Tuesday, 1/26

 I now know why I don’t like winter. Well, I now know another reason why I don’t like winter

Winter has killed off every car battery I’ve ever owned. And now that I don't even own a car, it's killing off Loraine's car batteries, too.

Loraine went to start her car Saturday and was greeted by nothing more than a sad little “click click click” coming from under the hood. I can’t say I’m surprised; like I said, it’s become quite the tradition. But I am VERY surprised, because the day before I had taken the dog (er, the car) out for a walk to make sure it was still working okay.

Guess that worked well, huh?

As far as I can remember, I’ve owned five or six cars in my life. The first was a late 70s or early 80s Honda Civic with a battery that died (if I recall correctly) on a regular basis, a regular basis usually exacerbated by extremely cold temperatures. In fact, the only thing I know how to fix on cars--the use of jumper cables--I learned about with the help of that Honda Civic. My next two vehicles, a mid-80s thing that my parents (very coolly & with great pride) rebuilt out of two separate cars, and an early 90’s Eagle Summit, each had a battery that died. the last car I actually bought was the Purple Neon I had for a decade, and the battery in that finally gave up the ghost one February morning when it was 21 below. Then, my final two cars were old vehicles of Loraine's, each of which would sit in the driveway while I walked to work every day, and each of which rebelled by letting their batteries slowly fade into oblivion.

In the seven years I haven't had a car Loraine's had two, the neon green Mazda and her current one. The Mazda's battery died after a year, and her new car's battery lasted almost three years until giving up the ghost. And daily blog reader Chicky-Poo in Florida, yes, we KNOW we should be driving it more in the winter to stop this from happening. But it's been a mild winter. And we've been busy. And you're not supposed to be going anywhere anyway.

Fortunately, over the years I’ve gotten quite good at knowing the drill for this. I first call someone to jump the car (in this case, the best sister in the history of sisters, someone who actually left work to help out), and then head out to Advance Auto Parts in Marquette, where someone greets me with a smile, sells me a battery, and even puts it in my car for me.

It's like I'm turning into a regular at that place, or something.

I know I complain about winter and the cold in here an awful lot, but you hafta realize I’m not just doing it for myself. I’m also complaining on behalf of every car battery I’ve ever owned.

That kinda justifies it all, doesn’t it?

(jim@wmqt.com)