dealing with vehicles

Clean up: firepit area, gate and fence line start

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This evening, I decided to be methodical about clearing the west yard trees, and get right into the fence line.

It was a lot more work than I expected!

This is what it looked like when I left it last time.

I didn’t get photos from this angle today, but if you look behind the dead trees I cut down, that’s the area I focused on.

I had not really intended to start on the fence line on this side yet, but the mess was starting to get to me.

I am using the row of elm trees as my guide line for clearing the fence.  Anything between where those trees are and the fence line will be taken out.  This will leave a walkable path to access the fence.

I started at the gate post and made a discovery.

20180806.cleanup.firepitarea.gateposts

There’s two of them.

From what I can figure out, as the older gate post started to become unstable, a second post as added, and new and old were tied together with a loop of barbed wire.

It was most likely a temporary fix that ended up a permanent one.

The problem is…

Both posts are rotten and broken at the bottom.

The hedge that had grown into the fence was pretty much the only thing holding it up.

I don’t really want to replace this fence.  I’d rather take it out completely.  I am wanting to install new fencing that will include both driveways, instead.  So for now, this old fence will remain for as long as it holds up.

As I worked down the line, I also discovered that there’s not just two gate posts, but two fences!  Somewhere along the way, the old barbed wire fence got a mesh wire fence added with it.  Then other cable type wire was also added, along the bottom.  You can see part of it at the bottom of one of the gate posts, above.

This made clearing away the lilacs more challenging, because it was woven through both the barbed and mesh wire.  For many of them, I had to cut them at least twice, so I could get the pieces out of the fence.

A surprising amount of the lilac was already dead.  Most of the living lilac is on the other side of the fence.  Which I will leave for now.  It’s keeping the fence from falling over.

In the end, it took me almost two hours to clear barely 8 feet of fence line!

20180806.cleanup.firepitarea.fenceline.start

I’m also clearing in between and around the lilac and caragana that is in line with the row of elm trees.  That included taking down a dead lilac that was a thick as a tree!

I’m going to have to change up when I work in the yard.  We’re getting heat wave weather warnings for the next week.  I like to do the work in the afternoon or evening, but the hottest part of the day tends to be around 5pm.  It’s almost 9pm as I write this, and we’re still at 25C, with a “feels like 29C”.  I’m going to have to start working on this stuff in the morning, instead, when it’s cooler, because by afternoon, it’s supposed to reach 29C, and feel like 34C, but be only 18C in the morning.

I am not a morning person. :-D

Well, if I’m driving my daughter to her shifts that start at 8 or 9am anyway, it will work out for me to do yard work when I get back in the morning, instead of after I pick her up at 4 or 5pm.

She has a road test booked in September.  She’ll be able to drive herself to work, if we don’t need the van for something else.

It is becoming increasingly clear we are going to need a second vehicle for the girls.  That and our utter dependency on having a vehicle makes me extra paranoid about having only one.  It’s not like there are any buses we could use instead, or anything is close enough to walk to!  We went about a month not driving our van until we had the money to replace the fuel pump, to avoid causing more damage (which our mechanic really appreciated), and that was enough for us!

At least we’ve finally reached a point where we are caught up.  As of this month, we have no expenses left related to our move.  Yay!  It only took us 9 months. :-/  Starting next month, we can start diverting money to a contingency fund to pay for things like getting the trees cleared from the power lines and roof in the fall, or towards getting a second bathroom installed.  Or unexpected emergencies, like the van breaking down!

The problem is, there are SO many things that need work around the house and yard, it will be hard to prioritize.  We had hoped to get the second bathroom installed this summer.  It’s high on the priority list, but clearing the trees became the higher priority since… well… we’d really like to NOT have our roof damaged or have branches knock out our power lines.

Little by little, it’ll get done.

The Re-Farmer

A New Furry Friend! Plus techie updates

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This morning, I had an appointment with my cousin, who had replaced the water pump on my van a while back.  That would be the one that the garage is saying needs to be replaced, and that it was loose.

The water pump is fine.  And if it weren’t, it’s still under warranty, and he’d be fixing it, at his own cost.

Also, that small coolant leak?

Has stopped leaking.  This one, I saw leaking myself.  I guess it just needed some time after work was done.

I told him about what had been happening with the coolant, getting the thermostat changed, then discovering the coolant had been leaking out the back.  He commented that it was too bad they’d changed the thermostat – but it still might have needed to be changed, considering the age of the vehicle.

Everything checked out fine.  My alternator is making a slight whining noise.  He told me that I only needed to be concerned if it started to get louder.  Which might not happen for a year, even.  It would be an expensive job to do, because of how difficult it is to get to, so there’s no point in doing it now.

I also asked him about the stalling problem.  When we first start the vehicle, it sometimes stalls right away.  I start it again, while giving it a bit of gas, and it’s fine.  He talked to me about the sensor and how, on starting, the onboard computer checks all the sensors.  It could just be reading a lack of oxygen or something, but if I just give it a bit of gas while starting it, it should be fine.  Nothing wrong; just a bit inconvenient.  Replacing the sensor would be very expensive.

His recommendation?  Change nothing.  If there’s a problem with the water pump, which he can’t find, he will change it, at no cost to me.  There is nothing to prevent us from taking longer trips, like going to the city and back.  Not that we can do that, since our budget has been completely blown by all the work done on the van, but it’s a relief, to be sure.

I’m going to have to have a talk with the garage about that water pump recommendation.

As I was typing this, my husband just updated me.  We got a notice in the mail from our satellite internet provider.  They have access to a new satellite, which can offer increased upload and download speeds and less stuttering in service.  There is also the option to upgrade plans with higher data.  Which we don’t need right now, since we got two accounts to get the higher data that we do have.  I don’t mind that too much, since one of the accounts will be something my daughter can claim on her taxes next year.

In about a week, we’ll get a call from a technician to come over and align the satellite dishes to the new satellite.

So that’ll be nice.

After I got home from getting the van checked, I was in my crochet corner, working on a new basket, when I noticed Hungry Girl coming up to the feed.  And oh, look – there’s Barbecue over by the trees.

No.  That’s Barbecue coming up now…

They brought a new friend with them!

A strange new friend…

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My first thought was that was an odd sun dappling pattern.

Where there is no sun to dapple.

Wait a minute…

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Sure enough, it turned out to be a piebald deer!

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Clearly, a deer they were completely comfortable with.  There was no animosity of any kind, like we see when Mama and the Twins or Detail and her boy come by.

2018-04-11.piebald.deer.4

There’s even a little big of it on her other side.

What a remarkable looking deer!  I’ve never seen anything like this before.  I’ve seen photos of albino deer, but that’s it.

Eventually, they left because of the cats.  I hope the new one comes back!  We’re thinking of calling her Patches. :-D

The Re-Farmer

Can this end now?

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The plan for today was to go into the city to do our monthly Costco shopping.  This was after our adventures yesterday that found us in the garage, getting our thermostat changed in the van.

Everything did seem to be working, though I did have to top up the coolant after we got home, so I was really hoping we could go into the city to stock up.

