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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Mr. Goodwrench meets Rubber Band Man

Cars and trucks are wonderful inventions.  I'm thrilled to be able to get in a car and travel to distant and not so distant places.  I am NOT so thrilled when the vehicle I'm in decides to quit working.  I am especially not so thrilled when it decides to stop working in rush hour traffic.  This past week I had the "honor" of riding with a tow truck driver 3 (three) times. 

Not so much fun.

They were very nice men, but still, not so much fun.

First the starter decided to, well, not start the car.

On a Friday night.

At the grocery store/pizza place.

The battery was determined to be fine by the first person sent out by AAA and suggested it might be the starter.  He called for a tow for us.  The tow truck driver confirmed that the battery was fine and said it was probably the starter as he could hear it trying to start the car. We had it towed 15 miles to our house.

We had to be someplace on Saturday. It's a good thing we have a truck, too!

Sunday, as you know, car repair places are usually not open.

Monday, we called to make an appointment for the car, and, oh, yes, a tow truck to take the car to be repaired.

Tuesday, I rode once again in the tow truck to the car dealership to get the work done.

"Looks, like the engine froze up. That's not a good thing." the first man told me.

"Hmmm, have you looked at the starter?" I replied, hopefully in a sweet voice.

"We go to lunch from 11:30 to 12:30", he says at 11:15.  "Can you hang out a while?"

Since I came with the two truck driver, what else was I going to do?

Enter, the second man.  "It looks like you've got a bad starter."  (I only thought, Ya think?) "We can get one locally, or you can wait 2 hours for a Delco to be delivered."  I opted for the local one, they put it in and I was on my way home.  Yay!

Thursday on the way home from work at the SAME INTERSECTION as the grocery store/pizza place the battery light came on, the power steering quit and it over heated.  We were in the far left lane, of course, and had to get to a safe place to get off the road during rush hour.  Fortunately, Gary is a very good driver and we did so without incident.

AAA sent a tow truck. We rode in the tow truck to a different car dealership.  Our usual car dealership. The one near our daughter, Beth's house.  She's a sweet daughter and let us use her car to get home.

Friday, I took her car back to her early enough for her to do the first school run.  She dropped me off at the car dealership before making the second school run.

Do you think it's a bad thing when the service representative calls you by your first name even when you arrive without an appointment?

A pulley that holds a belt had broken.  The belt was ruined, too.  And, oh yes, as long as we are in there, the alternator was about to go.  We decided to save a trip in a tow truck and have that fixed, too. The last time he had told me something was about to go, it did -- on the way home from getting the car fixed.  I listen when he talks now!

This all reminded me of this little quilt I made.  I named it Mr. Goodwrench meets Rubber Band Man.



The man made from rubber bands and the pliers, wrench and washer were scanned into the computer covered by bright yellow fabric.  There is an inner border of metal zipper teeth and the "binding" is also zipper teeth.  It was made for a challenge in Studio 222, the art group I was a part of in Auburn, AL. (They are a great group!)  The challenge was "heavy metal".

This little quilt was featured in Bonnie Browning's book Borders And Finishing Touches II.

Though I like the real Mr. Goodwrench at the car dealership.  I hope it's a long time before I see him or the inside of a tow truck again!

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Have you thought about setting up challenges for yourself and making a small quilt just for the fun of it?  Studio 222 does it all the time and it challenges one to think creatively.  Share any challenging ideas you might have for fun quilts with me.  I'd love to hear from you!

Until next time,
Lois

2 comments:

JoQuilter said...

Your story reminds me of years ago when Andrea and I were having all the car problems in the early guild years in Dubuque. I know how you feel.

Lois Arnold said...

It would be far worse if we were having to maneuver in the hills of Dubuque! At least where we keep breaking down is flat and close to things. Closer to our house there is nothing! Perhaps this will be funny someday, but now? Not so much!