An Anticlimactic Conclusion

I'm blonde.

That is my only excuse, so I want to make sure you remember that.

You see, I have lately (re)learned that you cannot start an automatic transmission vehicle that is set in "drive." You are supposed to take it out of gear before you turn off the engine. If, that is, you want your automatic transmission vehicle to start up the next time you turn the key.

So, my car now starts. And it didn't cost too much...just the fact that Paul fixed it for me and I owe him eternal gratitude and endless respect. And maybe some ice-cream out. =)

And now, if I am to fully prepare for the life of a mechanic, I must move on to new horizons.

So...

What do you do if your car is leaking gallons of water onto the front passenger seat, but you can't find where it's coming from?

On The Learning Curve

I've come a long way since the first time I drove a car.

I hate to admit this publicly, but the first time I sat in the driver's seat after I obtained my learner's permit, I had to ask which pedal was the brake and which the gas.

Yeah. Really.

Like I said, I've come a long way.

When I first drove a manual stickshift, I didn't know what a clutch was. It took me months to learn how to perform the delicate balancing act between gas pedal and clutch which is required to shift gears. But I conquered in the end. Before that poor car, may it rest in peace, last saw the light of the open road, I didn't even have to think about shifting gears any more.

Good thing too, because I had a few other things to think about. Things like...choosing which strange man I should accost in a quest for jumper cables when I accidentally left my lights on. And...how to earn enough money to buy enough oil to fill the oil compartment frequently enough to keep the engine lubricated enough so that I could drive it. And...what to do when my parents were out of town and I didn't have a cell phone and my engine overheated on one of the hottest days of the year. And...how to earn enough money to pay the mechanic enough to examine my car thoroughly enough to keep it operating long enough for me to find a sturdy enough new car. And...finally, how to keep my cool when my car gave up the ghost at a stop light in the downtown section of a busy big-city suburb.

As you can probably tell, I've had a lot to learn as the owner and operator of a vehicle. But I have been learning!!

I optimistically hoped that car maintenance would be a bit less complicated (and expensive) when I bought my new car. After all it's only twenty years old instead of twent-three. And its life has treated it gently. Both Dad and the mechanic assured me that it was a good car and would serve me well for a long time.

Maybe so.

Especially, if "serving me well" means forcing me to learn the difference between radiator fluid and oil, alternator and starter, bell housing and engine. With a bonus lesson in how to remove the battery and test its charge.

In case you were wondering, the battery was fully charged. In case you were further wondering, I now have a sort of idea of the function of many of the gadgets in place under my hood. Along with general cost of their replacement.

However, lesson in identification and proper function completed I am still left wondering...

Why doesn't my car start????

And...

How much will it cost to fix it???

Maybe in a year or two, I will go into business as a mechanic.

"I've come a long way," I will cheerfully assure my customers, "since I first set hand to wrench.
Everything I know, I've learned by experience."

In Which I Carve a Niche in Blogdom

Yes, I am beginning my end-of-the-year festivities by treating myself to a blog.

You know me; I like having an audience almost as much as I like writing.

So, welcome to my cyber-corner and I hope you will enjoy your visits here!