Then my mother phoned.

Could I drive her into town so she could visit her sister in the nursing home?

After some back and forth-ing about when she wanted to visit, and if I could do the shopping first, then take her later, I decided to postpone the shopping.  I’d take my mother to visit her sister in the morning, and do the shopping tomorrow.

However, shortly before it was time to go, my older daughter had an idea.  She had intended to go into the city with me, and she suggested she still come along, then we could go to the city after bringing my mother home after her visit.  After all, the town she lives in is 1/3rd of the way to to the city, anyhow.

So that’s what we decided to do.

Off we went for the 20 minute drive to my mother’s.  After what happened yesterday, I was keeping a close eye on my temperature gauge.

Which was going up.  Then down.  Then up again.

We also had no heat.

By the time we got to my mother’s the temperature gauge was almost at the level that would trigger the alarm.

What on earth?

We were early, so rather than going right in, we popped the hood.

The coolant was low again.

I checked where the leak was, and it was damp, but it didn’t seem that we could have lost so much coolant there.  There was no signs of where it went.

Then I hear my mother’s voice.  She had gotten ready early and had come out when we pulled over, and was wondering what was going on.

We topped up the coolant, helped my mother into the vehicle, and started on our way to see her sister; a half hour drive from my mother’s.

As we drove, sometimes we had heat, sometimes we didn’t, and the temperature kept creeping up.  We had explained to my mother a bit of what was going on, and while we were driving, she just started praying quietly!

Since we were passing them anyways, I stopped at the garage.  Seeing me, the guy at the counter had a quote ready for me.  He had talked to the mechanic about the leaking pipe, so he’d looked up the part and worked it out.  I had thought that was what I’d already had a quote for, but he said that was for the water pump, which is loose.  I told him the leak was why I was there, and described what was happening.  The part I need for this leak would be shipped from another province and would take two days to arrive.  I gave the go ahead to order the part.  I also asked, was it possible that the thermostat was not the problem yesterday, after all, but this leak was?  It’s hard to say for sure.  It’s possible. *sigh*

He said he would call me when the part came in, and we were on our way.

By the time we got to the nursing home, the temperature was high again.  My mother went in to visit her sister while my daughter and I topped up the coolant again.  Where was it going??  We couldn’t tell.  That done, we went to a coffee shop and got my daughter some breakfast and caffeine, then went to the nursing home lobby to wait for my mother.  As we waited, my daughter and I decided we wouldn’t go to the city at all.  Instead, after dropping my mother off, we would just buy enough necessities to last us the rest of the week at the grocery store by my Mom’s, then come home.

When she rejoined us, my mother offered to take us out for lunch, but we declined and explained why.

On the way to her town, the temperature gauge kept going up and up, until I finally pulled over, just in time for the alarm to start going off.  We topped up the coolant again.  We drove for a bit, but I guess we’d started too soon, and had to pull over again, this time waiting longer.

We managed to get to my mother’s place without having to pull over again.  I went in with her while my daughter topped up the coolant again.  By this point, we were almost out of coolant!  (Thank goodness we keep bottled water in the van, which we used for the mix.)

We then drove around the block to the grocery store and picked up a few things.

As we walked back to the vehicle, which was facing away from us in the parking lot, my daughter noticed the trail of drops leading to the van – and a puddle under the rear, driver’s side.

What on earth was there to be leaking like that?

Groceries in, we drove to the gas station, a few blocks away, and picked up more coolant.  Pre-mixed, this time.

As we were adding more coolant, we could see a new puddle had formed under the back.  What’s going on?

We are regulars at this gas station, and a guy that normally fills our tank saw us and came over.  I told him what was happening and pointed out the puddle.  Sweetheart that he is, he got down on the ground to take a look.

We had a broken pipe.

What?

I got down on the ground myself (which was much less painful than I expected, but then I was a bit distracted…) and took a look.

This is what we saw.

20180403_broken

I didn’t even think that there would be coolant hoses to the back.  But of course there would be.  This vehicle has heaters in the back.  I’d never had a vehicle with heaters in the back before.

So now what?  Clearly, any fluid we were putting in would be pouring right out this hose once we started driving.  Could we make it home?

We were going to give it a try.

We got just a few minutes out of town then the temperature got too high again and I pulled over.  There was no point in adding more coolant.  We weren’t going to make it home.

I called the garage, told them what was going on, and said I was going to use roadside assistance to tow the van over.

Then I called roadside assistance.

Now, usually we have CAA, but it expired and we couldn’t afford to pay for another year.  When my husband saw that our Bell cell phone account had roadside assistance available, with monthly payments of only $5, he signed my number up for it; it’s tied to my cell phone number so I have coverage with any vehicle, as long as I have my phone.

The call was a disaster.

First, English was not the guy’s native language, so he had a hard time hearing and understanding me.  I had to repeat my phone number.  Then he tried to get my name.

First, he couldn’t spell my extremely simple first name, but that’s actually not unusual.  People are always trying to change it to something else or drop what few letters it already has.  My hyphenated name, however, was a different issue completely.

When he asked for it, I told him I would spell it.  I got through the first half, then said “hyphen” and continued into the second half when he stopped me, in confusion.  I said my name out loud, saying it was a hyphenated name, then asked him how far he got on the spelling.  He had lots of letters, he told me.  Lots of them.  Then he started reading them out.

He got to the end of the first half of my name, then said “H”.  And stopped.

I tried again, this time using a lot of “B as in Bravo, D as in Delta” as I went along.  I had to tell him there was a dash in the name, because he didn’t understand hyphen.

Then he asked for my phone number.

I just gave you my phone number, I say.

I don’t have a number, he tells me.

I had to give him my cell phone number again.

Now, even before all this started, he had asked me why I needed a tow, and I told him it was because I was on the side of a highway in the middle of nowhere, bleeding coolant, and I can’t drive without killing my engine.

So at the very least, I already told him I was on a highway in the middle of nowhere.

Which made his asking what city I was in, very strange.  I told him “north of…” my mother’s town.  Which I had to spell.  Then respell, using Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc.

It’s a good thing I remember these from when my husband was in the military.  Because he got it totally wrong.

Then he asked if I was in a driveway or parking spot.

No.  On the side of the highway, in the middle of nowhere.

On the left or right shoulder?

What?

Which side of the road am I on?  Right or left?

That depends on what direction you’re coming from!  I’m on the East side.

I don’t know East.

?!?!?!?!?

I finally said, if you’re coming from the south, on the right.  Then I told him what highway I was on (he never asked), and between which two roads (which I had to get off of my maps app, because we weren’t actually near enough to any roads to see what the road numbers were).

During this call, I honestly wondered if he even knew what province we were in.  After we moved, we never changed our numbers.  My number has the prefix of our previous province.

Eventually, he got to the point of telling me the system said it would be an hour and a half for a tow truck to find us.

I lost it at that point, told him we’d figure something else out, and hung up.

I’m going to have a talk with Bell’s roadside assistance people.

I called the garage back.  Told them the roadside assistance was a bust.  What did they suggest?

