Sunday, 23 November 2008

• Uh-Oh

  My, my, my.  I have tiny things going wrong over here.  They wouldn't be going wrong if Chris were home!  

  I found out that changing the bulb on the headlight was slightly more complicated than plugging in a vacuum cleaner. I can do that.  I can do that in the dark!  Youtube had a very nice man recording his wife's bulb changing expedition while he narrated.  Great.  Thank you nice people.  I promptly went out to try my hand at it.  Twist and remove cover.  Unclip the holder-inner-wire-thingy.  Easy.  Ease out the bulb.  Unplug two prong bulb from wiring harness.  Done.  Plug in new bulb--tut, tut do not touch the bulb with fingers!  The new bulb has three prongs and a big plastic part not seen on the old bulb.  Rats.  The headlight I had pulled was the good one, so we'll just put 'er back together and go exchange bulbs tomorrow.

  These little critters cost a small fortune, relative to their size!  Maybe they have platinum in them.  I get to the store.  Just noticed it is getting dark.  I pop the hood and reach for the dead headlight bulb.  If I pull it, take it in, and show it, I can match it.  Normal so far.  I reach in and twist off the cover, release the wire and gently pull...the whole crazy thing apart.  The plastic in the harness crumbled under my fingers and the metal parts were snapped off or fused on. 

  Did I mention it was dark the temp was dropping swiftly, and I had on my Sunday clothes?  That shouldn't really be a problem unless the headlight is the one under all the greasy wiring.  So my greasy hand is now holding the remains of the plastic connector, Hunter gets the keys out of my coat pocket, I get my purse sticking my whole arm through the handle.  It's black.  The grease won't really show.  The only help they offer me costs $349.  (I saw it online for $99!)  A whole new headlight assembly.  Learning the jargon on the fly, I figure she is offering me a whole new headlight.  I believe I want a headlight wiring harness. Don't need the whole deal, don't want to work on that one without adult supervision and don't want to cough up that kind of dough to fix a light on an eight year old car. 

  So, I put the headlight case back together and left.  When I got home, I emailed Chris.  Now Chris is far away and hates to not be able to take care of things while he is gone.  All I asked was, 'Do you have a favorite website to get Volvo pieces from?"  No hysteria there.

  About 20 minutes later, the phone rang. It was a call for me from across the world.  Now I know how to get him to call anytime he is not in the air!  He had a couple of questions, and we figured it out.  I found the wiring and it only costs $19.19.  I'll drive the other car until I get the part and get it in.  See, I got a headlight out warning from the Staters three days ago and I do want to be responsible.  If it turns out that it requires some special manskills to install, I'll call Andy--he's down the road.  Andy and Chris work together.  He is our signal.  When Andy leaves, we know Chris will be home on the return trip.  The guys swap off on family watch, too.  Handy.

  I already had Tom from church come and replace the ballast in my big kitchen light.  He is an electrician.  He was here to give us a quote on wiring the shed out back when he noticed the light out.  I hadn't changed the bulbs because they were the long ones.  We keep the long ones in the attic.  Pulling down the stairs is hard because I am too short.  I had it planned for Saturday, really.  It is good he was here because not only did he catch on to the ballast being blown, he had one to replace it.  I would have left it for Chris, most likely. 

  The car incident snowballed, however, when Chris suggested I drive the Explorer until the wagon was ready.  Well, I WOULD just drive that one, except when I went to start it yesterday, the battery was nearly dead.  Wouldn't start.  So when Chris suggested that I use it, I asked him if there is any reason why it was juiceless.  He said it was weak when he left.  I put 2 and 2 together--  weak battery plus several nights around thirty and one at 19 degrees. No more battery.  So I get to jumpstart the thing and go get a battery.  Except Chris very diplomatically suggested that I have Rob next door come help with that.  I guess I would rather it be Rob's fault the ignition is fried if something goes bad. 

  The rest of my Sunday went alright.  We were 10 minutes late for Sunday School.  I have a child who needs to be watched like an Alzheimer's patient when it is time to get ready to go somewhere.  I took my eye off him for 10 minutes to get ready, and that was all it took.  He was not dressed.  In fact he was just out of the shower, and prancing buck naked in his room  when it was time to go.  Such an endearing little boy.  He almost wore a mom-sized handprint on his naked bum!   Funny how it works.  I say "Get out of the shower now".  He says "Okay mom.  I'm getting the soap out of my hair."  Who takes 15 minutes to remove soap from hair?  Other than that, Sunday went well. 

  Look how much time I have to post when the spouse is gone!  It's past my bedtime and I am off now. 

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