It’s cold here….record setting….and the vehicles might find that hard to deal with.
I set out for work yesterday, and 5 miles into the trip, my alternator stopped working.
The “check guages” light in the Jeep came on, the indicator needle went down a few notches….and then it went down as many notches as it could….and when it hit bottom, the guage stopped moving altogether.
What was I to do?
What to do?
I drove to the auto parts store…..and asked him if he could check my alternator.
But….to check the alternator, the car has to be running….and since I’d shut it down to go into the store and the car wasn’t running, he couldn’t check the alternator.
So….he checked the battery, and it was completely drained in the 4 miles I’d driven after the alternator quit working.
So……(so, so, so..) I called Jenny and she helped me get an online order in for another battery (I saved $50.00 doing it like that…..so much a cheapskate…)….I installed the battery in the bitter cold of winter….bittter, bitter cold…in the parking lot of the parts store…..started the car….the kid inside put on his scarf and arctic gear, he came outside and checked the car….and said, “You need an alternator.”
The crappy alternator was 130.00 …..the reasonably good on was 260.00…..the better “good” one was about 300.00.
The last one I purchased I bought used for 30.00.
I went to the junkyard to buy another one for 30.00.
It was a “no brainer”.
(And you know….it just hit me….just now….that so many of the times when I seek out the “no brainer’s”….that the results are eventually going to come back to bit me….some really cold morning, the results bite me…. I don’t know how well “no brainer” is working for me.)
And….you know what?
The alternator that is so common and cheap….the one that the junkyard….er, auto recycler….always has….was sold out!!
AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
The guy helping me couldn’t believe it, either.
But he gave me a tip about a place that I could take it to and have it rebuilt….said the guy used good quality parts and that it was a lot cheaper than buying one of the crummy parts store alternators.
That sounded good to me, so…..
I went back home, parked the Jeep, got the old alternator that the guy at the “auto recyclers” had suggested I keep and have rebuilt….”just in case”….(which was a genius suggestion that I, of course, didn’t follow..)….loaded everybody up in the minivan…”everybody” because it was too cold and dangerous for school….too icy, still….and we went out to Mills River to drop off the alternator.
A couple of hours later, the part was fixed.
The resolution to these problems is so much gentler than the way the problem first presents itself.
I spent some money, got some parts, and the problem is fixed.
It sure does feel dire when the weather is this cold, though.
And, if something never works, it’s easy to never expect it to work.
When the “faithful” break down, you never know what’s going to happen next.
My world was rocked yesterday….in sub-freezing (that sounds SUPER DRAMATIC!!! But….it’s true….”sub-freezing”…..wow….) temperatures.
Last night, I guess that I had a different sort of experience.
I wake up to all sorts of different weirdnesses.
We have little kids again….so the opportunity for the random event increases everyday.
When I woke up, Sparrow was in the middle of the bed (again….it was a cold night….about 7 degrees) and she was mewling a little bit.
Not “terrified mewling”….more apprehensive, “why did you wake me up…..and what is that” kind of mewling.
Not “I’M FREAKING OUT!!! I’M A BABY!!! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?!!” mewling….more like “gentle rain” sort of mewling…..just a little midnight cry out….just loud enough to wake the parents up.
(“Mewling” …it just hit me what a funny word that is….)
I must have woke up a little bit behind Jenny….because when I woke up, I heard Jenny softly telling Sparrow, “Shhhhhh…..it’s alright….it’s alright….you’re OK. It was just Daddy snoring.”
“It’s just Daddy snoring.”
I’m the monster.
I guess that’s just the way it goes, though. Sometimes I’m a hero….a comfort….and sometimes I’m a MONSTER.
You just can never tell which way it’s going to go.
Of course, I’m asleep when I’m snoring….so I might even be deluded and unaware enough to think something like, “What? I don’t even snore. Who is she talking about?”
I think that I probably snore.
I think that I probably do a lot of things that I’m unaware of.
Asleep or awake…..I have a feeling there’s a lot that I don’t notice about myself.
Maybe good and bad….I’m not noticing things that other people can easily see.
That’s the way it goes, though.
Complete self-awareness and self-knowledge would be super creepy.
Who wants to think about themselves all the time, anyway?
Hah!! Maybe…..like… EVERYBODY?!!
I think that we fascinate ourselves….fascinate and repulse, maybe.
Last night, I was the snoring monster.
I must “do right” occasionally, though, because when Jenny explained that it was just me, Sparrow went right back to sleep.
Either, I do enough “right” to assure that it’s alright to be around me….or….oh, no….maybe people just get used to the weirdness and decide to accept it because it just won’t go away….so they know they have to just put up with it? Maybe…..?
Nahhhhh…..I must be doing something right if people are so quick to forgive my monsterish behavior.
Who knew that I snore, anyway?
Maybe….like….everyone?
Everyone….except me.
I’m asleep.
Asleep.
(As far as that YouTube video goes, I think that I’d rather snore for a lifetime than have that creepy guy appear in my bedroom. It’s just wrong…..)
Sparrow has a bed in our room that we put in there so that she could have a place to sleep that was close to us.
It’s a nice little bed….comfortable and only feet from where we sleep.
Some nights….like if it’s cold… or she wakes up and can’t get back to sleep right away….or if it’s a Monday….or maybe a Tuesday….or Wednesday….or….maybe Thursday….maybe Friday….or maybe it’s the weekend or something….she could end up sleeping in our big bed.
It’s funny how small the big bed feels when you have a little person sleeping in the middle.
Last night, Sparrow was sleeping in the middle when I went to bed.
I went to bed a little earlier than usual….something about the day of slipping and sliding….making the big executive decisions about which icy hills might kill me and where it was safe to deliver the mail….dealing with a scanner that stopped working early in the route….something about all that made me tired….so tired….really tired….sleepy…..so I went to bed early.