They have their own tow truck, with an appointment at 2pm, but he could come get us right after.  It was about 1:35 at the time.  It would get to us around 3.

It would still take almost 1 1/2 hours, but at least we knew the driver would find us!  So that’s what we did.

I really appreciated that my daughter was with me.  It made the wait much more fun.

The tow truck got to us at almost exactly 3.  Then we crammed into the cab with him (the middle seat was really more for a console) and off we went to the garage.

They got the van in almost right away.  As it was being brought in, I talked to the guy at the counter, and he was telling me that they couldn’t do much, because the part still wouldn’t be in for 2 days.

No, I told him.  That’s not where the leak is.  It’s in the back.  That’s when the mechanic that had worked on our van came in and concurred; the pipe leaking in the engine was just a drip.  I showed them one of the pictures I’d taken, as the van was being driven onto the lift.  It was not at all what they were expecting to see!

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The broken pipe took less than 5 minutes to fix.

Here is the culprit.

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This piece is from inside the hose, joining two lengths together.  It has clearly been corroding for some time.  It could have been something as simple as a rock hitting it for it to finally break completely.

Which means it may have been leaking slowly for quite a while, but not enough to be noticed.  Then it got worse, until it finally broke entirely, some time while we were driving today.

Just think.

This could have happened while we were on the way to the city.

Though the fix was quick, getting it going again took quite a bit longer.  Once more coolant was added, they had to get the air out of the system.

And there was a LOT of air in the system.

When the mechanic saw me watching at the door, he invited me to come over (customers are not usually allowed in the work area) and we talked as he worked, with him explaining what he was doing, as well as general conversation.

They put a funnel on an extension in place of the cap, filling it with more coolant.  With the engine running, you could see air bubbles coming up through the coolant.  As the air went out, coolant would go in, and more would be added to the funnel.  This got repeated quite a few times.

After a while, it seemed the air bubbles had stopped, but we still had no heat.  There was still air locked somewhere in the system.  Every now and then, he’d sit in the van and rev the engine for a while, and a few bubbles would come out, but still, no heat.  He would go back to the engine, then back to the cab, back and forth.

Then, while he was revving the engine, I happened to catch it; huge bubbles coming up the funnel, to the point the coolant looked like it was boiling!  Then the coolant drained into the reservoir until there was hardly any left in the funnel.

Suddenly, there was heat in the van, too.

It was done!

As they were closing things up and putting things away, they gave me one of the gallon jugs of coolant they had premixed for my van.

When it came time to pay the bill, it was just under $250 – with most of that being the cost of the tow!  They didn’t charge me for all the time spent getting the air out of the system.

As I was paying for it, I told the guy at the counter that when the parts came in, they would have to wait until the end of the month.  I’m done.  He understood.

So the status of the van is, I do still have a leak on the engine that needs to be fixed, but it’s just a drip.  I’m not going to be doing any long drives to the city, and will avoid using the van for the next while, but it’s drive-able.

No bulk grocery trip in the city this month.

Meanwhile, I’m going to have to contact my cousin.  They’re saying the water pump is loose – but that’s what my cousin replaced for me, a couple of months ago.

I knew we’d have to do a lot of work on this van.  Just not one right after the other like this!!

All of this would have happened at one point or another, even if we hadn’t moved and were still in the city.  The big difference is, if we were living in the city, we’d still be paying housing charges at the Co-op.  We would not have had the funds to do any of this work, and would have ended up without a vehicle at all.

I’m really trying to see any sort of positive in the middle of all this. :-D

Well, I guess this is going to be a very quiet – and even more frugal that usual – month for us.

Plans?  What are those?

The Re-Farmer

 

 

 

 

Un. Be. Lievable. Part 4

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Oh, what a day!

This morning, my husband and I went into town so that he could transfer his driver’s license, which was required in order to transfer our vehicle’s insurance and registration, to this province.

To recap some of the issues we’ve had so far;

I could not transfer my driver’s license because my married name did not match my birth certificate.  I also had to prove I actually lived where I lived with a street address, instead of just a box number or the service location that is on our utility bills, when we live in an area that has no streets.  Everyone now has drive way markers so the police, fire or ambulance can find people who live in the sticks like we do, but isn’t on any of our utility bills, because we don’t get mail delivery.   I got the physical location address by basically going to the bank and saying “hey, this is where we live, can you give me something with that on it?”  And the bank did, which was accepted.  For my name, I had to pay to get my marriage certificate.  I had to get it to get my health care card, too.

So I finally got my temporary paper license, with my new license soon to come.  However, in order to transfer our vehicle, I needed to get it safetied, which I couldn’t do until the end of April, which then required some costly work done (which is why I waited until pay came in).  Safety in hand, I went to transfer the vehicle, but my husband is co-owner with me, so he had to be there.  So that had to wait until after Easter.

My husband hasn’t transferred his driver’s license yet, simply because he’s been in too much pain to make the trip into town for something he doesn’t really use.

He was still in a lot of pain, but this morning, we went into town, anyways, making sure he had his birth certificate, his new health care card (with our box number on it) and a utility bill with our physical address on it (our internet bill, which we could put the physical address on, ourselves, then print out).

He couldn’t get his license.

His ID doesn’t match his birth certificate.

His birth certificate has his full name – his given name, two middle names, and his surname.  In Acadian tradition, he has gone by his second name all his life.  This became a slight issue when he was in the military, where they ended up simply reversing his first and second names on their documentation.

Everything has been with this second name.

Except, it turns out, the license he used to have in this province, when we lived here up until 2004.  That one had only his first name; no initials.

Meanwhile, his current driver’s license has his second name, with the initial of his first name, like it was when he was in the military.

But his health care card?

After they required he resend a copy of his birth certificate in a more legible form, they chose to simply drop his first name.  It has his second name and the middle initial.  So even the ID he does have, doesn’t match his current driver’s license.

The woman at the counter phoned the public insurance company about it.

According to them, he can’t get a license with his first name, as was on his old license, because none of his documentation has that name.  But he can’t use the name he actually uses, even though that name is also on his birth certificate, because it’s his second name, not his first name.

They say he has to get a legal name change.

Un. Be. Lievable!

Just to get his driver’s license.  Which would also be the only photo ID he would have.  Even if he let his driver’s license lapse and just wanted a photo ID, it has the same requirements.  He wouldn’t be able to get that, either, because they won’t accept the name he has been using HIS ENTIRE LIFE.

This is even worse than my having to prove I’m married to get my driver’s license transferred!!

Unbelievable!

In the end, he had to sign a gifting form (using the name he always uses), which allowed them to use only my name in transferring the vehicle insurance and registration (the insurance just has the name he uses and his surname, no initials, while the registration has his name with the initial of his first name, as it is on his license).

So I was able to get that done, at least, and the new license plates.

But my husband can’t even prove he is who he is, to the satisfaction of the public insurance company.

It took so long to the the van transferred that my husband had to leave and sit at a coffee shop, because the chairs were too uncomfortable for his back.

This is getting beyond ridiculous.

