TCC for 2/14/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/14/08
Ghetto temp. 43 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 25 F. Yesterday's L/H: 20.5/30 F.
Current conditions: Sky clouding over, light wind form the South.

The Caretaker had put together a small portfolio of some of his photography with the intention of getting over to the mainland to show it to a number of shop owners to see if they would be interested in photo-cards, and of course he intended to do some other errands, like fuel, etc. as stated yesterday. It was mostly a good idea--for a little while at least. The Caretaker got a much later start on the day than he had originally planned, this wasn't much of a surprise. By the time the Caretaker was ready to leave the Island he decided that the best plan would be to cut everything from his errand list except for trying to hock some of his photography via his portfolio. He knew that he would have to spend some time shoveling his car out so wasn't expecting to be able to just ski over, hop in the car and go. He figured on at least a half an hour maybe an hour tops. In the end it took the Caretaker some 5 hours or so to get his car out.

Due to the freezing rain the snow on his car was well crusted with a good layer of ice. It was almost like carving a car out of ice. Breaking up the ice on his car took way longer than he expected. Shoveling out the ice, snow, and frozen snow from around his car took way longer than he expected, about two or more hours. Eventually he cleared a path for his car , he got in it, put the key in the ignition, turned it to get the glow plugs hot, after the glow plug light went out he turned his key further to start the engine, nothing.

Silence. The car's starter motor wouldn't turn over. The Caretaker was already late on his schedule, now he was going to be even more so, but still he pressed on. After getting a few extension chords and a battery charger from G. he went about setting up the charger for his battery. The charger showed that it was in need of a charge. The charger also had a jump start function, but that didn't prove fruitful. Now there was nothing for the Caretaker to do but wait for the charger to charge his car battery. In the meantime the Caretaker helped G. shovel out one of his cars. Eventually they were able to get G.'s car out. The Caretaker went back to his car to try to start it again. No luck. However, the charger showed that the battery should be pretty close to fully charged. This wasn't the first time that the Caretaker's car battery had gone dead, thus he had a feeling that perhaps his car battery was shot. Luckily G. had an extra car battery that he recovered from the dump. G. recovers a lot from the dump, this find most certainly proved useful. However the battery was too big for the battery compartment on the Caretaker's car, the Caretaker was able to get the battery in, but was not able to jury-rig it in any sort of way that would be safe. Also, the negative lead from the car wouldn't reach the negative terminal on the battery. There was no way that the Caretaker was going to be able to drive down the road with this battery. Yet the Caretaker pressed on .

The Caretaker tilted the battery nearly 90 degrees so he could attach the positive lead to the battery. He then put the battery in the battery compartment as much as possible. The Caretaker then went to the back of his car for his jumper wire. This is a moderate gauge wire with clips on both ends, it is intended to be used for jumping his glow plugs incase they stop heating from the ignition. He returned to the battery and attached one clip to the negative lead and the other end to the negative battery terminal. The Caretaker hopped in the car, turned the key and got it to start. He then got out of the car to remove the battery. The Caretaker owns a '86 Volkswagen diesel golf, technically the engine does not need the battery connected to keep running. The Caretaker's plan was to get the car started, swap the batteries and then drive directly to an auto-parts store to buy a replacement battery, and this is exactly what he did. He disconnected the negative lead, then the positive lead then swapped the batteries and quickly attached the leads in reverse order of how he removed them. Tightened down the terminals and got on his way, that is after returning G.'s battery, etc. By the time the Caretaker finished installing a new battery in his car he figured that he had missed his chance to visit with any shop owners regarding his photography, well, all but one. She saw his work, liked some of it, expressed an interest. And with that the Caretaker turned towards home to make his way back to the Island for the night.

Happy Valentine's Day:

"Even If It's Just for a Little While"

Hold me again, she says,
Don't let me go.
Love me again,
You're all I know.
Lonely as friends,
I want you so...

In my arms,
No one else around us.
Cross my heart,
You're the one who's found it.
On my mind,
So much so I've lost it.

Hating
The time,
I'm all alone.
Waiting
For you,
To come home.

If only I could,
Let you know.
If only I could,
Let you go.

Hold me again, she says,
Don't let me go.
Love me again,
You're all I know.
Lonely as friends,
I want you so...

In my arms,
'Til there is no sorrow.
In my heart,
Is all the love you borrowed.
If my thoughts,
Could only change
Could only change tomorrow.

Hold me again, she says,
Don't let me go.

--The Caretaker