Dead cars

Yes, I was supposed to work this morning. That is what I was supposed to do. But sometimes life has other plans.

This morning we awoke to Andy hacking his lungs out and Joey bouncing at our feet. So we dragged ourselves out of bed to deal with morning madness. We decided try tuck Andy back into his bed with some cough meds and try to get him to rest. JoeyAndyDad hopped into the car with Joey to get some doughnuts. I got my work corner ready for the day. I thought about calling in to work only half the day, as Andy looked pretty rough and might need a trip to the doctor; at the very least, JoeyAndyDad might need some help (having the boys on two different levels of the house is a bit of a challenge).

The phone rang. Who calls the house at 8 in the morning?

JoeyAndyDad does, when the car just cuts off while driving. Again. I get a premonition that it would be a good idea to call and cancel my work session, which I do before carrying Andy as-is to the car to go get Joey, while JoeyAndyDad calls for a tow truck. I grab Joey, then go get the doughnuts (We love Krispy Kreme!) and come back to lighten up the wait for the tow truck with warm, sugary, doughnutty goodness. The plan is to take the car over to Jeff's (our mechanic), and pick up the car we left there to be winterized (the Jeep). But then. what if the other car isn't ready enough to be driven? I didn't want to strand JoeyAndyDad out there, so I waited to go over with him.

Sure enough, the Jeep isn't ready. So we leave the green car and the red car and head home. By this time, Andy is looking positively perky, Joey is beside himself, and things are generally going crazy. I make an executive decision to take the boys to the Bug Box, which is having a special event today.

We had a fabulous time. i didn't take the camera, because I left JoeyAndyDad home to recover from his morning. We looked at bugs, and played at the various tables, and made thank-you cards and ornaments for wounded veterans, and a good time was had by all. Then we got thirsty and tired, so we headed back to the car to go get some lunch and drinks. I got everybody strapped in, plopped tiredly into my seat, and turned the key.

And nothing happened.

And when I say nothing, I mean nothing. No power at all. The door locks were not even working now. Nada. Silence.

Fortunately, there is an auto parts store right behind the Bug Box, and we were parked right in front of it. Even more fortunately, there is a very nice man working there. Several other ladies who were loading up their tired, thirsty children suggested I run in there for help, and they kept an eye on my guys while I did so. It took a few minutes to get their attention and ask, and then a few more minutes for them to finish up what they were doing to come out and help- long enough that one of the nice ladies came in to check and make sure they were going to help. And they took so long coming out that she had turned her car around to help jump my car, as I already had cables.

I would like to take this opportunity to say, thank you, very nice ladies who took their time to help me, to watch my kids, and to offer their battery, when they all had better things to do and tired, thirsty kids of their own. I don't think those ladies have any idea how grateful I am.

We were about to hook up the cables when the guy came out of the shop with a jump machine, so I rather flusteredly thanked the nice lady and sent her on her way (I hope she wasn't insulted... I was pretty flustered). Turns out it was a good thing I did. Apparently, my battery was super-duper hot- something was overcharging it. Our first attempt to jump it with the machine was a failure, not enough power. The guy then went and drove his big truck around and connected up my cables.

And they melted.

So I was glad the nice lady who stayed got to go home instead of using her battery, it could have been a huge disaster, and someone could have been hurt. Instead, the guy fetched his industrial cables, and got a surface charge going so I could get the car started. I was fine- as long as I didn't turn the car off. Oh, and the jump blew the fuse for my radio (or shorted it out).

So I drove the guys home, tossed them to their Dad, left instructions for my mother to be called to pick me up, and off I drove back to Jeff's. He wasn't there, but I left a note.

That's right. All three cars were now in his tender care.

Mom is letting me borrow the truck so I can get Joey to his swim lesson in the morning and Andy to school on Monday. We're working on how to get JoeyAndyDad to work on Monday. I stopped to grab a child seat, and Jeff had returned. We both laughed hard, but he also promised to get us a working car ASAP, probably Monday night (the Jeep just needs an inspection to be in working order- but what if the stations are closed for Columbus Day?)

We are eagerly awaiting the call.