Oh, and we couldn’t even get a new disabled parking permit.  In our previous province, he only needed a prescription from the doctor, and it was done at the same place we registered our vehicle at.  Not here.  The woman who helped us went online, found and printed off an application form for us, which we’ll have to mail in to a completely different organization.

The woman behind the counter was so apologetic, but there is nothing she could do.

In conversation, she had mentioned that it’s been like this since 9/11, but also there is the problem of identity theft.  Which I can understand, but in trying to improve security and combat identify theft, there is no room for common sense.  And it’s the front line staff like her that has to deal with frustrated customers like us.

But… when it comes to the van, it was finally done!  At least at their end.

Once at home, I called our insurance company to cancel our vehicle insurance tomorrow, giving us a bit of time to get the new plates on.  I could have had it cancelled beginning today, but I couldn’t put the plates on yet.  Because our previous province only required one plate in the back, there were no screws to attach the front plate – or even holes to screw into.  So I would need to go back into town and try and find the right kind of screws for this.  Odd that, with all the stuff around this place, including a wide range of screws, I’d have to do that.  I suppose I could have gone to one of the cars lying around and see if any of them had screws, but I really didn’t feel up to tromping through the snow to do it, or hunting through sheds.

Interestingly, since ending this insurance meant I no longer have the car/home insurance bundle, my monthly content insurance payments will be going down, instead of up, as I expected it to – as did the agent I spoke to.  Also, there was no cancellation fee.

Not that I’m complaining!

The next call was to the company we registered the van with.

Turns out, that one requires a letter that explains why we were cancelling it, among other details, including what we planned to do with our plate.  It’s a veteran’s plate, so we’ll be keeping that for posterity.

That done, it was time to go back into town.  Aside from hoping the hardware store would have the right screws, I needed to stop at the pharmacy.  My younger daughter came along, so we could play some Pokemon Go.

Did I mention it was a chilly day today?

As we were driving in, I noticed the van wasn’t heating up.  I’d sort of noticed that earlier, but hadn’t actually needed to turn up the heat, so I didn’t think much of it.

Odd.

We parked at the pharmacy and took advantage of the location to walk a block and do a raid and get some achievements in the game.  This close to the lake, the breeze was freezing, so we were glad it was an easy fight, and we could rush back to the pharmacy and take care of things there.

Then it was back to the van, and we were going to do a bit more game playing before hitting the hardware store.

As we drove to our usual park, I tried to turn the heat on.

It was blowing cold air.

What’s going on?

We parked the van, and I decided to leave it running as we played the game.

I also fiddled with the heat settings.  It was still blowing cold, so I shut the fan off completely.

Then I watched as the temperature gauge began surging up.  And up.  And… the engine is overheating?  How?  It hasn’t been on long enough to overheat!

I shut it off.

We caught a few Pokemon, then I started the engine to move to the other end of the parking lot, where more Pokemon would be.

Before I even got to the other end, the temperature gauge screamed up to overheat, warning lights started turning on, and my onboard computer started telling me the engine was overheating, and it was shutting off the A/C to protect the engine.

The A/C wasn’t on.

I shut off the engine and popped the hood.

The engine was cold.  There was no sign of anything untoward.

Crud.

I started the engine.

It did it again.

I shut it off and called the garage, describing what happened.

Sounds like the thermostat.  They could look at it for me, but they did have two appointments coming in.  I told him I could be there within 10 minutes.

I started the engine.

The gauge was fine.  In the middle, where it should be.

I start driving.

It goes up to about 3/4s, then drops down to below half.  Then it settled.

Also, we had heat again.

What the heck?

I get to the garage and discuss it for a bit.  Sounds like the thermostat got stuck, then unstuck.  It might not happen again.  They wouldn’t be able to do anything about it until tomorrow, anyhow.  We’re driving to the city tomorrow.  Should I be worried?  Keep and eye on it; if it starts to go up, pull over and give it time to cool again.  We talk some more, then my daughter and I start to head out.  Before we do, I remember to ask about screws for the license plate.  Would they have any?

Yes, they did.  And the mechanic was even willing to put them on for me, but I didn’t have them with me.  So they just have me the screws.  :-)  I asked, and it turns out a hardware store likely would not have had them.  So there’s one positive, at least!

As we are leaving their parking lot, the temperature gauge starts going up.  We have no heat again.

By the time I drove the quarter mile to the highway, it was high enough for a warning light, so I pulled over and shut off the engine.

I called the garage again and told him what was happening.  We talked for a bit, but he was with a customer, so he asked if he could call back.

So my daughter and I wait.  I start the engine.  Still doing it.  I shut it off.

I then figure, since I’m already so close, I’ll just drive over and talk to the guy in person.

Of course, once I was driving, the phone rang.  My daughter answered.  He told her that they could fit me in after an oil change they were doing.  She told him we were already pulling into their parking lot!

So we go in and I talked to him again.  They have a thermostat in stock and they’ll fit me in.  We talk about what it might be if changing the thermostat isn’t enough.  Then my daughter and I wait.  And wait.

At one point, a mechanic comes by on his break and he comments on our need for a thermostat.  We talk for a bit, and I tell him what the vehicle was doing.  After his break, he comes for the keys and takes the van in.

It ends up taking an hour to replace the thermostat – a job I later learn is listed as a 2.4 hour task.  After it’s changed, they start it up and rev the engine for a few minutes to test it out.

While this was happening, I started chatting with one of the mechanics behind the counter.  He started asking how things were doing for us, and so on.  I suddenly realize.

I recognize him.  He grew up on the farm bordering ours.  In fact, we’re distantly related.  The other mechanic I’d seen before the weekend that recognized me is also a distant cousin.  That’s two relatives, in one garage!

After that, the mechanic that worked on the van comes to me.  It’s done and working, but there’s a leak.

I tell him I’m aware of the leak.  Start talking about the power steering.

No, it turns out.  Not that one; he’d noted that one in the safety papers.  He brought me over to show me.

There’s a pipe where coolant is leaking, right at the join.

I knew there was a leak in that location; there was a stain on the underside of the hood above it, but I had never seen the leak itself.  There were never any puddles or signs when I looked at it.  I just assumed it was from the power steering leak.  However, as he’d had to rev the engine for as long as he did, the engine was warm and the pressure was high, and now we could see the leak.

I had also been low on coolant, which he’d topped up for me.  This leak would be why I was low on coolant.

The possible solution; replace the pipe.  They’ve have to order one in, unless they could find a used one that was in good shape.  Or he could try a couple of other things that we discussed.

How worried should I be about it?

I got instructions on keeping an eye on the coolant levels in the overflow reservoir.  What to watch out for.  What to do, until I could get it fixed.

I bought a gallon of coolant to keep in the van.

Final cost?

Almost $240.

The thermostat itself was really cheap.  The gallon of coolant cost way more.  The highest cost was the labour, of course.

I also got a quote for the other work.  If they use a new part, it’ll cost another $200 +

*sigh*

In just the past 7 days, we’ve dropped over $1000 on the van.  Money from the moving company to replace the power pole they broke, once the ground thaws.  Money we’ll have to replace as soon as we can.

