Another Year Older . . . .

Yesterday was my birthday. Not a great day as days go these days. It was grey & drizzly & I groaned as I got out of bed once more. You'd think things could be different on a birthday, that you could leap out with renewed vigor & excitement even if it's only for a few hours, but that didn't happen yesterday. But, there were a few bright spots to make the day better. Starbucks had a FREE GOODIE for me on my birthday - food or drink - it was my choice & I bounced between a very large Mocha or a slice of banana bread in my head. I also took myself off for lunch  - my favorite lightly dressed Ceasar salad & a chicken wrap - before picking up the last two tax returns from my shut-ins.

After lunch, with the car idling while I chatted with my elderly friend, the fan came on with a roar & a bang. Smoke blew out the front & back with a terrible stink!! I thought I'd blown the head gasket. But, the car kept running. No emergency lights came on on the dash. No Check Engine light flashed. No liquids poured out. Just smoke & stink. I thought maybe the heater core went but I had heat & no cloud of vapor INSIDE the car. So I hopped in, put it in gear & took myself across town to my machine shop mechanic to find out what happened.

I got Dave out of bed to check my car. Poor Dave had worked all night on a truck. But he got dressed & soon figured out what happened. Turns out I have two radiators in the car. One cools the transmission & one cools the motor. Somehow the bracket holding the smaller transmission rad broke off on the bottom corner - pot holes???? Are you reading this City of Surrey??? which left it loose & swinging in the breeze. While idling, the temp went up, the fan came on & the small rad blew into the big rad with a bang. Nice hit. The contents of the big rad sprayed directly onto the hot engine causing the stink & the smoke.

Lucky me. Lordco had my rad in stock & put a RUSH delivery on it. I had my MasterCard with me, remembered my PIN & got my mechanic's 30% discount in the process!! Three & a half hours later everything was installed, cleaned up & ready to go. Yessssssssssss  And off to Starbucks I ran. Lights  were still on, raced to the drive-thru & found only the cleaners on site. It was a quiet night so Elvis left the building early  .   .   .   .