perfect on one side and looks like it has been drug down a logging road on the other. I was so mad at my sister for trashing their car....but almost JUST as mad at my parents for letting her drive the car.
    LOCUST FORK CURRENT AUCTIONS: https://www.gunbroker.com/All/search?Sort=13&IncludeSellers=618902&PageSize=48 Listings added every Thursday! We do consignments, contact us at mckaygunsales@gmail.com
  • Options
    Locust ForkLocust Fork Member Posts: 31,674 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by retroxler58
    quote:Originally posted by CaptFun
    Larry can help you with this. There is one part in the car usually easy to get to that will always keep it from running. My Nana's car it was the rotator arm on the distributor. I pulled that puppy and put a note in there that said. Do not fix this, Nana is not competent to drive and do not tell her this.... and then left my number for them to call for payment for coming out there. Old lady still had her car and her keys, it just did not move.... Most of the folks she called to fix it were very understanding, one or two even refused payment.


    Very GOOD idea... I may have to 'unplug' my 80 y.o. Mom's car... too.



    Yep....I'm going to talk to my brother about doing this to a couple cars! (Everyone needs to be on the same page on this one.)
    LOCUST FORK CURRENT AUCTIONS: https://www.gunbroker.com/All/search?Sort=13&IncludeSellers=618902&PageSize=48 Listings added every Thursday! We do consignments, contact us at mckaygunsales@gmail.com
  • Options
    11BravoCrunchie11BravoCrunchie Member Posts: 33,423 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by CaptFun
    Larry can help you with this. There is one part in the car usually easy to get to that will always keep it from running. My Nana's car it was the rotator arm on the distributor. I pulled that puppy and put a note in there that said. Do not fix this, Nana is not competent to drive and do not tell her this.... and then left my number for them to call for payment for coming out there. Old lady still had her car and her keys, it just did not move.... Most of the folks she called to fix it were very understanding, one or two even refused payment.





    It's a shame that many, if not most, cars these days no longer have distributors.

    My wife's car, for instance, has electronically controlled coils, one for every 2 cylinders (V6), and my car has a coil-on-plug ignition system, so it has 8 cylinders and 8 coils.

    I'm trying to think of another way that you could disable a modern car... With our cars, it'd be pretty easy to just swap the keys for another key with the right teeth, but without having the chip inside it programmed. The car will roll over all day long (until the battery dies, anyway), but it'll never start.
  • Options
    Ditch-RunnerDitch-Runner Member Posts: 24,556 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    just pull the fuse to the fuel pump
  • Options
    spasmcreekspasmcreek Member Posts: 37,724 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    switch on the + battery post to the cable..harbor freight #66789 or #97853
  • Options
    shilowarshilowar Member Posts: 38,815 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My Dad said at Christmas that he isn't driving at night anymore. Thankfully he has come to the realization on his own that his night time eye sight has failed him. Soon he will not be able to drive during the day either. He is 79.
  • Options
    lew07lew07 Member Posts: 1,055 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Forgive My saying so and I dont want to scare You needlessly but You might want to keep a watchful eye on Your mother.Im not aware of Her age but some times incidents like this can be the start of other medical issues.Again I apologise if You think Me speaking out of turn.
  • Options
    Locust ForkLocust Fork Member Posts: 31,674 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have been keeping up with her more lately. Its funny how you want to give your parents their privacy.....so you just "suggest" things and try to stay out of their business. BUT....its not until its too late to follow ANYTHING you said to do before you actually get called in to help. (At least that is what has happened here.)
    LOCUST FORK CURRENT AUCTIONS: https://www.gunbroker.com/All/search?Sort=13&IncludeSellers=618902&PageSize=48 Listings added every Thursday! We do consignments, contact us at mckaygunsales@gmail.com
  • Options
    TooBigTooBig Member Posts: 28,560 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    just remember how they felt when you started driving and staying out late. One of the most scared things older folks have is their car and license which gives them independence and one of my classmates mother is 102 and still drives in a small town. He says he wouldn't ride with her but she still drives 0]
  • Options
    Queen of SwordsQueen of Swords Member Posts: 14,355
    edited November -1
    We took away my Dad's "out of town" driving privileges about two years ago (he turned 80 in July). I think he tries to drive by landmarks that have not existed in 20 years. I gave him flawlessly, simple directions to a location in my town and, after putting us all in a panic, he ended up in a town 20 miles away.

    He can still drive himself to the bank, grocery store, the gym, and his doctor's appointments in town, but we wonder how long this will be advisable.

    Sucks watching our parents get old.
  • Options
    use enough gunuse enough gun Member Posts: 1,485 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My Dad is 87 and drives everywhere, drives better than some younger people I know.Dave
  • Options
    skicatskicat Member Posts: 14,431
    edited November -1
    A friend of mine was concerned about his 80 yr old mothers ability to get around in her car but she lived in another state and he just hadn't gotten around to doing anything about it. That sweet old lady got turned around and entered the freeway via an exit ramp and killed a young couple and herself in a headon collison.

    After that I was the son who took my mothers keys. If you think there is a problem then it is already more than likely past the time to act on it.
Sign In or Register to comment.