*sigh*

When we got the van home, I parked close to the house and got the license plates on – the front bumper didn’t have holes, but it did have marks for them.  After moving the van to the garage, I popped the hood.

No sign of the coolant leak; any liquid had already dried, but the level in the overflow reservoir was down.  The question is; is it down because of the leak, or down because the engine was now cold?  Or both?

I topped it up, anyways, just a bit.

Tomorrow, we go to the city for our monthly bulk shopping.  This is going to be the real test for the leak.

*sigh*

What a day.

The Re-Farmer

The Story Continues (plus critters)

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I had hoped that, after spending so much time needing to prove who I am and that I actually do live where I live, it would be done.

And in a way, it is.  A major hurdle is now behind us.

Now it’s all about the van.

The parts I needed came in this morning, so I went back to the garage to get the work done to pass safety inspection.

This time, I brought my project bag so I could do some crochet while waiting.  The garage isn’t in town, but along a major highway, so it’s not like I walk over to a coffee shop or something while I waited. ;-)

One of the things that needed to be done was replace the LED brake light above the rear windshield.  That went well, and it looks great.  The previous one had a bit crack in it.

Then there was the ABS issue.

Yesterday, they replaced the connector for the harness and hooked it up, and were getting erratic readings.

The brakes themselves are working fine.  The next thing was to replace the bearings.  Which they did.

That didn’t solve the problem.  The indicator lights are still turning on, and their readings still come back as erratic.

They ended up basically doing the entire safety inspection, all over again, trying to trace the problem (at no extra charge).  Mechanically, they can find no reason for my ABS light to be on.

Which means it could be a wiring problem, or the instrument cluster in the dash.

If it were the instrument cluster, there would probably be other things going off, too.  So it’s likely the harness.  So they went ahead and ordered a new one for me.  It’ll cost about the same as that LED light bar for the rear brake light.

Now, of the bearings they changed, one set was really bad.  The second was borderline.  So because that one might not have needed to be changed, and changing it didn’t solve the problem, they are not going to charge me labour to put in the new harness; just the cost of the part.  I’ll get a call in a couple of weeks, when it’s expected to come in.  I probably won’t actually come in to get it replaced until the end of the month, when next pay comes in.

After talking about passing the safety inspection so I could transfer the vehicle registration and insurance to this province, and confirming that I was going to keep the vehicle, and wasn’t trying to sell it, they signed off on the inspection.  At this point, there is no actual safety issue.  Just a light that’s turning on, and they don’t know why.

I did mention that it took a week after getting a new gas cap that the “check gas cap” notification to stop turning on.  Who knows.  Maybe the same thing will happen with the ABS indicator.

Once I paid for the work and got my inspection sheets, I went into town to transfer our vehicle, while the office was still open.  Yay!

I get there and give the woman at the desk the inspection form and the insurance and registration cards.

She starts going over them, so I wait.

And wait.

She kept looking back and forth.

Then back and forth again.

A perplexed expression began to form on her face.

Oh, dear.  Now what?

After a while she tells me, the VIN numbers don’t match.

What?

The VIN on the insurance and registration cards had different numbers than on the inspection form.  The letters at the beginning matched, but the numbers were completely different.

What???

I didn’t even think to double check.  Why would I?  Sure enough, the numbers were completely different.

Well, that meant going back to the garage.  However, before I left, they asked me about my husband.  His name is on the insurance and registration.  He is the primary owner of the van, which allowed us to get a veteran’s plate.

Which meant he needed to be there.

Also, did he have his new license?

No.  I explained that he doesn’t really drive anymore because of pain, and pain was why he hadn’t made it in to transfer his driver’s license.

After talking about options, including having his name taken off (would he have to fill out a gifting form?), but the easiest thing would be for him to come in, get his driver’s license transferred – they confirmed with me that he had all the necessary documentation! – then transfer the vehicle over at the same time.

Tomorrow being Good Friday, the office will be closed; that would mean coming in on Saturday, at the earliest.  Otherwise, it would have to wait until after Easter.

I then asked about the time frame.  Normally, there is 90 days to get all this done when moving to a new province.  I’m over the 90 days.

After confirming that my insurance company was okay with it, they let me know that the provincial insurance would also be okay with it, since we are clearly at least TRYING to get it done!  If we had simply not bothered for 6 months or something, that would be different.  My file has notations for all of this, so there is documentation showing that it is actually being worked on.

So yes, I am indeed still driving legally!

When I went back to the vehicle, safety inspection form in hand, I went to look at the VIN on the dash, confirming that the one on the form did not match, while my insurance and registration cards did.  Once in the vehicle, I phoned the garage and told them the numbers didn’t match.  I was looking at the form as I called and realized that the year didn’t match, either.  Instead of a 2005, it had 2007.

The guy at the garage was flabbergasted.  How could that be?  He went and checked on the computer, looking up the number that was on their copy of the form.  Sure enough, it was coming back as a 2007 model.  What the heck?

Then he remembered.

Didn’t I say something about getting a new door?

I had mentioned this to him only in passing, so I’m really impressed that he remembered.  I didn’t even think of it.  The mechanic must have taken the VIN from the door, instead of the dash, and that door frame is from another vehicle.

So I headed over to the garage to get a new form.  When I parked, the guy (the owner, I think) came right out with one of the mechanics, and a new form.  He’d filled everything else out already, and just had to take down the right VIN and confirm the year.

As the paperwork was being prepped, the mechanic looked at me and asked, “you’re (my younger brother)’s sister?”  Yes, I am.  “We went to school together!”

Turns out he’s from my home town and we’d both gone to the tiny little, two classroom school that was here (when the school closed, there were only 8 students from Kindergarten to grade 3!).

I admitted I didn’t remember him at all.  After all these years, I barely remember anybody!

Still, it was cool to find that connection!

I now have the new safety inspection form, but that was it for the day.  There was no way I could go home, pick up my husband, then come back before the office closed.

Ah, well.

Meanwhile, the family was visited by a whole bunch of deer while I was gone, and my daughter got some photos.

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Hungry Girl and Barbecue had come by.  Mama and the twins, as usual, chased away Hungry Girl and Barbecue, though both came back to continue feeding near them later.

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None of them, however were willing to allow two others to join them.

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It’s the deer with no tail again!  My daughter got this picture through the dining room window.  They kept looking into the bush, and towards the pile of stuff nearby.  Likely there was a cat somewhere in the area.

After the other 5 left, these two did get to go over the the feeding station and get some nibbles.

Then, not long after I got home, another deer showed up, all by itself.  Number 8!

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I chose this picture because of the interesting colour changes along its jaw and neck.  It doesn’t show in any other photos.  We’re thinking there might be something from the house reflecting onto her.  No idea what it might be. Especially at that angle.

Tomorrow, the main goal of the day is to prepare the Easter basket for blessing on Saturday.  I still need to find out what time that’s happening!

I’m really looking forward to it!

The Re-Farmer

 

 

 

 

 

 

More new deer?

