WOO HOO!!!

The van is fixed!!! My sister's bf and my nephew came over today and worked on it. They worked on it for about 4 hours. WOO HOO!!!

We have two running vehicles again!!!! YEE HAW!!!

She's not the most beautiful vehicle, but she runs!!! I'm probably not going to be out and about much more than I am now. However, I have the option to do so now. Cool beans!!!

Friday morning distractions.

I have a nice quiet morning here and just can't seem to focus on what I need to do. I should be studying, but prefer visiting Teaching Mom, my school forums, blogs, playing with my camera and fiddling with my blogs.

Seriously the kid is asleep and so is Mom so it's a perfect time to study. I'm typing up some Pathology reports at the moment to get used to the terminology and format. It's actually much simpler than some of the other specialties like Cardiovascular and Ophthalmology. I just can't seem to get into a rhythm with this unit.

One of the joys of a self-paced course versus a brick & mortar school is the distractions and lack of firm deadlines. It's also a joy of home schooling. *lol*

Maybe I am in shock that I'm up early and not crabby. I don't do mornings. I've actually been doing a few lately and enjoying them. Shhhh.... don't tell as I don't want to jinx it.

Since I linked my morning post, I should mention the van. It's still broke. It turns out it was the serpentine belt which was knocked off by a bent pulley on the power steering pump. Evidently, we hit something. That is a sore subject! Supposedly, we should have noticed hitting something hard enough to bend this pulley. No, we didn't. I think it may have been an ice chunk in the drive way. I know we didn't hit any critters or anything in the road. I do know that 2 days before I had trouble turning to the right and mentioned it a few times during our trip to Grand Forks. I thought it was an ice build-up near that tire which has happened in the past.

I'm glad that my sister's boyfriend is willing to fix the van and has the knowledge about such things. It was kind of my sister to offer his services :) We've been waiting on funds and warmer weather. No sense in the poor guy laying on the cold ground when we do have a vehicle to drive. We have the parts now so it's the weather that needs to cooperate which it hasn't. We had a snow storm on April 26! My car is running and has 2 new rear tires (another sore subject). It still needs some work, but has been a lifesaver at the moment.

Oh well, back to the grindstone.

Update on van

It's not the thermostat, but a really, really long belt. Mom was working OT tonight so I started up the van to see if it would get her up there. I was hoping the thermostat was simply stuck yesterday. I let it warm up and checked things out. I found a huge belt dragging on the ground and the van was starting to overheat again. Back it went into the garage. Mom took my car to work. I got it running yesterday after the temps warmed up to about 20°. I drove my car to church today, which is an hour away, so the battery is nice and charged up.

Tomorrow morning I will go visit the garage a couple blocks away from the house. Yep, I gotta git up early again, but not that early. *lol* Hopefully, he can get a belt easily if he doesn't have one on hand. It's a '93 or '94 Plymouth so the part shouldn't be hard to locate. I just hope it's not mega expensive to have a small town mechanic do the work. Mom's normal mechanic is over an hour away up in the town where she works. Unfortunately with a broken belt, the van won't make it up there. We will just have to pray he's not a crook or super expensive.

Not happy :(

I got up at 6 blasted o'clock in the morning to head out to Bemidji for the day (church retreat). If I haven't mentioned before, I absolutely loathe mornings. It's why I worked nights for years. Mornings should be banned as dangerous to the health of those who cross my path :)

Anyway, I get ready, warm up the van as it's a whooping 5° outside and head out around 7am. We get about 5 miles from town and turn around because Mom forgot her book. No biggie, we are close and aren't rushed. I head back to the house. While she grabs her book, I quick check the power steering fluid. It's borderline so I decide to wait until it's warmer this afternoon to mess with it. Head back out and by the time we reach the highway, we have cold air blowing at us. Remember it's 5° outside so heat is required for this drive. After a few moments, the temp gauge is at high. I head back to the house to grab some anti-freeze thinking it's low. Nope, it's full. Check the oil, it's low so we scrounge only to find a container half-full. That's enough to get us to the gas station safely. So now we have heat and the temp gauge is down where it should be so we head back out. Get a few blocks and cold air is blasting and the van overheats again. Nope, ain't going nowhere! Bummer!!!

I'm guessing and hoping the thermostat needs replaced. I'm hoping it something simple like that. Can't do anything until Monday. Bummer!!!

My car won't start so it's not going anywhere. Battery is dead. We don't drive it much due needing repairs. We were going to chance it, but no dice. Bummer!!!

I'm up early for what reason?!?! I hate mornings, but I'm awake now. I guess, I will catch up on blogs, housework and study. Mom came downstairs, looked at the clock and said,"It's not even noon yet." *lol* She's not a morning person either. I come by it naturally. *snicker*