Charging Up and Forward

Sunday, Shane and I were supposed to go and meet Dylan and Eli on the trail.

The car didn't start. 

Shane's light switch was in the 'on' position. The last time he was in the car was days ago and I hadn't driven anywhere since we went to NOVA...

While Carrie showed off Pockets, I found myself in the garage trying to remember how to charge a car battery. I couldn't find any baking soda, so I cleaned off corrosion manually.

It took a while to find the charger, too.

I noticed the negative connection was a bit loose when I hooked everything up. I let it charge for an hour and a half before I took the Subaru out for a test drive.

We missed out on the play date, but I hope that taught Shane a lesson about leaving lights on. It's not like I haven't lectured him on it before! 

I thought everything was fine and Carrie took the Subaru an appointment on Tuesday. She stopped at Wegmans on the way home and couldn't get the car started up again. I was in class and she'd taken the truck key with her (I've been saying "We need a spare"), so she called AAA (She'd left the card at home, so I had to find it). AAA said it would be a few hours, but thankfully the car started after Carrie waited a half hour or so.  

The car drove home without issue (and Carrie has ordered a spare key for the truck!). The Subaru was already scheduled for a service a few days later, so Carrie told the mechanics what happened. They couldn't recreate the issue, so I'm wondering if it's the loose connection I noticed. 

The car's driven fine since, so hopefully it was just a blip on the radar. If Shane and I hadn't tried to use it Sunday, Carrie would've missed her appointment on Tuesday. 

A side note: The appointment was with the orthopedist. Carrie's had a lot of wrist pain and is scheduled for an MRI next Monday. If insurance approves it, she'll get her knee scanned, too. They gave her knees cortisol steroid shots to help in the meantime. Carrie had another appointment Thursday with a different kind of doctor. She calls all of it "maintenance." It's all part of her attempts to address issues and get in better health.