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Today was a chilly day, with very high winds.  There had been freezing rain the night before, so it was pretty slippery driving out to get the van’s safety inspection, with winds buffeting all the way.  Even when parked!  After they were done with the van, I sat in it for a while, updating my husband with Skype (we used to text each other all the time, but Skype uses internet, so it’ll actually get through).  The wind was rocking the van hard enough that, as I was focusing on tapping out my message, I was actually feeling some vertigo!

With the unpleasant conditions, it was no surprise that no deer came over, and for a while I thought we wouldn’t see any at all.

Then a whole bunch showed up, all at once!

At first, three came running in, with a little one in the lead.  A slightly larger one followed, while and even larger third deer hung back at the tree line.

The slightly larger one kept trying to drive away the little one, who kept coming back.  Then the bigger one by the trees went at the middle sized one.

While watching their antics, I suddenly realized I was seeing two more deer coming through the spruces, and one of them drove off the two bigger ones.

I didn’t recognize the two that got driven off.  It looks like we got some more new ones, but they didn’t have any distinguishing marks that would allow me be sure. The little one turned out to be one of the twins, and the two coming out of the spruces was Mama and the other twin.  The twins have distinctive black on their ears.

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Mama and the twins.  She’s the one with the heart shape on her forehead.

Not long after, we spotted the other two through the dining room window!  These two had cut through the spruce grove to come around a pile of pallets and whatnot that’s sitting at the edge of the trees.  Deer rarely come from that direction.  They tried to come back to the feeding station, but Mama and the twins weren’t about to let them!

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One of the twins.

Deer.  They’re so dramatic! :-D

While all that was going on, my husband and I decided we needed to get the van work done to pass safety.  We’re going to have to go into the money for the broken power pole, but what choice do we have?  Getting the new pole will just have to be pushed back.  The vehicle is the priority right now.

That decided, I called the garage to tell them to go ahead and order the parts.  Turns out that I’d called early enough that the order would go out today, and the parts should come in tomorrow.  They were able to book me for the afternoon, though I was asked to phone at noon, first, to check if the parts were in.  No point in getting any of the work done, if there is a delay in any of the parts.

It had been my intention to bake the Easter bread tomorrow.  Since I’m most likely going to be spending quite a bit of time at the garage, I decided to do it today.  This bread has such a completely different texture than our usual bread.  It’s all that eggs, butter and milk!  Then, I tried a new rye bread recipe, modified to use our rye sourdough starter.

Both came out looking awesome!

I’ll be posting the recipes separately.

We’ve also dug out our Easter baskets, and will have to use the biggest one this year.  The braided loaf I made is too long for the round one we usually use!  Even with the bigger basket, we’ll have to find some way to support it from underneath, so it doesn’t break apart.

Now that’s the kind of problem I would much rather have, instead of vehicle problems! :-D

The Re-Farmer

That’s going to hurt…

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automotive-defect-broken-car-wreck-78793.jpegWell, I’ve taken the van in this morning to get the safety inspection.

This is a bare bones inspection required in order for me to be able to transfer our license and registration to this province.  Whatever else they find, as long as I can get it fixed within 30 days, they can sign off on it as a pass.

It failed.

When the mechanic came in, his first question to me was “were you planning on keeping this vehicle?”

There are a lot of little things wrong with it.  Whoever owned it before us didn’t maintain it well.

Here we thought that buying from a dealership would save us from this hassle.  I never thought that the dealership would be the one to screw us over.  I would have been better off buying a vehicle off of LetGo.

Ah, hindsight.  It’s always perfect.

To be fair, the engine itself is sound.  If it weren’t, it wouldn’t be worth fixing.

The mechanic did find where our power steering was leaking.  Apparently, it wasn’t spotted because it’s leaking into something, and not just onto the ground.  It’s not a safety issue, though, so that can wait.

At my request, he also checked my driver’s side door to see why it’s dropping.  The bushings are worn out.  Again, not something that affects the safety inspection.

There were only two things to cause the failure.

One, is the brake light at the rear of the van.  The one that’s above the lift gate.  If it had just been a bulb, it would have been a quick fix, right then and there.

Turns out, it uses an LED light bar.  Which they didn’t have in any of their parts vehicles in stock.  Which can only be purchased new, directly from GM.  Which makes it considerably more expensive.  Also, it would need to be ordered in.

The other failure was with the ABS indicator.  The light has always been on since I’ve owned it, and the onboard computer always has a “service ABS system” warning.  So I figured there would be something, there.

It turns out the problem was with what WASN’T there.

A connector.

It turns out the connector for the relevant wiring was gone, and the wires themselves were tied off.

I had to ask.  Why would someone do something like that?

His best guess is that it had come loose and was dragging on the ground.  Rather than replace it, the person who did it just cut it off and tied off the wires, so they wouldn’t be dragging on the ground anymore.

He also mentioned in passing that he’s not impressed with these systems.  The ABS warning light is on on all his own vehicles, and it’s a common problem.

They did a quick check, and it turned out they did have a connector in stock that should fit.  I gave the go ahead to do both the light (which is when they found out it wasn’t just a bulb and couldn’t do it) and install the connector.

It didn’t work.

The connector was the right kind, all right, but the indicator lights continued to show.  He even drove it around a bit to see if it would turn off.  When they tested it, it kept coming up as erratic readings.

They found where the problems where.

On their own, the cost to get everything fixed really isn’t that bad.  All together, though, it’s going to be almost $650.

The only way we can afford that is if we go into the money set aside to fix the broken power pole.

Granted, the pole can’t be fixed until the ground thaws.  Which means sometime in May.  If we use this money, we likely won’t be able to replace it all of it until the end of May, which means the pole won’t get replaced until June.  My brother was going to get the power restored to the barn at the same time (they plan to paint it this year, and will need power for the equipment).

We don’t really have a choice.  We have to get the work done and the registration transferred.  We’re already behind on that.

*sigh*

Moving out here was supposed to be a help to our financial situation.  All these extra expenses are making it harder for us just to get caught up on extra expenses related to the move.  So it’s extra expenses on top of extra expenses.

It’ll work out in the end.  It’s just going to be a painful ride for a longer time.  Being the cynic realist that I am, all I can think of, what will happen next?  Because there’s always something, isn’t there?

Still, we have a roof over our heads, food on the table, and our basic bills are being paid.  For that, at least, I am thankful.

The Re-Farmer

Sunday Adventures in Vehicles and Bugs

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We are still on the lookout for a church in the next town, so this morning I headed out to visit a new one I’d never been to before.  I almost didn’t make it, having been up until 3 am this morning (actually 2am, but then daylight savings time happened), but it worked out.

This time I went to an evangelical “free” church.  In all my years growing up here, I had no idea it even existed, as it’s in a residential part of town I’d never gone to before.  The only reason I knew where it was was because my daughter and I had found it while playing Pokemon Go a month or so ago, and all churches are Pokestops.

