When I left off last week in our automotive saga, we had retrieved the van from our mechanic's only to have it die less than two miles from the repair shop. We had called AAA and had it towed back and exchanged the van for our still misbehaving Park Avenue. The reason the car stalled was that whatever connector joins the fuel line to the engine failed. As it turned out, refusing to restart was a good thing as the breakage allowed gasoline to spray all over the engine and we very likely would have had an engine fire if the engine started. The fix was relatively easy (a new connector) and we had the car returned to us after work the next day. We took it to work in the morning, began the drive home after work and about half way home the van began to overheat. At this point we were about four miles from the repair shop and jebra didn't want to call for another tow as AAA isn't as generous as they used to be and he felt we should not use up all of our free tows in one week. We debated what to do (pay for a tow out-of-pocket, arrange for a rental car for the Friday and the weekend, call the repair shop and see if our other car was still drivable). Two of those weren't possible, as Enterprise was closed for the night, and everyone had already gone home from Master auto. During our debate (and while jebra peered under the hood and under the engine compartment), the van cooled off enough that it would start without beeping at us. We made it almost another two miles before the engine temperature again climbed into the danger zone. We pulled in at the Troy Fitness Center, let it cool again, and since I'm a good little recycler and had been bringing home an empty milk jug to add to our recycling bin, had a container that allowed us to add water to the cooling system. (The reservoir, btw, was completely empty at the time). With the added water we were able to get to Master Auto before the engine completely overheated and left it with the keys and a note. We then walked the four miles home, stopping to have dinner along the way. This was not a pleasant walk as it was getting cold and I was worn out to begin with. It was going on 11 pm when we finally reached the house. The food was great (Moose Winooski's makes an excellent jalapeno burger and their pickles are also wonderful) but I was disappointed in that I knew it was national eat outdoors day and it was too cold to eat on their patio as I had been hoping to do ever since I saw the graphic for the day. Maybe I'll show you that later.

Anyway, we called in to Master Auto Friday morning where the head mechanic made a comment about our van being like trying to throw away a boomerang. He thinks they're done with it and back it comes. This time it was the radiator. Apparently the bottom was cracked; we now have a brand new radiator and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing else goes wrong. We didn't get the van back until Tuesday, which meant I didn't have wheels from Friday through Monday. Fortunately the boss said I could work from home on Friday.

So I stayed home during the long weekend, while jebra and a bunch of other folks headed north to camp and walk the bridge on Labor Day. My weekend was very laid back and I slept and slept and slept. I'd get up for a few hours and then find myself nodding off. So naps were had in between bouts of knitting, crochet, and daily walks to either of the nearest-to-the-house Ingress portals. I'm on my 820th consecutive day of play so I sure don't want to break my hacking streak. I played Ingress just once per day and other than the people and dogs I encountered in the 45 minutes I was out of the house (and our own two indoor cats), I didn't see or talk to anyone while jebra was gone. I did, however, finish knitting one charity hat and crocheting four cat beds (two are kitten sized so I'm not sure they should count as two beds, and they pissed me off as I could not get them to grow in diameter without curving into a bowl. I'd taken a couple months off from cat beds and worried that my ability to make them without counting or referencing the pattern had vanished. I'm still not sure what's going on, but I finished a big one after I stopped using a particular chunky weight and very wavy yarn, so perhaps that's what was throwing me off. I was working on another big one last night, again using many strands of worsted weight, and it is also behaving).

As you might guess, I was very happy to go to work after the van got out of the shop yesterday. It was very nice to be around people and not to be sitting on our couch. By the time the long weekend was over I was actually getting sick of crime TV. Although I do want to put in a plug for BD Wong's Something's Killing Me. So far it's been half (crime) mystery and half medical mystery and altogether fascinating.

Scrapbook papers & elements from the kit Bohemian Breeze
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