Considering the powerful job they have to do and the conditions they often have to work in, car batteries often effortlessly and thanklessly provide a function many of us couldn’t do without.
Except when they don’t start.
Because someone left the headlights on all night.
Oops.
Did I do that?
I’m not purposely trying to quote Steve Urkel, but I’ll admit I left my headlights on this week, draining my battery of all its power. After coming home from an evening class at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, I parked my vehicle in the garage and promptly got out without turning them off.
To come up with an excuse, I’ll blame my error on the fact my other vehicle has automatic headlights. I assumed these would turn off automatically also.
They didn’t, leaving me with a vehicle that wouldn’t start in the morning.
Fortunately my wife had just left for work and was able to come back and get me. If she hadn’t been around, I would have been working from home, which is hard to do when everything I need to do my job was on my computer at my office.
I’ve only had car battery problems twice in my life, and the first time probably shouldn’t count since the problem wasn’t actually the battery but the starter. I was young and inexperienced with even less car mechanic knowledge, so I assumed my car wasn’t starting because the battery was dead. After purchasing a new battery, figuring out how to change it and then trying with no luck to start it, I learned a good lesson: make sure the battery is dead first.
It was a good lesson, as I’ve had starters go out twice since then. Knowing the battery was fine, I was able to address the actual problem without unnecessarily buying a new battery. And when I encountered a legitimate battery problem two years ago after returning from a week-long trip to Florida, I knew it could be resolved with jumper cables rather than purchasing a new one.
I was told a little later by a mechanic I would need a new battery soon, as it only had a 30 percent life left in it. Two years later, I’ve finally used that remaining 30 percent, through a big fault of my own. Who knows how long it may have lasted had I not oopsed?
Usually when I have vehicle problems, I tend to curse the problem and the vehicle. But I’m not now. I’m praising all the car batteries I have ever had. They have been especially good to me over the years, especially when the temperatures have dropped well below zero. My grandmother told me a little praise can go a long way. I’m hoping this means I’ll never have to replace or jump another car battery again.
****
Originally published in The Portage County Gazette on Friday, Jan. 27, 2012.
Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts
Monday, January 30, 2012
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Snowfall exposes walking uphill in blizzard myth
Compared to recent years, this winter’s snowfall seems like a record amount. Snowmobilers, skiers and other people that enjoy the outdoors in winter have had plenty of reason to celebrate, since the snow that has all but disappeared in the last decade has returned with a vengeance.
Many older people have said to me that this year is more like the winters they remember as kids. Back when snow was piled as high as the telephone poles. Back when snow kept them from getting their vehicles out of their driveways and forcing them to walk to work. Uphill both ways and always in a blizzard (which would explain the copious amounts of snow). Back when technology didn’t exist and they were forced to do everything the old-fashioned way – manually.
Guess what old folks? Your hardships are being exposed as fallacies because this year’s snowfall is not only a record amount for the last decade, it is near the all-time record. In fact Madison smashed its all-time record with the last snowstorm and we’re only in February.
I don’t mean to rub this fact in your faces, but I will. For years, people in my generation have had to constantly be reminded by our parents and grandparents that we’ve had it so easy. “Life is so easy for you,” all my grandparents have said to me. “When I was young…” and then they would provide plenty of examples telling me of their hardships.
The main hardship, of course, was the weather and how they had to endure it walking uphill both ways to school and work.
And work always consisted of a 12-hour day of hard, manual labor with no bathroom or meal breaks following an eight-hour school day. By the time they walked uphill 10 miles to school and work, and then back home, where they ate a piteous meal of cabbage and possum for their only food of the day, they were lucky to get four hours of sleep.
I almost forgot. One hour of the time they got for sleeping was spent walking uphill one mile and back in a blizzard to the outhouse.
Appreciating modern conveniences, like indoor plumbing, that were all invented shortly before my birth in 1974, I never argued with my parents or grandparents about the hardships they had to endure.
Why would I? Life hasn’t been that rough, at least not compared to what they told me it was like for them growing up.
I never complained about a 90-minute bus ride to school because I wasn’t walking uphill both ways in a blizzard.
I never complained about unloading a truckload of wood into our basement and then neatly stacking it near the wood furnace because I didn’t have to carry the wood uphill several miles in a blizzard.
I never complained about doing dishes every night because I didn’t have to walk uphill in a blizzard to fetch some water from a well and then walk uphill the other way to fetch some wood to heat this water in order to do the dishes.
I never complained about having a paper route I did on my bike every day after school, for a measly $30 a week that I had to collect from the customers, because I had the luxury of using a bike, another modern convenience invented shortly before my birth in 1974, rather than walking uphill in a blizzard for the entire route.