I clue in pretty quickly that Sparrow is sleeping in the middle.
Meryl Streep played a character in a movie where she got to say the line, “DINGOES ATE MY BABY!!”
I don’t want to be able to say, “I ROLLED OVER ONTO MY BABY!!”…..so I pay attention.
Anyway, a little after laying down beside her in the bed, she stirred a little and then I felt a little hand reach over and pat me on the shoulder…and then she rolled back over and kept on sleeping.
I don’t have many situations in my life where my presence is a comfort to anyone…but this little girl was satisfied knowing that I was there with her….and that was enough.
That’s a good feeling to be a comfort to someone.
I guess that I must be a comfort to more people than just Sparrow.
I’m probably a comfort in ways I don’t know or understand….maybe.
I don’t really know….most of the time.
I guess that us “grownups” (and I’ll include myself in that group….I try and pay my bills….do all the other stuff that real grownups worry about) have so much on our plates that we don’t let each other know when someone else’s presence is a comfort.
We’re too busy for a simple pat to say that we notice that the other person is even in the room.
(I guess that in the wrong context, a “simple pat” might be considered harassment….so maybe we have reason to be a little bit guarded….)
These little kids….they let it all out….nothing too crafty or tricky going on with them….most of the time.
And…that pat….a little pat at the beginning of the night that said “There you are…and I’m OK”
Snow….or granulated water….all over the place this morning….temperatures predicted to be below zero in a couple of days….no one out on the roads that I can hear from my perch beside the closed and locked window.
I need to go out and clean off the windows of my car.
I may be one of the few people out on the road today.
That’s always interesting….like Charlton Heston in “Omega Man”…..roaming the beautiful empty streets, but, in my case, with not a zombie in sight.
I bought tires yesterday before the snow/ice really started to fall….bought them in town at a place that I don’t usually go to but that I’ll go back to….messy, messy, messy….no fancy waiting rooms or anything….woodstove by the old couches (the low overhead waiting room….)….and I saved 40 dollars and had a good experience.
Just a laid back tire store that sold tires.
Good.
I don’t know….you can’t judge a book by its cover….that’s such a cliche….but sometimes you try….and miss out on something that’s mellow and what you need.
It’s funny how that works.
So….soon I’ll be out and driving around in this….driving slow because I don’t have traction….driving slow because I don’t know what’s going to happen…..watching the monster trucks come screaming over the hill ….coming towards me while I sit, opening mailboxes, waiting for the monster trucks to come screaming over the top of the icy hill.
That’s scary.
I’m a sitting duck.
There is a lot of ice on everything this morning.
I’m going to go see how it feels to drive around when the smart people stay home.
It’s the perfect winter mix….all the smart people stay home, and the postal folks are required to get out and drive around.
Smart or not…..I should be safer if the smart people stay off the roads.
Depending on how I read the weather forecast, it’s either going to snow 7.81 inches….or snow 1-2 inches and then ice up over the top of that.
I’m off today….President’s Day….so that part is covered.
I’m off.
But what about tomorrow?
What will I do then?
Who is going to take care of meeeeeeee?!
(I’m kidding. I’m neither whiny or afraid…..)
The forecast is for maybe somewhere between 1-2 inches….and 84 inches…..but in my head, this is what I always expect when I hear about bad weather coming.
I expect a pile of snow to try and do its best to keep me from making my appointed rounds.
No stinking mail is going to keep me from trying to bring the people their catalog.
It’s what I do…..
I can’t celebrate beautiful weather if I don’t have anything to compare it to.
Let it freaking snow.
Bring it.
“let it snow, let it snow, let it snow” Dean Martin
A cranky old whatever who shouldn’t be old enough to say or think things like, “Why, back in the day we had good bands…..bands like Yes….or even Bad Company….or Jethro Tull….or (fill in the blank)….?”
There were some pretty great bands back then!
That’s why they call it “classic rock”.
Surely, there were.
But look at this band.
Look at the musicianship….the show!
This is a pretty darn good band.
So….what do I have to complain about when there are bands like Umphrey’s McGee around?
I bought a Sirius radio to keep me company while I’m driving the mail around….and lately I’ve been listening to a station called “Jam On”.
Hah! That’s the loophole in this whole “workaday contract with the DEVIL”….I can JAM OUT while I’m driving around in circles.
Don’t tell anybody.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed a lot of these “jam bands”….and really pleasantly surprised to discover this band.
I guess that I could start doing Sudoku puzzles….or I could just start listening to Umphrey’s McGee.
I think that I’d enjoy the music more than the puzzles.
One of the only and best experiences I ever had “dancing” (and I use the term loosely….I’m no Baryshnikov) was at a party out in Boulder,Colorado when I was visiting my friend John.
A tiny boombox….a couple of beers….and this song….must have been the perfect combination….because I danced and had fun for a while.
That doesn’t happen everyday….the song must have been pretty funky….
Anyway….here’s the song I danced to so many years ago…
“What do you consider fun?” might be the question for the ages….
So….the real reason I mention this song….and that experience…isn’t so that Jenny can say, “What? I thought you said you don’t dance? What the heck?!” (Which is sort of true….I freak out if I have to dance where somebody else is depending on me….if I’m just flailing around, being silly, I can handle that. So….I’m kind of useless in a social setting. I can handle silly just fine….) ….anyway….this post isn’t about me not dancing….
It’s about this band, The Floozies.
I heard them on a Sirius station called “Jam On”……a bunch of jam bands.
Apparently, these guys are a duo who play the kind of music that I danced to way back…when.
Even….cooler….a duo composed of two brothers, Matt and Mark Hill.
