Did that really just happen...?

Here's the synopsis...

• Car's auto-starter/alarm stopped working sometime over the summer
• When winter hit, my car kept tripping the house breaker (block heater on car that is)
• Breaker was checked. It's a 20amp and the 2 blankets together don't equal 5. Breaker was swapped and its good. Every plug car was plugged not tripped.
• Driving home from gym last week, rear passenger tire popped. Ended up driving 2-3 blocks before I realized. 
• Changed tire in -26. Took me 2 hrs and a phone-a-friend. Decided it was too cold to do without a block heater so I called my mechanic...
• Turns out block heater is leaking antifreeze and shorting itself out. 
• Part didn't come in on Saturday flight. Hopefully it makes the Tuesday one.

Oh, and yesterday it actually snowed... A blizzard too. First snow of the year. Just a bit different from last year.

Changing tire in sub-zero temps... New badge system

After spending the last 2 hrs changing my tire in -26 F weather. In the dark. I can say a couple things... 1) I love my Carhartt bibs and bunny boots... 2) cold metal is wicked. It burns. 3) thank the powers that be that full size spares exist and 4) I want a merit badge.

I had a friend come help me and we decided there will now be a merit badge system for Bethel. Changing a tire in sub-zero weather is deserving of a badge. We will have to come up with others. But still.

Happy and safe driving my friends.

Gas

I recieved this email today...

Hello all, I just heard unofficially that gas prices will be going up .52 cents in Bethel very soon. If that is true, then you might want to fill ‘er up before gas is more than 7 bucks a gallon.

This makes me sad. OVER $7 a  gallon for gas. NYC would be cheaper.

oops

I totally pulled an "oops" last night. I completely and utterly forgot to plug in my car when i got home. By some universal "i gotcha"-net My car started this morning just fine. It did however take a lot longer to warm up than usual but it turned on. Considering the temp was -20ish, i'm surprised but very happy about this.

Let There Be Heat!!!

The garage just called and my car is fixed!!! It was a blown fuse. I unfortunately don't know where the fuse-box is on this car so I will be learning soon and I'll obtain a box of fuses.

Let that be a lesson to all... figure out where your fuse-box is and learn how to change them. A small kit of replacement fuses is super cheap and you can swap it out yourself making some car repairs instantly and without  the cost of labor- a lesson I learned years ago but honestly didn't think was the problem nor did I want to brave the extreme temps to fiddle with it. Honestly, I should have. $80 poorer for something that would have cost me less than $10 (a box of fuses) and would have required a good cup of hot chocolate after. 

JAX + Cold= no heat

So I broke down and called the mechanic about my car. I mentioned before that last week my blower was blowing then at some point it stopped. I didn't initially notice the blower had stopped but did later and I remember popping but not sure if it was ice from the undercarriage or something breaking.

My drive is about a mile so I figured it wouldn't be so bad to deal with but the more I breath on the inside of the car (even with windows rolled down). It's not so bad in the afternoon and evening drive home where there's still a substantial amount of light, but in the morning when it's still pitch black- it's a problem. I almost hit a biker I didn't see yesterday and this morning the windshield de-icer we got at NAPA (it was a collective buy for locks since lock de-icer has been sold out) looked like it was helping and then totally got worse.

Good News: My mechanic wants me to drop by at lunch and see if it's a quick fix. Bad News: if it's not, he's booked out a month with hundreds of calls to follow-up on. (A good mechanic who doesn't deal in shadiness could make a killing up here, even with existing competition)

a little nippy

You know it's cold when your snot freezes inside your nose (BTW, it tickles).

Temp of -8 degrees at the moment. Windchill registering at -27.

My car almost wouldn't start (I didn't plug it in though. Trying to see how low it could be just in case.) Can't wait for my temperature controlled auto-starter.

Oil Change

After a $150 oil and filter change (I was warned ahead of time that was the norm), Brother Bear is going to teach me how to change my oil when I go home for Christmas. I figure I can buy the stuff here at NAPA and do the change (at least in the warm months) or order it online and it would still be cheaper.

Block Heaters...

My neighbor grew up in a different part of Alaska and told me how she plugged in her car previous winters.

