Serpentines Bite

While driving to pick my son up last Saturday, I took a wrong turn.  JD was staying at his friend’s house and because many streets in that neighborhood are under construction, I used an alternate route.  It was no surprise to end up in the land of the lost.  I managed two left turns and a right, and was uncertain if I was facing north, south, east or west.  I finally pulled to the side of the road and called my son.

“I’m running late,” I explained. 

I grabbed my GPS, clicked it on but soon realized the battery was dead.  “Great,” I mumbled under my breath.

Forward, all any of us can do is roll forward. 

It then occurred to me that I have GPS on my cell phone.  I called my son back for the exact address.  Okay, so I felt out of sorts for I’d been taking him there for eight years…always traveling the same roads, always following the same direction and then “boom,” I had no idea where I was.

After typing the address, to my surprise Mags the Nag taunted that I was merely down the block one street over from the desired location.  Literally thirty seconds later, I arrived in front of the house.  Toot, toot.

My son chuckled as he entered the car for he could read my embarrassment.  “Get lost much?”  He joked.

If that wasn’t bad enough, there was a distinct sound as if something was stuck in the wheel well of my car.  Ker-thunk, ker-thunk, ker-thunk…  As we pulled into the driveway back home and shifted the gear into park, the noise continued. 

“That can’t be good,” my son announced.

He was right.

When I opened the hood, I peered at the engine only to learn how the serpentine belt had become a whip that was snapping all over the place.  Mind you my car had been repaired earlier that week which included a brand new alternator.  All I could think of was going through that hassle all over again…being without my car for another two days and needing someone to drive me to and from the repair.  Let me introduce you to my old friend, Inconvenience.

As we entered the house, something occurred to me…if I can take apart the gear mechanisms in our push mower to fix, then why couldn’t I change the belt on the car myself? 

Youtube is a wonderful asset.  There are many “how to” videos that offer step by step instruction for such things.  To my great fortune, there was a four minute video on changing the serpentine belt on my model of car.  Four minutes…was it really possible to complete the task in that short amount of time?

Although it seemed like a good idea on paper, when it came time for the “doing,” I carried a bit of apprehension.  I thought of my ten year old self test driving my dad’s hydraulic lawn mower as the gears became stuck in reverse.  It was moving fast too…this way and that…I was screaming in a fright until I plowed straight into the central air conditioner knocking it off the cinder blocks.  My brother finally heard me and ran over to help.  He simply turned off the key.  Would such attempts at repairing my own car leave me stuck in reverse?

My point is, past experiences as well as an over-active imagination…well let’s just say I thought it might be wise to pay someone else to do it.  I called around for three quotes.  The prices varied anywhere from $90 to $170 dollars.  That ended up being the perfect motivation to fix it myself.   The top of the line serpentine belt from the local part store was $35.00…but the question remained, was I up for the challenge?

I purchased the belt, used the digital camera on my phone to click a few pictures so as to make sure I had everything looped as it should be.  I drew a couple of diagrams so that I was absolute on how to wind it all up, around and through.  I disconnected the negative on the battery, and used the square from the socket wrench to release the tension.  Eight minutes later, the belt was changed.  Eight minutes…thirty five dollars, a bit of grease on my hands and a smile on my face versus $90 to $170 and an empty wallet. 

A person sure can learn some wonderful things online.  A new recipe, home remedies, repairs, exercises, plumbing…there seems to be a “how to” on just about everything.  Now if only I could announce a specific date for my upcoming book, that would be something wonderful to learn online, yes?

I did speak to my editor on Wednesday and she is at the half way point.  Admittedly, there are some challenges ahead.  In the mean time, I’m taking a break from the project and immersing myself into art.  I’ve been messing with watercolor pencils.  Weird stuff too…a tribute to Dr. Suess’ artwork, among other things that spark creativity.

I’ve changed directions.  Hopefully, when the working copy of the manuscript is returned, my mind will be clear enough so that I can push through for a job well done.  All I can say is soon, very, very soon.   Thanks for checking in.

Until next time,

~Trixie Archer