It never rains but it pours

We’ve been having some real cold weather with the high something like 5 degrees F. We were on our way to granddaughter, Delilah’s birthday party at her other grandparents in the car. We got about halfway when BANG! I told Will the only time I’d heard that before was when the serpentine belt broke. All of a sudden, the “no charging” light came on. Guess what? Nope, it wasn’t the belt. The belt tensioner had broken right off, with two bolts broken off in the block.

Now we were nearly an hour away from home, so we went on to the party with no heater and no lights whatsoever, including brake and turn signals, to conserve what little battery we had left. Long story short, David figured out a long jumper cable onto a borrowed battery and charging up our battery while we partied. But night comes fast, so we only stayed an hour.

Home, we went on our old car battery with Wade’s jumper cables run through the passenger’s door, into the back seat, where his borrowed battery sat on the floor. We got about a third of the way home and the car started losing power. I steered while Will reached back and hooked the jumper cables up to the borrowed battery. We decided to stop in Hibbing and get another battery in case Wade’s lost juice. Car died at the store and Will had to get a jump. By then it was almost dark. He exceeded the speed limit, trying to beat darkness. Remember, no heater, no lights. Fortunately, Wade’s battery got us home. In the dark. Whew! We were a couple of cold popsicles!

The next day we were supposed to go to our granddaughter, Ava’s, birthday party two hours south of us. It was snowing like crazy with six inches already on the ground. Toward evening it started letting up. Meanwhile, Will had talked to our friend Jason, who lives about 45 minutes north of us. He is a welder by trade and homesteader at heart. Plus, he has a heated shop. So, off we went again. I drove the big red Dodge and Will drove the limping car. It took two days, but Jason got it fixed. No amount of pay could be enough! Thank you, Jason! Homesteading isn’t all fun and bright sunshine! Just like life.

— Jackie