I'd mentioned before I was told to plug in my car at night when I got home so it was ready the next morning and that I'd save more money in gas than it what I'd spend in electric. Well, here's a bonus to that... my neighbor said they used to use an auto-timer so it'd only use electricity for 1-2 hrs instead of 12-16 by having it in all night.

Amazon is my friend, because I found an outdoor auto-timer that can be set to turn on at whatever time IF the temp was below a certain temp. So there'll be some mornings there'll be no need at all to use it. Cheaper electric here I come.

Car insurance

It's been a 2 day process due to time differences but I've changed my insurance to cover me here in Bethel.
I had to go with a national carrier so we'll see how that goes. But I'm licensed here, my car is registered here and now my insurance is finally switched.

Winterized

My car now has a tail... in the front. Mine is actually zip-tied to the front grill, but it's there.

Most people are telling me that you should go out an hour before you're ready to go and plug it in.Essentially letting your car idle while you're inside for 1 hr.

I was told by the mechanic that it was best if you plug it in at night when you get home. Then when you're ready to leave in the morning you unplug, put the key in and go- no worries about going outside ridiculously early in the cold and in your PJs to start the car. Apparently, what you end up spending in extra electric is far less that what you'd end up spending on extra fuel while idling for an extra hr a day (remember, gas is currently $6 a gallon, it only changes once or twice a year though).

The only thing left to do for the car there is get my fluids replaced. (Was going to get it all done at once, but it just didn't happen)

Car Winterization

So it's not super cold yet, BUT, looking ahead, I just scheduled my car for it's Winterization. Appt: 9/15th.

I will get it serviced to get new lube, oil and filter then 2 heaters (Block and Oil Pan), so long as my car can handle it. Everything will be rated to kick over in -30 degrees.

Car withdrawal= oops

So after 2 months of being completely without driving privileges, I made a little boo-boo.

When I got the call Thursday morning that my car was ready i was ridiculously stoked. I was jumping and squealing, and for those who know me I RARELY jump and squeal. So after inspecting the car for damage and signing paperwork... I hopped in JAX and turned the key. He was a little sluggish to start but once he got going he was amazing as always.

There was just one... little... problem...

I didn't look everywhere before I drove onto the road and I missed something. That something... was a ditch. Yep a water ditch, completely empty of water but a ditch none-the-less. As my car dipped downward nose first into said ditch, a guy in a big truck was driving by at that moment and slowed down- I'm pretty sure it was to help tow me out.

I decided to try out my vehicles off-road capabilities. First with just 2WD and if that didn't work, I was gonna turn on 4WD. So I semi-carefully hit the gas and took control of the wheel. And JAX did good. He climbed right out of the ditch without any trouble. My baby knows exactly how to deal with what the world is throwing at him. I'm hoping I can take this as a sign of good things to come and control in some interesting weather.

I mean really, who gets so excited they don't even see a ditch right in front of them? That's right, I do! ::sigh::

JAX

$108 at $6/gal and my car is full and made a trip around town already. I'm super glad I have JAX back.

JAX has arrived!!!

You read that correctly people... my car is here. I got a call at 8:40am.

I'm going to take a cab over at lunch to grab it then run around and do some errands for a while. I'm so ridiculously stoked I can't even tell you.

Alas...

So the barge schedule apparently changes OFTEN. My barge actually hasn't arrived. It's currently scheduled to arrive next week. Sadness. So it looks like my stuff will get here before my car. Bummer but I'll be OK. i can't do anything about it anyway.

I've had a few people weigh in on the paint color question. I was originally thinking of a Steel Blue color but then we realized there were too many shades of Blue in the apt already AND it was pointed out by a long-term resident here that I wouldn't want the same color on the wall that I'll be looking at all winter. Instead, an orange or yellow was suggested. It'll work off the blue and be much brighter. Since I think I'm morally/ethically opposed to yellow (after something like 6 former houses having yellow kitchens in every shade between a pale easter-like Yellow and a mustard/puke yellow... I'm leaning toward a burnt orange if i go that route. OR... a sage-y color. I have a brown couch and the chair/ottoman I got recovered are in browns and greens. It makes a bit of sense. And I'm thinking just 2 walls.

I'll hold off for now and wait for stuff to get here but that's the direction I'm thinking of going.

Current X-Terra ETA...

Sunday, July10th!!!

Woot!!!