I honestly don’t know what to think of it.  The church itself has no online presence, but I was able to look up what an evangelical church is, and it’s a solidly grounded non-denominational church.  Like most churches in the area, there was a small core of regular congregants.  This being a resort town, the population basically doubles in the summer, and all the churches get fuller.  People were friendly in welcoming.  They have a pastoral couple, rather than just a pastor, which was not something I’ve encountered before, though I was aware of such things.  The sermon was good, though there were a few things about the service that I found a bit strange; little throwaway comments that were intended to be humorous, but were inadvertently sexist.

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Hello, all, and Happy Valentine’s Day!  I hope those of you who take part in it had a wonderful day. :-)

This year, today also happens to be the first day of Lent, which we each observe in different ways.  My “fast” will be the same as the last couple of years; I am giving up Facebook for Lent.  I spend way too much time on there!  I’ve already caught myself almost going onto it when I sat at the computer (I removed the shortcut on my phone), just out of habit.  I only went on this morning to post my usual note letting people know that if they wanted to reach me, they’d have to use something other than Facebook for the next while.  And wish people Happy Valentine’s day at the same time.

We’ve never been big on Valentine’s Day.  I suppose I could always be cheesy and say that we don’t need to, because every day is Valentine’s day, but the truth is, we’re just not particularly romantic.  :-D  Very early in our relationship, I told my (future) husband that, while I enjoy things like flowers, I’m more of a kitchen appliance kind of woman. :-D  Since then, it’s expended to things like yarn and tools.  Nothing like a sweet, sweet skein of gorgeous yarn, or a set of calipers, to make my heart go pitter patter!  Still, we basically just wish each other Happy Valentine’s day, then get on with our day.  After almost 30 years of marriage, we’re pretty laid back about such things. :-D

Unfortunately, yesterday was hard on my husband, so he had to deal with the fallout from that, today. :-(

My morning still started out with some aggressive cuddles, though.

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“You weren’t planning to get up, where you?”

Our mama cat was all over me this morning, draping herself over whatever limb she could get at, and trapping me!

Her boy does the same to my daughters.

I honestly don’t know why she likes me so much.  Even when she isn’t cuddling hard, she still tries to be near me all the time.

Not that I mind, except that we haven’t been able to trim her claws for quite a long time.

It was a warm day today – about -7C when I went to feed the outside cats.  Which made it a relatively rare day when all 7 of them were out at the same time.

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My daughters were kind enough to lay out a new piece of cardboard for me yesterday, while we were gone for so long.  The first time I laid the cardboard out, the cats weren’t sure about going on it for a while, but this time, I think they were quite happy to have something a bit warmer on their toes!

It was warm enough that I stayed out after putting the deer feed and bird seed out and dug out the ice chipper.  The packed snow was starting to encroach in spots.  One of the areas I cleared was a side section of the concrete steps.  Strangely, the cats loved it.  After I moved on to the sidewalk, I looked back to see Rolando Moon rolling ecstatically on the freshly cleared concrete.  Then Beep Beep and Nasty Crime Boy took turns, all in that same section of step!  I have no idea what was attracting them to that one spot.

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“You may touch the royal paw.”

Rolando even let me pet her a bit.

A bit.

Meanwhile, my husband was able to call in some prescription refills today.  Being warmer today than it will be for a while, I was going to take advantage of it and install those new headlight bulbs before my daughter and I headed into town.

Now, I’ve changed automotive light bulbs before, but not on this vehicle.  We’ve had it for less than a year.  Our previous van was pretty straightforward.  You could just look at it and figure out how to open things up.

Not so much, this one.  After looking around and not seeing how to open up the casing, we decided to do it later.

I did get out the new gas cap and put it on, leaving the tethered old gas cap in place while I turned on the engine to see if the “check gas cap” alert still came on.

It did.

*sigh*

So it’s likely a faulty sensor.

I put the old gas cap back for now, since I want to make sure I can remove the tether without having to cut it.  I’m sure I can, but just haven’t had the time to fiddle with it.

While we drove to town, my daughter dug out the instruction manual and found the section for replacing the bulbs.  Turns out there was a pin somewhere in there that needs to be pulled out, first.  I never noticed a pin anywhere when I was looking.

She also looked up the “check gas cap” alert.  It says that when it comes on, it means that gas cap is off, so go put it back on.  (*duh!)

The gas cap is on just fine, so that’s not the problem, but it confirmed what I already thought.  I was just hoping for a bit more information for, say, why the alert would continue after ensuring the cap was on.

Once we were back from town, I started working on the headlights while my daughter took our stuff in, then shoveled her way back.  It had started to snow by then, so she shoveled the path to the burn barrel, too.  It was finally a warm, wind free enough day for a burn to be done.  It’s been quite a while since we’ve been able to do one!

While she got her workout in outside, I was able to hang up a light and see what I was doing under the hood, thanks to the 200ft of extension cords from the house to the garage.  (That was so sweet of my brother to buy those for us!)  I found the pin, which was nowhere near where I expected to be, and managed to get it out.  Then I had to loosen a bolt.

To do that, I needed a wrench.

I found a couple of very old tools hanging about, but it turns out there are pretty much no tools left in the garage at all.  There’s lot of other weird stuff, but no tools.

I’m told there used to be lots of tools, not only in the garage, but in the basement of the house, too.

Not sure what happened to them all.

Thankfully, we have our own tool kits.

After much fin-angling, I finally got the casing off and the burnt out bulb out.  That thing did NOT want to come out!  But I got it done.  The second one went much smoother!  Only partly because I knew what I was doing this time. :-D

So we now have new, brighter headlight bulbs.

I’m kinda looking forward to our next night drive after dark, now. :-)

One more thing to tick off the “to do” list.

Later on, after I got supper in the oven and the girls were outside doing the burn, I heard a loud bang.  It seemed like something hit the house!  I even felt the floor shake.  I popped my head outside to look and asked the girls about it, but they heard and saw nothing.

I still don’t know what caused the noise.  Perhaps something in the basement fell?  I don’t know.

Looking out the dining room window, though, I saw this…

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A grouse, under the bushes.

Looking at the tracks, I kinda wondered if maybe the grouse flew into the house, fell into the snow, then tucked itself under the bush to recover.

Or it’s just sitting there, taking shelter from the snow.

I’m pretty sure a grouse isn’t big enough to have made that noise, though.  I’m still wondering what it could have been.

Also, my phone camera takes terrible zoomed in shots.  At least I had one decent shot I could drop down.

Interestingly, for all the animals I saw today, including the usual birds and squirrels at the feeding station, I haven’t see a single deer.  It’s possible I just missed them, but my husband said he hadn’t seen any, either.

I won’t be surprised to find the now-buried-in-snow feed is all dug up and eaten by morning, though.

It was good to get a break from the cold, today.  We had a high of -2C by this evening.  By midnight, we’re supposed to his -21C, with a windchill of -32C.

Tomorrow, by 8am, it is supposed to be -25C, with a windchill of -39C.

Talk about a severe drop!

Tomorrow’s high of the day is supposed to be -19C, with a windchill of -28C.  We need to go into town again for doctor’s appointments in that. :-(  That’s the coldest it’s supposed to be over the next few days, at least, but we won’t see temperatures in the single digits again for another week.

