The Right Stuff!

    My wife's car was one of the hundreds
around these parts that raised a white flag
when the temperature dropped below zero
and refused to start.
    It was around Noon, and sunny, when I
asked if she wanted me to jump start it.
    "No" she said. She had no plans to use it
yesterday anyway.
    It was closer to 6, and dark, when we
returned from a movie and found out my
son-in-law was in need of a "loaner vehicle"
while his car was getting some repairs.
    No problem, I thought, I'll jump start the
other car and he can pick it up when needed.
    Jump starting a car is not really all that
hard. You connect the jumper cables from
a running car onto the battery of the dead
vehicle, turn the key, and the dead car
jumps back to life! You just need to have
the right stuff!
    Of course the first thing you have to do
is open the hood on the "powerless" car.
You just pull the little lever inside the car.
    Unless, of course, you can't get into the
car! The door was frozen shut!
     I wonder if the  neighbors wondered why
I was drying my hair outside in the darkness?
The hair dryer was my best bet to try to break
into this car that had become an igloo!
     And it worked....after about 15 minutes!
     Next step...open the hood.
     Unless, of course, the hood is frozen shut!
     Yep!
      Ultimately the dryer helped again. Sort
of! I was able to "pop" the hood which
released it for it's locked position. But it
didn't actually raise enough to pull the
release that's under the hood!
       That's where the ice scrapper came in.
        No, there was no ice to scrape. But it
was just the right size to slip into the hood
and allow me to it high enough to find the
release.
         Finally in position to use those jumper
cables I had to search out the positive and
negative terminals.
        Do you have any idea how black a black
battery under a dark hood at night looks?
         My flashlight, which could have used
some jumper cables too, cast just enough of
a faint glow to allow me to see the small line
indicating a "negative  terminal.:
           Success was mine.
           Of course I could have waited for and
taken a bus in the time it took.
            Oh well, the car got started and, as far
as I can tell, my hair is dry!
             Hope you're positive I'm not too
negative and that all your NEWS is good!

    
    
    I