Swept from the Corners of my Mind…..
I drive an aging Jeep TJ. It is a standard with six gears and 4×4 and I love it. Wind and gaps make it so loud that I’ve had “warnings” from my phone that I have things dialed too high, but if I don’t, I can’t hear the music over the environment. It bounces when it travels. It’s taller than it is wide and catches wind like a sailing ship, making it veer down the highway. The heater blower only works on high, and even then, I keep my mitts on going to work because it just never seems to warm up enough. Yet there is something addictive about this little beast and I love driving it despite its flaws.
However, I do not love being cold. (I’m a Bad Canadian, I know). I was thrilled when I had enough spare money to buy an interior car warmer. When the car has been plugged in, I can get in without shivering… but it still takes quite a while to warm up the engine. If I start to travel without a long warm-up, that blower just blows cold air.
A few years back my son decided to gift me an after-market remote starter. Because the Jeep is a standard, and possibly because it is old, there is a specific sequence to enable the remote. First, the hand brake. Then take it out of gear and push the main button on the fob. Turn the key off and remove it, while the car is still running. Exit the car and then push the lock button on the fob. If you do each step in the right order the car turns off, and the next morning you can use the fob from the comfort of the house to start warming up the engine. Every time I successfully start my car without having to dress for the weather for the two-minute task, I bless my favourite Son.
This year I added a new player to the team—an insulated windshield cover. It’s easy to install. Run through the parking sequence to enable the starter. Reach into the back of the car and pull out the unfolded bulk of the cover. As items must be outside of the car when you enable to starter (opening the door will negate the starter sequence) gather up packages, purse, etc. If possible, put the items you carry down while you move the cover to the hood (If not, it’s OK to hold them between your teeth and under your elbow). Capture the first flap in the driver’s door, as close to the roof of the car as possible. Go around to the passenger door, tighten the cover over the windshield, and capture the other flap in that door. Voila, the windshield will require less scraping when you pop into the pre-started, pre-warmed car to head to work.
The other night, however, I was in a rush. My son-in-law was helping unload dog food from the car while I ran through the sequence and gathered up as many of the small packages as I could. There was a slight breeze tugging at the windshield cover as I fought to snag the flap in the door while not dropping packages. I was hurrying, so of course I kept dropping things as the breeze kept shifting the cover off the windshield. I would grab it and then grab the dropped item and then drop something or the flap would slip out of the door, meaning I had to reopen it and try again. I was getting stressed because I didn’t want my SIL to be stuck carrying in everything in this snowstorm, so of course I began dropping more items.
Just as he took the last item into the house I got the second flap captured.
Shivering, I juggled my packages into the house and thanked him, remotely turning off my car while bidding him goodbye as he hurried out to his still-running car to get home. Again, I blessed my Boy for the convenience.
The next day I was able to stay home. The wind was blowing and my dogs would want out only to want right back in again, causing me to open the door innumerable times. Mid-afternoon I stepped out on the deck to catch one of the dogs and heard what sounded like a car in the yard. I walked closer to the front of the house as I couldn’t see anything, and that was when I discovered that my little Jeep was still running and had been for 14 hours. I grabbed my keys and fob from the hook and tried to turn it off. No response. Obviously, my circus act of the night before had screwed up the sequence somehow and I would have to go out to manually turn it off and reset the remote.
The warm air inside the car enveloped me. The windows were clear and the seats and steering wheel warm. Quickly I ran through the entire sequence, replaced the flap of the windshield cover that had fallen out when I got in, and headed towards the house. Just outside the door I turned to press the Lock button and listened while it finally shut off. Heading back in I reflected that it was a good thing I’d filled up in town, as these shenanigans had used a third of a tank of gas, but at least I had lots left to restart it the next morning.
Now if I could only find where I left those keys, and its precious fob that afternoon, I’d be back in business.
Cathy Bendle finds humour in the quirks of everyday life, from training teachers to dodging housework. When not writing, she’s either laughing at her pets, frantically Googling for her work assignments, or playing on her iPad. Her column appears every other Wednesday.
