The Super Bowl and The Jeep

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. It's 4:20AM now, as I begin writing. It's dark, outside and inside, except for the glow of my computer screen. I hear the boiler running in the basement. My house has hot-water radiator heat. One of the radiators is very slow to warm and never gets as hot as the others. The bathroom radiator no longer gets hot at all. I don't know why. I used a radiator key to remover the bleed plug from both radiators. I used a paper clip to make sure the air bleed hole was open and not blocked by rust. Still, nothing came out of the bleed hole—not air, not water. Nada. I fear my options are (1) an expensive repair or (2) live with the problem. The ground floor of my house has five other radiators that work well, so I'm not cold.

Yesterday I drove my Jeep to Walmart at 6AM to pick up a few items. When I returned to my vehicle, still in darkness, I got in, shut the door, inserted the key into the ignition and turned the key. Nothing happened. This was not good.

I got out and raised the hood. In the dark and without tools, there wasn't much I could do. I grabbed each battery cable and pulled on it and shook it. I got back in the Jeep and turned the key again. This time the engine started. I drove home and parked inside my garage. The night air was 45° so I waited for the day to warm up somewhat. By 2PM the day was sunny and the temperature was 70°, very comfortable and warm for a February day in central Virginia. But that's the way February is. One day it's sunny and warm and the next day, like today, the high temperature will be 39° and rain then snow are in the forecast. 

At 2PM, I went to the garage and attempted to start the Jeep. Once again, nada. So I called my friend Butch who lives close by, and we worked on the Jeep for an hour. I was hoping that the problem was merely corrosion on the battery post. The battery post and the cable termination were badly corroded, so I mixed baking soda and water in a jar, stuck a toothbrush in it, and began cleaning the connection. At some point, this required removing the cable terminator from the battery post. Then it became obvious that a new battery post terminal was needed. So Butch drove me to AutoZone and I bought a new terminal for $5. 

We went back to my garage. and soon we had the new battery post terminal installed on the battery cable and connected to the battery. We checked the electrolyte level in the battery and three cells needed to have water added, so we did that. When I turned the ignition key, the Jeep started up just fine. Now, I could have taken the easy path of buying a new battery for $175, but my time and Butch's time were free. We needed something to do, anyway. 

So now it's Super Bowl Sunday. This is Super Bowl LVI—Super Bowl 56. I can remember Super Bowl 1. It didn't seem like a big deal then. It wasn't hyped like it is today. After all, it's only a football game. But I'll walk down to Butch's house around 6:30PM and, if he's home, we'll watch the Super Bowl. Did I say "walk" to his house? No, I'll probably drive to his house, what with rain and snow coming down. And it will be dark, both when I go and when I come home. So that will be my weekend. A small repair on the Jeep and watching a football game with a friend.

What will you (did you) do with your weekend?