Sheltering in Place

[Drunk Monk]

rampant stabbery

Oooooh, that sounds like...

Totally started ignoring Prez Day after our last POTUS. I should've worn something more patriotic...

[Greg]

then attending a send-off at H's, then into the club for rampant stabbery for a few hours.

Who is the Yeti sending off? And is that part of the stabbery?

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

H is sending off her current Nativity (Covid delayed the open house that usually goes with it). Her yearly Nativities are always racial/political and very darkly funny. This one is called “Shots Fired” and is set in a 6 ft x 24” clear hypodermic syringe.

[Drunk Monk]

700: There’s a milestone for this thread. I got work then my moms. She tells me that her car won’t start. She’s been faithfully running it for 5 mins a day to keep the battery charged even though she’ll never drive again. Also Stacy is taking Yuki in to get his ear checked. He’s been scratching at it.

[Drunk Monk]

701: Today starts with a call to AAA again (we just called to get a new battery for the funkmobile last week). My mom's car makes that clicking sound so it's either the battery (hopefully) or the alternator, right? I thought we replaced the battery recently but my mom can't find that paperwork. 

Then home...

[Greg]

I thought clicking was the starter.

[Drunk Monk]

Yeah, could be that too...

I don't really know much about cars. Fingers crossed that it's the battery...

[King Bob]

Gotta keep those papers in the glove compartment. Sounds like the starter, or the starter solenoid (if they still have that in them). If you've got good power to your headlights and interior lights then probably not the battery. Time to call AAA?

In old VWs, if the solenoid failed, you could start the car by laying a big screwdriver across the exposed terminals on the starter. Those were the days.

---

You can always pull the battery and take it in to get tested. Or try to jump it off your car. In our disaster kit, we've got one of those batteries that can charge your phones or jump your car. I recommend it.

Extremely cold in the garage this morning, but a very fine half moon in the sky. I'm glad we covered some of the plants last night.

[Drunk Monk]

Fixed!

The battery lost charge with the cold snap. My mom wasn’t running it enough. AAA was great. Gotta luv AAA.

My mom’s filing system is a mess. I am constantly grappling with it. 

We can’t keep documents in our car. Too many break-ins, especially since the pandemic. The Cruz has a terrible homeless problem and a lot of skate punks. My mom probably could keep her docs in her car. Right now her glove compartment is filled with AAA maps and her trunk is filled with reusable shopping bags. She has dozens of those, all over the house. They’re useful tho, more so than a plate collection. 

I’m relieved it wasn’t the starter or something. My mom’s car is a 96 Camry. It still runs well but it has t been driven much in the last few years - just me or the caretakers every once in a while - and prior to that, only locally in svale for a decade+ after my dad had his stroke. Odometer reads 112k and I’m not sure it ever flipped.

[King Bob]

Sounds like you need to drive it if you have to go anywhere when you're over there.

Lately I've been scanning all that sort of thing and throwing out the papers. Just have to remember to scan it...

[Greg]

Right now her glove compartment is filled with AAA maps and her trunk is filled with reusable shopping bags. She has dozens of those, all over the house. They’re useful tho, more so than a plate collection. 

Would you rather eat dinner off a shopping bag or a plate?

You through that in there to see if I was paying attention.

[Drunk Monk]

Sounds like you need to drive it if you have to go anywhere when you're over there.

Lately I've been scanning all that sort of thing and throwing out the papers. Just have to remember to scan it...

I used to drive it more regularly to do my mom's errands but it's a clunky ride and I already have two of those at home in the Cruz. I should take it to a car wash soon too.

I can barely keep up with my own records, much less my mom's. I've got the big stuff - PoA and all - but papers on her quarter century old car is beyond me. I want to sell it now that used cars are going for top dollar, but my mom is attached. My mom has her dining room table and living room coffee table full of paperwork, most of it noise. Every once in a while, I try to purge that, but it keeps coming back.

Would you rather eat dinner off a shopping bag or a plate?

You can't eat off those plates. I'm sure they're all made from toxic lead, asbestos, and tarantulas.

You through that in there to see if I was paying attention.

Well yeah. Isn't that the point of the D00M4M? To make sure we're all still in the game? That plus swapping media reviews.

[King Bob]

We went through that paper hoarding thing with my mom. Huge stacks of opened mail, both junk and unpaid bills, mixed in with magazines, newspapers and sometimes napkins and tissues. Once there was a saucer deep in the pile. I had to change all the billing addresses to mine so she wouldn't miss payments.

[thatguy]

In old VWs, if the solenoid failed, you could start the car by laying a big screwdriver across the exposed terminals on the starter. Those were the days.

From the John Muir (no not that John Muir) How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive book I learned how to climb under my Squareback and whack the starter solenoid with a hammer when it would get stuck. 

Those were the days...

I'm currently dealing with my mom's "if I don't open the scary letter, it can't get me" problem. She got some letters from SocSec over several months last year and stacked them, unopened in various piles. Eventually, they cut her disbursements significantly, and later canceled her medicare. I found the letters, started to unravel the knot and luckily filed some appeals before the deadlines passed. But it's been challenging dealing with government institutions that are impacted by covid and are keeping shorter hours. 

Fun stuff!
--tv

[Drunk Monk]

I guess I’m comforted that I’m not the only one dealing with mom mail woes.

702: I’ve been waiting for our box delivery. It’s usually much earlier but I’m going to bed now and hoping Yuki will wake me when it’s dropped off. I have an early morning telemeet - our Q4 report - starting at 7:30 - the downside of being the latest time zone on staff. Then it’s work - gotta get two days ahead so I can take some time off this weekend.