I’m complaining now. Not because I hated doing these things, but because I did them under the false pretense that I had it easy doing them compared to my elders. As someone quick to get a guilty conscience, I kept my complaints to myself and my ulcer. Now knowing that this winter’s snowfall is what my parents and grandparents experienced, I realize that life wasn’t as difficult as they exaggerated it to be.
Our grandparents probably wonder why our home is not immaculately cleaned like their homes when they visit, especially since all of the modern conveniences – like vacuums and brooms – should nearly do the job for us.
I’ll tell them why. Our modern conveniences make life easier, but they also bring new challenges. To afford all of these conveniences, we need a double income. Since we both work, our 2-year-old son needs to go to daycare, which is not cheap and limits the amount we can spend on modern conveniences. The chores at home still need to be completed, which means we are both working when we get home to do them.
I know life wasn’t easy for my parents and grandparents. However, knowing that it wasn’t as tough for them as they said it was and that it hasn’t been as easy as they have made me feel it has been for me, I feel like I’m on more equal ground with them.
Now my son, he really seems like he’ll have it easy. I can’t wait to tell him how difficult life was for me compared to him. Especially the winter of 2007-08 when it seemed like I was always walking uphill several miles in a blizzard…
Many older people have said to me that this year is more like the winters they remember as kids. Back when snow was piled as high as the telephone poles. Back when snow kept them from getting their vehicles out of their driveways and forcing them to walk to work. Uphill both ways and always in a blizzard (which would explain the copious amounts of snow). Back when technology didn’t exist and they were forced to do everything the old-fashioned way – manually.
Guess what old folks? Your hardships are being exposed as fallacies because this year’s snowfall is not only a record amount for the last decade, it is near the all-time record. In fact Madison smashed its all-time record with the last snowstorm and we’re only in February.
I don’t mean to rub this fact in your faces, but I will. For years, people in my generation have had to constantly be reminded by our parents and grandparents that we’ve had it so easy. “Life is so easy for you,” all my grandparents have said to me. “When I was young…” and then they would provide plenty of examples telling me of their hardships.
The main hardship, of course, was the weather and how they had to endure it walking uphill both ways to school and work.
And work always consisted of a 12-hour day of hard, manual labor with no bathroom or meal breaks following an eight-hour school day. By the time they walked uphill 10 miles to school and work, and then back home, where they ate a piteous meal of cabbage and possum for their only food of the day, they were lucky to get four hours of sleep.
I almost forgot. One hour of the time they got for sleeping was spent walking uphill one mile and back in a blizzard to the outhouse.
Appreciating modern conveniences, like indoor plumbing, that were all invented shortly before my birth in 1974, I never argued with my parents or grandparents about the hardships they had to endure.
Why would I? Life hasn’t been that rough, at least not compared to what they told me it was like for them growing up.
I never complained about a 90-minute bus ride to school because I wasn’t walking uphill both ways in a blizzard.
I never complained about unloading a truckload of wood into our basement and then neatly stacking it near the wood furnace because I didn’t have to carry the wood uphill several miles in a blizzard.
I never complained about doing dishes every night because I didn’t have to walk uphill in a blizzard to fetch some water from a well and then walk uphill the other way to fetch some wood to heat this water in order to do the dishes.
I never complained about having a paper route I did on my bike every day after school, for a measly $30 a week that I had to collect from the customers, because I had the luxury of using a bike, another modern convenience invented shortly before my birth in 1974, rather than walking uphill in a blizzard for the entire route.
I’m complaining now. Not because I hated doing these things, but because I did them under the false pretense that I had it easy doing them compared to my elders. As someone quick to get a guilty conscience, I kept my complaints to myself and my ulcer. Now knowing that this winter’s snowfall is what my parents and grandparents experienced, I realize that life wasn’t as difficult as they exaggerated it to be.
Our grandparents probably wonder why our home is not immaculately cleaned like their homes when they visit, especially since all of the modern conveniences – like vacuums and brooms – should nearly do the job for us.
I’ll tell them why. Our modern conveniences make life easier, but they also bring new challenges. To afford all of these conveniences, we need a double income. Since we both work, our 2-year-old son needs to go to daycare, which is not cheap and limits the amount we can spend on modern conveniences. The chores at home still need to be completed, which means we are both working when we get home to do them.
I know life wasn’t easy for my parents and grandparents. However, knowing that it wasn’t as tough for them as they said it was and that it hasn’t been as easy as they have made me feel it has been for me, I feel like I’m on more equal ground with them.
Now my son, he really seems like he’ll have it easy. I can’t wait to tell him how difficult life was for me compared to him. Especially the winter of 2007-08 when it seemed like I was always walking uphill several miles in a blizzard…
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