Wednesday Woes

I woke up (again) to the alarm clock. I made a cup of coffee, then finished up and posted the Blog Entry.

I checked the antifreeze level (it was okay) slammed the hood and headed off to work. I made one stop at O’Reilly’s (yes, they open at 7:00 AM) to pick up two gallons of pre-mixed antifreeze. I want them in the car, just in case.

At work, I went out and talked to Carl, the mechanic who was looking for the leak yesterday. I asked him if he was serious about checking the car out and explained I couldn’t find the leak in the area he thought it was when I got home. He said, “Sure, Bring it around back after work. I’ve got another guy coming who has a gas line leak and I’ll check them both out at the same time.”

At lunch, I stopped at the Newburgh Grill to get some lunch, then the gas station and finally went to Lowe’s to look at bathroom vanities. I found two I thought might work.

Near quitting time, I went back to talk with Carl. I asked him if he wanted me to have the car hot and offered to drive it around back about ten minutes before and just leave it idling. He said that would be great, so I did.

I went back into work and told everyone leaving I was working overtime (why were they all laughing?) Less than ten minutes after 5:00 PM, he popped his head in and said, “I found it!”

It turned out that I believe Jake was right (you have no idea how it hurts me to write that). He sent me a text that it was probably the dealership guys who did all that work on my car a while back. And, it probably was, as there was a small hose, buried deep under the exhaust manifold, that was dripping. The drips, in turn, fell onto the alternator which splashed it everywhere. Carl got a long screwdriver, reached in, tightened the clamp and, “Bingo,” no more drips!

He suggested I wipe everything off when I got home and then check it tomorrow afternoon. I said I would and asked him what I owed him. He said, “Nothing, no sweat!” But, they always say that. So, I said, “Do you have any idea how much gas I would have burned, not to mention what the dealership would have charged me to fix this?” He said, “Okay, how about $10.00?” I have grown tired of arguing with folks, my neighbor for example, who are charging me too little so I said, “Sold!” and gave him ten bucks.

He asked if I wanted him to drive it off the hoist (what is wrong with these people? Back in the day, I was an ASE Certified Mechanic, for Christ’s sake!) and I said, “No, just open the overhead door, please.”

So, I left and headed home. I decided rather than wiping it off, I’d wash all the sh*t off at the quarter car wash. So, that’s what I did. But, I left it running (knowing I was going to spray the engine compartment down) and found to my dismay, the left side low beam headlight was now out! Damn! Does this car hate me or what?

So, before I went home, I drove across the street to O’Reilly’s and bought another halogen bulb. I had no intention of putting it in tonight (it’s worse than the right side as the battery is in the way and I was sick of “car’s” for one day).

When I got home, I pulled the car in the garage, went inside and treated the cats and then went back in the garage to top off the antifreeze with the jug I already had. I put the two new gallon jugs on the auto shelf and threw the kitty litter I keep out there for oil spills under the car to soak up any antifreeze and/or car wash drips. Then I grabbed a towel and wiped off all the spots from the car wash.

Back inside, I decide to empty and wash out the HUGE cat waterer. It worked perfectly while I was down in South Carolina, but it was still about half full and the water looked tired. I got it almost to the laundry sink when my hands slipped (it was still pretty heavy) and it spilled all over the place! I drained out what was left and set it aside for my next road trip. I mopped up the mess as best as I could and then went up into the attic to get back down the small aluminum cat water dishes.

I filled both of them up and set them downstairs. They will work better for day to day use as I can take off the rubber bottoms and throw them in the dishwasher to sanitize them. It was almost 7:30 PM by then, so I decided to check out dinner options (I’d had about enough bean soup).

I ended up warming up some Tai Pei frozen chicken fried rice. It tastes no where near as good as real takeout and, to add insult to injury, it has veggies in it, but it’s filling and fast.

I think I made it just past 9:30 PM before I fell asleep watching TV. Maybe I’m finally getting used to the time change?