I'm wondering a little bit where this weekend went. Friday, I was still at work when Beth called to tell me that they were stuck at the optometrist's because while she and Natalie were picking up her new glasses, the other kids stayed in the van, with the engine off and the blowers and DVD player running, and the battery was flat dead. I couldn't leave work yet, so she called some friends and got a ride over to the Purvis' until I could get them, then we went back and tried to jump the battery to no avail. We tried to jump it for several minutes and got barely a click. So, the van stayed in the parking lot overnight, while we went to Fort Wayne to go to Barnes & Noble. Saturday morning I went back myself and tried to jump it again (did I mention it was probably the coldest night of the year so far?) and again got nothing. So I was worried that it was something besides the battery, like the alternator or the starter. I went to Auto Zone to find out how much a new battery would cost and as it turns out, they will test and charge them for free. So I ran back to the van again, pulled out the battery, and took it back. The guy there tested it and got nothing, and told me in a couple hours they would have it charged and could tell me if it was any good or not. And that they would call me. They never did so I went back there in a few hours. The new crew that was there informed me that they couldn't charge the battery because it was frozen solid, and should be thawed out by tomorrow. Well, we didn't want to leave the van in the parking lot overnight again so I called roadside assistance, and they sent a tow truck. Which, apparently, they called from as far away as possible. They were supposed to be there in 90 minutes, but they driver called after a while and told me he was on the north side of Elkhart and would be much later. It was already dark by the time he arrived, and informed me that because the van didn't have the battery in it, they couldn't get it out of neutral, and to get it onto the truck they would have to drag it, which they couldn't guarantee wouldn't damage the transmission. Not to mention the tires. So, I asked him to wait while I punted, ran back to Auto Zone, bought a new battery, ran back to the van and installed it. Started right up. The driver didn't charge me since he didn't have to give me a tow, but he also told me that usually if a battery is frozen that means it's at the very end of it's life. Would have been good to know a few hours ago. I could have saved the driver a long worthless trip.
Today we pretty much stayed at home. I spend just about the whole afternoon cleaning up after Christmas. The tree is back down, everything is packed and put away except the outside lights (which, interestingly, blew a fuse in the top strand today..after several weeks up and on... so we're back to only the lower part lit).
Beth went and picked up our annual freezer full of meat this week. We tried to go get it a few days ago before I went back to work, but when we got there we realized we should have called first. Closed Saturday, you see. So anyway she had someone load the van for her and timed things so she got home with the meat just before I got home from work, and we didn't have to have a load of meat thawing in the van for long. So anyway, we are stocked up.