I think we’re going to be staying home as much as possible for the next while!

The Re-Farmer

 

 

 

Watching Over Us

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Today was a day when we could really tell that Someone is watching over us!

This morning, my husband had an appointment to get a CT scan.  For this, we had to go to a small city that is an hour’s drive away.  The hospital is at the edge of town, though, so we didn’t have any extra driving beyond that.

He had to be there for 11:30, but with the winds the way they were, we decided to head out early, just in case.  Our route took us though another town where we stopped to fill the gas tank, then we continued on.

Through this.

20180213blowing.snow

When we tell people we live in the middle of nowhere, sometimes they think we are exaggerating.

The actual temperature today was quite mild – we warmed up to about -9C at home, and even warmer (-6C) in the city we went to.  The wind chills made it feel in the -26C range, making it potentially dangerous to be out in it for two long.

There isn’t a lot of snow, yet at times the road was almost completely obliterated, except for what I could see right in front of me.  I could always tell I was in the correct lane, for example.  The wind made it more of a challenge to stay on the road than the visibility did.

But the drive went well and even with our stop for gas, we got there early.  My husband got registered into their system and sent to the appropriate area of the hospital to wait for his test.

Unfortunately, an emergency came up and all the scheduled appointments got delayed.  He got in about 45 minutes late.  I could see he was really struggling, and by the time he was called in, his shirt was wet and his face beaded with sweat from the pain. pain.scale

I saw an “improved pain scale” being shared on Facebook lately.  I liked it, but decided to make up one of my own.  It’s annoying to be asked to rate your pain on a scale of 1-10, when pain is so relative and subjective – something his previous doctor admitted was a problem.  Most pain scales I see are just smiley to sad faces, which doesn’t work.

So I came up with this version.

I’d say my husband lives in the 8-9 zone.  Seven, on a good day.  When my husband was asked to rate himself on the pain scale, my husband answered relative to how much pain he was in before, and put himself at a 5.

With the delay, I knew we would need to get some food before we headed home.  Seeing his obvious (to me, anyhow) discomfort, I did a quick search for a rare treat while he was being scanned; McDonald’s.  Yes.  It’s a treat.  It falls under the “comfort food” area.  Thankfully, there was one nearby.

When he was done, that’s where we headed.  It turned out to be inside a Walmart.  We would have preferred a drive through, but oh, well.

I tried to find a disabled parking spot for us.  This place has probably 18 of them, and they were all full!  As I was driving around to find I spot that was at least close, I ended up having a vehicle riding my bumper, enough to interfere with my ability to try and turn into any spots I found.

So I figured I’d just get away from the tailgater and go around.

Just as I accelerated, it started.

A sort of smacking/clapping noise from the engine.  Something was loose in there!

We quickly parked, shut off the engine and popped the hood, but I couldn’t see anything unusual.  Leaving it, we went inside to eat.  Once back in the van, I started it and…

… the noise was still there.

Leaving it running, I popped the hood again.  This time, I could see something at the belt smacking a hose.  Shutting off the engine, I could see a strip with a frayed end.

20180213frayed.belt

I took a picture of it, then we went back into the Walmart and their garage.  Showing the picture to the guy behind the counter, he said it looked like the fan belt, and that they couldn’t do that kind of work.  There was, however, a Canadian Tire across the road, and they could do it.

Just in case, I phoned up my cousin for his advice.

One option we had was to simply cut the loose piece, then drive home and hope the rest of the belt didn’t snap along the way.

Not an option we preferred!

The other option was to drive it across the street and, hopefully, get it fixed right away.

We took option number two.

He also mentioned that he had looked at the belt when he worked on our van, and it had looked fine. :-(

At this point, we had two things going for us.  One was that it happened while we were still in town.  If we had started to drive home, rather than stopping to eat, it would have happened while we were on the highway.  Instead, it happened right near a garage.

The other thing we had going for us was funds.  We had nothing in the budget for this, but the money we got from the moving company to pay for replacing our electric pole was there.  We could use that, and replace what we used at the end of the month.  If we hadn’t got that money when we did, we would have been hooped.  Big time.

So, off to Canadian Tire we went!

Once inside, I showed the picture to the guy and talked about getting it fixed.  Unfortunately, he only had two mechanics in that day; lots of people have been calling in sick lately.  However, he had a customer to call with info about a part.  Depending on what the customer decided, they might be able to fit us in, instead of working on that person’s car.

In the end, the decision was made for the customer.  The part needed couldn’t be delivered until tomorrow morning.

Which meant they could work on our van, instead!

That was the third thing going for us.

Once in, the first thing they needed to do was a diagnostic (about $70), to make sure the belt was the only thing that needed replacing.  Depending on what caused it to break, the serpentine belt might also be at risk.

It turned out to only be the belt.

It took maybe half an hour (labour rate posted: $112 an hour) to get fixed!  Altogether, it cost quite a bit less than we were afraid it would.

The guy talked to us afterward, saying that there was a leak in there; either oil or power steering fluid.  I told him it was the power steering, but that several people have looked at it already, and couldn’t find where it was leaking.  He told us we would have to find it, because it was getting right on the belt, which corrodes it.  It’ll happen again.  Which we knew.  I’ve got to get the van saftied, anyhow, so I’m hoping the leak will finally be found.  He said that one way it could be found is if someone puts a dye into the fluid.  They would then be able to spot the leak using a blacklight.

Interesting.

Since we were there anyhow, and the fix cost less than we thought it might, we took advantage of the situation.  I needed a new headline bulb, so we got a pair of bulbs, slightly brighter than what we already had.  I didn’t want to go to the brightest, as I have no desire to blind oncoming traffic while driving at night.  I’ve had that happen to me too often, and I would never want to inflict that on anyone else.

We also picked up a new gas cap.  Just a couple of days ago, my onboard computer started showing “check gas cap” warning.  That was another thing on my list of items to replace.  I’m guessing the seal on the cap finally degraded too much.  The cold certainly isn’t helping.  If changing it doesn’t fix the problem, it’ll be another thing on the list of stuff to get it to pass safety inspection.

I just have to figure out how to remove the old gas cap, which has a tether.  The new one doesn’t.

Changing the bulbs will wait a day or two, when it warms up a bit more.

That done, we drove the hour home.

All together, we ended up being gone 6 hours, when we expected to be gone maybe 3 hours.

I made sure to drive right up to the house to drop off my husband, and he went straight to lying down. :-(

What a day.

Then, this evening, I heard a knock at the door.

Which was very disorienting.  We never get casual knocks at the door out here!

It was the electrician.  He had intended to come out this weekend to check how frozen the ground is, but never made it.  He made it today, stopping on his way home from the city.  He’d tested his drill out, and the ground is just too solid.

We’ll have to wait until things start to thaw out, then contact him again to get it done.

Which is actually kind of good, since we would not have been able to replace what we used of the funds for another two weeks.

Yet another thing that worked out in our favour.

Yes, Someone is indeed watching out for us!

The Re-Farmer